Нацистік Германияның Норвегиядағы тұтқын лагері: Эспеланд

Nazi Germany internment camp in occupied Norway

Espeland detention camp (Norwegian: Espeland fangeleir, German: Polizeihäftlingslager Espeland) was an internment camp opened in 1943 by Nazi Germany in occupied Norway next to the village of Espeland in the borough of Arna, Bergen. Built to house prisoners after the closure of the nearby Ulven detention camp, Espeland was soon being used to mitigate overcrowding in Bergen. It functioned as a transit camp, sending many inmates further to Grini detention camp and to camps in mainland Europe. Abuse was common and the total number of people killed during captivity is unknown. Following the surrender of the Nazi regime the previous day, the camp was liberated on 9 May 1945. It was subsequently used by the Norwegians to house post war prisoners. Since 2000, there has been an effort to convert the camp into an education and archive centre. It is currently run by the Stiftelsen Espeland fangeleir (Espeland Prison Camp Foundation), which, as of 2021, was in the process of being merged with the Norwegian Gestapo Museum. It is among the most well preserved Nazi concentration camps in the world and in November 2014 the facility was declared a protected monument. In the summer of 1942, the Ulven detention camp near Bergen – at that time used by the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo) to hold political prisoners – was deemed to be at risk from British sea raids due to its proximity to the coast. A decision was made to transfer the camp to the Wehrmacht and repurpose it for military training. The prisoners would be relocated further inland to a new facility in Espeland, a few kilometres south of Indre Arna, a small village outside Bergen. Prisoner barracks were divided into eight and sixteen person rooms, each with a total capacity of around 100 prisoners. The single cell barracks were made up of rooms 1.2m x 4m in size. The maximum capacity of the camp was around 380.

On 9 May 1945, the arrival of the Norwegian Red Cross and Norwegian Police led to the liberation of 209 remaining prisoners. The camp was adapted to hold Norwegians accused of treason and renamed Espeland tvangsarbeidsleir (Espeland Forced Labour Camp). It was overseen by police until 1 April 1946, when jurisdiction passed to the Norwegian Prison Board. Conditions improved gradually: single cell barracks were converted into communal ones, leisure activities were provided, and a mess hall was built. However, as punishment for treason, outdoor work now included the retrieval of corpses from Nazi mass graves. On 25 October 1948, the remaining inmates held for treason were transferred elsewhere and the prison was tasked with holding the 60 Germans serving sentences for war crimes in Norway. By 21 April 1952, many of these prisoners had all been pardoned or deported and the Espeland Forced Labour Camp was closed. Camp facilities were then passed on to the Norwegian Civil Defence, which used it for training purposes during the Cold War until 1997.

As an eventual consequence of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the camp was declared redundant in June 1997. By this time, due to its continuous usage, it was the most intact Nazi concentration camp in Norway. An attempt was initiated by a group of private investors and mayor of Arna, Erling Mjelde, to have the camp reserved for educational and archival purposes. This movement was backed by Minister of Culture, Anne Enger Lahnstein, and the Stiftelsen Espeland fangeleir (Espeland Prison Camp Foundation) was formed in 2000. On 30 January 2015, the camp was officially handed over to the foundation by the Norwegian state. In 2020, the foundation was merged with the Norwegian Gestapo Museum to become Stiftelsen Lenken: Gestapohuset og Espeland fangeleir (Lenken Foundation: Gestapo House and Espeland Prison). The process is ongoing.