On Saturday, Minister of Defense Frank Bakke-Jensen (H) took part in a commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the tragedy at Hopseidet in Finnmark.
On May 6, 1945, just before World War II was over, six Norwegians were killed by German soldiers on Hopseidet in Lebesby and Gamvik municipalities.
“I hope that the incidents at Hopseidet will leave lasting traces with the authorities and government officials in all teams, from villages to cities and capital, so that we never again treat the victims of abuse in such a way. That we see those who have given everything”, says the Minister of Defense in a press release.
Bakke-Jensen says he looks forward to remembering what happened to the bereaved and affected.
“The killings on Hopseidet will not be forgotten”, the minister says.
The ceremony started on Saturday morning with a memorial march from Hopseidet in Gamvik municipality to the memorial monument for the victims.
At the memorial service, there were speeches and the laying of wreaths by the Minister of Defense, Mayor Alf Normann Hansen in Gamvik Municipality and Mayor Sigurd Rafaelsen in Lebesby Municipality.
“The tragedy at Hopseidet was meaningless, devoid of military value. It becomes even more meaningless because everyone knew that peace was only a few days away. The tragedy in Hopseidet was going to define the consequences of the war for the local population”, Bakke-Jensen said, among other things.
In the afternoon, a memorial service was held in Hop Church on Skjånes for invited guests and wreath-laying at the burial site.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
Frank Bakke-Jensen is completely right. The submarine commando attack was completely senseless – just a vicious act by bitter and/or just mean, defeated naval/military personnel. There was no excuse at all for it. The Nazi Germans responsible should have been brought to justice and punished appropriately: HANGED.
I just watched the feature film Into the White, where the Norwegians are made to look bad. (Historically, the one German in the incident is said to have tried to draw his pistol. In the movie, he’s unarmed and killed by an angry – it was April 1940 – trigger-happy young Norwegian.)
I’m a World War 2 historian, and I had never heard about this. Only 6 dead is nothing compared to millions – EXCEPT for the senseless viciousness of these murders.
Actually, something very much like this happened off America’s East Coast in the very last days of the war. U-853 was a larger Type IX class u-boat which had already been dubbed Moby Dick by our anti-submarine forces, because it was so elusive. On May 5, 1945, German Admiral Doenitz ordered German submarine forces to cease offensive operations. (So why did Hopseidet happen??)
Whether or not U-853 got the word, it afterwards sank our coal collier Black Point, and 12 of the 46 crew died.
Our antisubmarine was VERY good by then, and we (Americans) were mad. We quickly located the 853 in the shallow continental and attacked and attacked and attacked it, until it and its crew was completely killed. The pigboat was so physically destroyed that a piece of its wooden chart table floated to the surface as did one body.
But FAR too many WW2 war criminals escaped justice, as in the Hopseidet case.
On the other hand, we have war criminals the West escaping justice today.
I’m a World War 2 historian, and I had never heard about this. Only 6 dead is nothing compared to millions – EXCEPT for the senseless viciousness of these murders,
and the grief for their families.
(Norway Today, could you delete my previous 2 comments? I’ll proof my comments better, I promise.)
Frank Bakke-Jensen is completely right. The submarine commando attack was completely senseless – just a vicious act by bitter and/or just mean, defeated naval/military personnel. There was no excuse at all for it. The Nazi Germans responsible should have been brought to justice and punished appropriately: HANGED.
I just watched the feature film Into the White, where the Norwegians are made to look bad. (Historically, the one German who was killed in the incident is said to have tried to draw his pistol. In the movie, he’s unarmed and killed by an angry – it was April 1940 – trigger-happy young Norwegian.)
I’m a World War 2 historian, and I had never heard about this. Only 6 dead is nothing compared to millions – EXCEPT for the senseless viciousness of these murders and the grief of their families we are reading.
Actually, something very much like this happened off America’s East Coast in the very last days of the war. U-853 was a larger Type IX class u-boat which had already been dubbed Moby Dick by our anti-submarine forces, because it was so elusive. On May 5, 1945, German Admiral Doenitz ordered German submarine forces to cease offensive operations. (So why did Hopseidet happen??)
Whether or not U-853 got the word, it afterwards sank our coal collier Black Point, and 12 of the 46 crew died.
Our antisubmarine forces were very numerous and VERY good by then, and we (Americans) were mad. We quickly located the 853 on the bottom on the shallow continental shelf and attacked and attacked and attacked it, until it and its crew was completely killed. The pigboat was so physically destroyed that a piece of its wooden chart table floated to the surface as did one body.
But FAR too many WW2 war criminals escaped justice, as in the Hopseidet case.
On the other hand, we have some in the West today guilty of more recent and no less grievous war crimes escaping justice.