Heartfelt Greetings: From Nazi-Occupied Norway

An American-born young lady with deep Norwegian roots was visiting relatives in Norway and was suddenly removed from her family by the German Gestapo while she was helping to prepare for her uncle’s 50th birthday celebration. The uncertainty of her and Norway’s future was felt by many as the injustices of the German occupation of Norway continued. Opportunities arose for her return to America, but the mined ocean waters and fear of German warships deterred her from feeling safe to travel over the seas. Her family in Norway continued to lend security to her until her unexpected arrest by the Germans. She was abruptly apprehended with no time to convey her goodbyes and brought to the Grini Gestapo Prison in Bærum, Norway for six weeks and then transferred to the Liebenau Internment Camp for Women in Southern Germany for fifteen long months. She did not return home to America until March of 1944. Her carefully preserved diaries and letters are attentive to detail as she shares her experiences of meeting and developing ties with family as well as the unplanned hardships resulting from the war. The preservation of correspondence with relatives after she returned to America reveals more of the stories and challenges that surfaced during WWII and thereafter. Read more