Grini Concentration Camp Prisoners
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Grini is a district in northeastern
Bærum Bærum () is a list of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Akershus County, Norway. It forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a populatio ...
,
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
.


Concentration camp

The name Grini is best known from the concentration camp of the same name, but this camp lay further west and had no actual connection to the Grini area.


History

The name Grini is a variant of ''Granvin'' ( a placename used elsewhere), and stems from
spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...
trees in the area. The
Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...
form was Grǫnin. The farm Grini is known at least since 1348, when it was divided into a northern and a southern part. Both farms belonged to the
Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...
, but the crown usurped the property following the
Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...
. The dwelling house was erected in 1658, three years before the property was sold from the crown to a private person. Between the mid-seventeenth century and the mid-nineteenth century the property was owned by the Leuch, Anker and Wedel-Jarlsberg families. It was bought by Ole Ellefsen Gjedsø in 1854; he later became mayor of Bærum. Grini was the easternmost farm in
Bærum Bærum () is a list of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Akershus County, Norway. It forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a populatio ...
municipality, which at the time bordered Aker. (now:
Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...
, following a 1948 municipal merger) The border was the river Lysakerelva, and along it the Wedel-Jarlsberg family continued owning property. A smaller industry had developed alongside the river, including a mill, sawmill, brickworks and a lime burner. The sawmill was discontinued in 1888 due to a new sawmill being built further north at Fossum. The brickworks was closed in 1902, and the mill in 1904. From 1913 to 1946 a power station operated in place of the mill; it later became a furniture factory. Its purpose was to provide power for the industry at Fossum, but excess power was sold to locals. Grini has lent its name to topographic features in this part of the Lysakerelva river. Grinidammen is the name of a small lake north of the waterfall Grinifossen. Grini Bridge runs over the small lake. The area around the Cotter's farm Bratli was built up in the 1930s, and the southern part of the Grini district was built up after World War II. The hill Grinilunden was used for a chapel.


Transportation

The road ''Griniveien'', a part of the Norwegian National Road 168, cuts through the area. It was named so in 1926. The river crossing was moved northwards in 1978, as a new bridge was opened in 1974. A part of the old road was downgraded to a local road, moving the National Road further away from the residential area. Petitions have been made to move the road further north, but to no avail yet. Mainly, it is the area south of this road that has been developed. North of the road, some land has been used as a
golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...
which was inaugurated in June 2002. The area was served by Grini station on the
Oslo Metro The Oslo Metro ( or or simply ) is the rapid transit system of Oslo, Norway, operated by Sporveien T-banen on contract from the transit authority Ruter. The network consists of five lines that all run through the city centre, with a total leng ...
between 1948 and 1995. Early plans for an extension of the line, then called the Smestad Line, involved Fossum, but later plans did not include this northern point. Construction of the extension into Bærum started in 1941, and involved erecting a railroad bridge over Lysakerelva. At times, the bridge would be been left unfinished for the time being, due to wartime hardships concerning economy and supplies.Espeland, 2002: pp. 94-95 Locals then used the half-finished pillars as diving platforms. Grini station was finally opened in 1948, and was the terminus until 1951 when Lijordet (terminus) and
Eiksmarka Eiksmarka ("Oakfield") is an affluent suburb of the Norwegian municipality of Bærum in the Greater Oslo Region with around 4,000 inhabitants. It is located just west of the border of Oslo, Oslo municipality, but within the contiguous urban are ...
stations came. In 1972 Østerås station was added. In 1995, several stations on the line were rebuilt. Some were removed as they could no longer conform to the new standards of three cars (e.g. Volvat). Grini station was discontinued as well; it fell victim to low traffic because many passengers chose to walk over the Oslo border to Ekraveien station, from where the fare was cheaper.Espeland, 2002: p. 97


References


External links

* {{Coord, 59.9494, 10.6304, type:city_region:NO, display=title Neighbourhoods in Bærum