SS camp Sennheim
Oddvar did not have any physical injuries from his imprisonment, but he often seemed restless to me, and towards the end of his life he suffered nightmares and called out in German in his asleep. He rarely spoke about his captivity, but we knew that he had kept a diary during his time in the camp. None of us children had read it. However, as the end of his life approached, he brought out two diaries handwritten in notebook format, totalling 160 pages, to ensure that we would read them (6) .
In October 1943, my father was due to begin clinical training in what was then called the 3rd Department of Medicine when he and several colleagues were reported and arrested by the Germans. Together with 39 other students, he was held at Bredtveit Prison in Groruddalen before being transferred to Stavern. He was then sent on the prisoner ship Donau to Stettin in Poland, along with the other students who had been arrested. From there, around half of them were sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, while most of the others were sent to an SS camp in Sennheim in Alsace, in what is now France (1) .
The camp administration attempted to convert them to the Nazi racial ideology, but did not succeed. The students refused to wear Nazi symbols on their jackets, belts and caps, and ultimately prevailed in this regard
My father was first sent to Sennheim. For the SS, it was paradoxical that young Norwegian academics, whom they regarded as the elite of the Aryan, Germanic race, could show resistance to the National Socialism ideology. The camp administration attempted to convert them to the Nazi racial ideology, but did not succeed (7) . The students refused to wear Nazi symbols on their jackets, belts and caps, and ultimately prevailed in this regard.
During their stay in Sennheim, two of the students contracted meningococcal meningitis and died. My father wrote that many others had fever, headaches and signs of meningism. Around 170 men were housed in two rooms, and around 120 in three rooms. Per Oeding (1916–2003), who later became a professor of microbiology in Bergen, already had considerable experience in microbiology as a student. He persuaded the camp administration to have all the Norwegian prisoners screened for meningococci. Of the approximately 250 who were screened, over 40 men
(15–20 %) were found to carry meningococci in their throats. These prisoners were isolated for 3–4 weeks, and no further cases of meningitis occurred. It is well documented that living at close quarters while being subjected to severe physical strain, as the students were, increases the risk of a meningococcal outbreak (8) .
The students in Oslo were arrested on 30 November 1943. Photo: UiO/CC BY 2.0
Together with 35 other student prisoners, my father was sent twice to Freiburg to study. They were allowed to move around there as relatively free men. My father attended classes at the Women's Clinic in the city, but his last stay was short.
In his diary he wrote: 'From our last stay in Freiburg, the bombing on 27 November will remain etched in my memory forever. It was terrible but necessary to defeat those damned Germans' (6) . Within 20 minutes, around 3000 bombs were dropped, killing approximately 2100 and injuring 6300 people. My father recounted that after the bombing, limbs and other body parts lay strewn around the area near the railway station. The Norwegian students worked tirelessly to rescue the wounded and recover the dead from the ruins. Those who were medical students were able to put their knowledge to good use. One of the students later died from injuries sustained in the bombing.
It was a dramatic journey. First they crossed the Rhine and then travelled on foot through the Black Forest, enduring terrifying confrontations with sadistic guards, cold weather, lack of food, hunger, blisters, sleep deprivation and existential fear
In late autumn 1944, as the Allied front line approached Sennheim, the students were to be transferred to Buchenwald. It was a dramatic journey. First, they crossed the Rhine and then travelled on foot through the Black Forest, enduring terrifying confrontations with sadistic guards, cold weather, lack of food, hunger, blisters, sleep deprivation and existential fear. In the village of Burkheim, the students were ordered to dig trenches, but they all refused to comply, even when lined up in front of the town hall under threat of being shot (1) .
For the last four days of the journey, they were locked in cattle wagons with almost no food or water, while being transported by rail to Buchenwald. By the time they arrived, many of the men were in a critical condition (1, 7) .