This weekend the plan was to look for some greenery, a forest to walk into. We ended up in a place called Vermork and I ended up learning about a fascinating tale of courage.
It happened during World War II.
The town used to have the world largest hydro power plant and after the Germans occupied Norway in 1940 they took control of the plant.
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| This is how the engine room looks today. Their size make you feel minuscule. |
Norwegian resistence made the Allies aware of a dangerous prospect: the Nazis were using the plant to source heavy-water which could be in turn used to produce an atomic bomb.
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| This is a photograph from the museum showing the Germans as they arrived in the town |
The geography of the place worked in favor of the Nazis: the plant was difficult to reach (up in the mountains) and therefore easy to protect. For example, they monitored for 24 hours a day the only walking bridge that connected the town to the Plant.
I took this photo is from the bridge which was (back in the war) monitored by the Nazis 24 hours a day. Making it almost impossible for the Resistance to reach the plant.
When you arrive at the place you do feel you feel oppresed by its size, the machines, its architecture. It is probably the first time I entered a building that had been used by the Nazis.
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| I did not take this photo is from here. I just wanted to show how remote the place is. |
Inside the building, they now have a museum which shows video interviews with some survivors of the several mission to spoil the Nazi plans. My heart was beating hard as one hears these old men tell their stories.
They worked in collaboration with the British intelligence. Despite some catastrophic starts and terrible weather conditions, they fighters managed to enter the plant at night without being caught allowing them to put bombs inside and get out unharmed.
I read that about 3,000 German soldiers were dispatched to look for the commandos but all of them escaped; five of them skied 400 kilometres to Sweden, two went to Oslo, and four stayed in the region for further work with the resistance.
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| Recreacion de los eventos en el museo |
Six months after, however, the Nazis had repaired the plant and were back with the operation...
The Americans and the Brits decided to bomb the place in collaboration with the Norwegian resistence. Sadly, the planes missed the target killing innocent villagers instead. Moreover, one of the airplanes crashed and the Nazis captured and killed the British soldiers.
As a result, the Germans moved the project out of Norway. But they needed to ship the heavy water to Germany. Aware of this, the Norwegian fighters worked with the Brits on a plan to sink the ship.
This time it worked.
A hollywood movie "The Heroes of Telemark" was made in 1965. with Kirk Douglas and Robert Harries One of the actual Norwegian fighters featuring in the movie.
Having been to the place, I am now keen to borrow it from the Oslo library.
As we walked to the parking lot and I looked back at the place I took this picture. I could not help to stop and reflect on the healing power of time. One looks at this location, on the 12th of August 2012, the air so clean and the tones so green, the mountains fresh and forgiving. You notice a grandmother eating ice cream for her grandchild. And my mind could hardly reconcile the peaceful view with its violent past. Did war really happen here? And I looked around and it gave me hope. Hope that things can get better, hope that time does heal our wounds. But it also reminded me that things hardly "get better" unless courage - like these men showed - defeats our greatest fear.
