Visiting the Falstad Centre, one of the Most Important WWII Centres in Norway
I am always interested in visiting World War II sites, and when roadtripping around Norway I try to visit some of them. The Falstad Centre has been on my list of a while, mostly because it is one of the only prison camps that is still somewhat standing. Norway did have a number of prison camps across the country, but efforts were made to tear them down after the war. At Falstad, you can see the main building still. So, when Sean and I did our Coastal Roadtrip from Trondheim to Senja, we included a stop here.
The Falstad Centre today is a national memorial site. There are two sites to visit: the Falstad prison camp and the Falstad woods. Additionally, the Falstad Centre has some indoor exhibitions chronicling the use of the camp and occupation of Norway. When we did our Coastal Roadtrip, we only visited the outside (closed due to COVID). Still, they have put up some information boards outside so it is definitely worth visiting. Here’s what we saw when we visited Falstad, plus some information about the history of the camp.
In this article...
History of Falstad Centre
The Camp's Early Use
If driving from the E6 (European Highway 6), the first stop will the prison camp. Today all that remains is the yellow administration building; most of the wooden barracks were torn down at the end of the war. The commandants house is still visible, too. Parking is free outside, and you will find some information boards outside with images of what the camp used to look like.
Originally, Falstad was a boarding school for ‘troubled’ boys. The site was originally a farm called Nordre Falstad (Falstad was the farmers name), but the boarding school bought the property in 1895. The school’s purpose was to serve the needs of the ‘misguided’ rather than criminal boys. While at school, they were not only educated but made to do manual labour jobs. Around fifty boys lived here ranging in age from 10 to 18 years old.
Nazi Germany invaded Norway on the 9th of April 1940. The Nazi German authorities first came to Falstad in August 1941 with plans to make it a centre for the ‘Lebensborn’ program in Norway. The Lebensborn program was an initiative to raise the birth rate of Aryan children amongst ‘racially pure’ parents. In total, Norway had 9 Lebensborn centres – the highest number outside of Germany.
The site was not used for the Lebensborn program. Instead, they saw its use as a concentration camp. Just a month after their visit, Falstad accepted its first prisoners.
Prisoners & Life at Falstad
It is not known how many prisoners passed through here; the camp authorities burned what documents they could before the liberation in 1945. However, estimates are that at least 4,500 prisoners passed through Falstad. Many of them were prisoners of war, and in total at least 13 countries passed through here. The largest group were Yugoslav prisoners. The main characteristic of the camp was forced, hard, and largely meaningless labour. The period between spring 1942 and the autumn of 1943 is the most brutal time in the history of the camp. The prisoners had to work at high speed as slave labourers on pointless projects.
Jewish Deportation
Falstad was also used as a transit camp for the Jewish population facing deportation. Trondheim had a sizeable Jewish population that were rounded up and eventually deported to Auschwitz. Falstad was the place they would come to before being sent to Oslo, where the ship was waiting. At least eight Jews were murdered during detention at Falstad.
Post-war Use
When the war ended, Falstad was used as a prison for former members of the Norwegian Nazi party as well as prisoners suspected of having supported the Nazis. Then, until the 1990s, it was used as a school once again.
Use of the Building Today
After the school closed in the late 1990s, the building became a memorial site and centre for human rights. The Falstad Centre is now used for education and documenting the wartime history of prisoners of war and human rights.
If you want to learn more about the use of Falstad as a prison camp, I recommend visiting the indoor exhibitions. The Falstad Centre exhibitions focus on the history of the Falstad prison camp and particularly the story and fate of the prisoners. The exhibition also shows the rise of Nazism, the Holocaust, and how the Nazi camp system operated. The Falstad Centre has also made a digital reconstruction of the camp so you can see how it looked during the war.
Visiting the Falstad Woods (Falstadskogen)
After visiting the yellow building, get in your car and drive a few minutes to the next stop: the Falstad Woods. Park your car across the street and then head over to the large memorial statue. The memorial depicts prisoners about to be executed by German authorities. It is by the sculptor Odd Hilt, who was a prisoner at Falstad and managed to escape to Sweden. The prisoners have clear facial features, while the soldiers have faceless, anonymous features.
The Falstad Woods is one of the most sombre World War II sites in Norway. The woods were an execution site by the German occupation authorities, particularly for prisoners of war. The first executions took place on the 7th of March 1942. When the war was coming to an end, the Germans took some of the bodies and sunk them in the Trondheimsfjord. Additionally, some prisoners were executed at nearby fortresses. It’s not known exactly how many people were executed here. On top of that, it’s believed that not all the bodies have been found in the woods yet.
The victims were at least 43 Norwegians, 74 Yugoslavs, and more than 100 Soviet citizens. The prison camp was hardest on the Yugoslavs, who were often executed soon after arriving at the camp. Many of the Norwegian victims were members of the resistance movement. At least 200 people were executed here, but those at the centre now believe that number to be low. They are still making efforts to find, exhume, and properly bury the victims. A list of some of the known victims are on Lokalhistoriewiki.no (in Norwegian).
https://lokalhistoriewiki.no/wiki/Falstad_fangeleir
Information about the victims can also be found in the Falstad Centre.
You can walk through the woods today. On the ground you will find markers; these state that someone is buried there. Please take extra care in staying on the path; the markers are not always so obvious.
It is possible to walk between the Falstad Centre and the Falstad Woods; a marked path will take you past the graves and memorial. The trail is about 2km long one way. There are 22 bridges that you’ll pass along the way. Maps can be collected from the Falstad Centre.
Practical Information
Everything you need to know about visiting the Falstad Centre can be found on their excellent website, https://falstadsenteret.no/en/frontpage. I would recommend booking a guided tour to truly understand how this area was used as a prison camp. The Falstad Centre offers guided tours in English and Norwegian.
The museum has information in multiple languages, including English and Norwegian. The Falstad Centre has also digitally recreated the layout of the camp, and you can pick up a tablet from reception with the digital reconstruction on it.
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