Transcript
Narrator The auditorium is on fire! On the night of November 28, 1943, unknown arsonists set fire to the University of Oslo. The fire is quickly extinguished. But the German occupiers use it as a pretext to close the university. They surround the reading rooms, the university hospitals, and the dormitories. 1,250 students are arrested, 650 deported to Germany. Among those who arrive at Buchenwald in mid-January 1944 is medical student Elling Kvamme.
Elling Kvamme “Arriving at Buchenwald [...] was a terrible experience. People were shouting insults the whole time, and above all, ‘Move! Move!’; there was always a harsh light shining in our eyes; we had to hand over all the items we’d brought with us, […] our heads were shaved. […] The prisoner block was overcrowded. There were fleas and filth everywhere…”
Narrator After two weeks in a poorly equipped wooden barrack, the students are assigned better accommodations and better food. Professors from the University of Jena come to Buchenwald and give lectures to the students. An extraordinary occurrence! It begins with a lecture on the study of human ancestry and evolutionary history. A wide variety of topics followed: folklore, pedagogy, criminal law, physical chemistry. Why did the SS go to the trouble of organizing an elaborate continuing education program for the students?
The hope was that, in a sort of experiment, the students could be won over as fighters for the Nazi cause. After all, according to Nazi ideology, they were also so-called “Aryans.” The strategy pursued was roughly this: first intimidate, then persuade.
The SS tried to influence the young Norwegians and persuade them to switch sides. But instead, the students strengthened their resolve to resist. On August 24, 1944—immediately after the bombing of Buchenwald—this became particularly clear: they provided first aid and cared for the wounded, converting half of their work block into a makeshift infirmary. They also refused to write a letter to the editor for the Norwegian daily newspaper Aftenposten. The SS had demanded that they confirm the German version of the bombing raid to readers. Their special position within the camp gave the Norwegian students a certain degree of freedom of action, which they also used to help other prisoners.
Through secret negotiations between Scandinavian governments and the Germans, many Scandinavian prisoners were rescued from the concentration camps before the end of the war. This became known as the “Operation White Buses”—named after the vehicles used for transport. The students were also brought back to Norway in early April 1945. Elling Kvamme completed his medical studies and worked as a doctor. He married and started a family.
