Blood Road
The Blood Road is a route northeast of Rognan in Saltdal Municipality in Nordland county, Norway that was built by prisoners during the Second World War. The route was a new section of Norwegian National Road 50 between Rognan and Langset on the east side of Saltdal Fjord, where there was a ferry service before the war. The specific incident that gave the road its name was a cross of blood that was painted on a rock cutting in June 1943. The blood came from a prisoner that was shot along the route, and the cross was painted by his brother.
The prisoners lived in a primitive camp in the village of Botn, just outside Rognan. The prisoners of war had very small daily rations, long working hours, poor clothing for winter use, primitive barracks, and miserable sanitation, and they were treated cruelly. The Botn camp was first led by the SS, and under their direction mass executions were also carried out.
When the Wehrmacht took over management of the Botn camp in October 1943, the conditions gradually improved. The conditions further improved when the Red Cross learned of the camps and several inspections were conducted.
The Botn camp was one of five original prisoner-of-war camps in Northern Norway. The camp held prisoners from Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, and Poland. The youngest prisoners of war were barely 12 years old. The conditions at all five camps were poor with high mortality. The number of prisoners in the Botn camp can only be estimated from testimonies of survivors. Almost 900 prisoners in total arrived at the camp; of these, about half died through execution, punishment, malnutrition, and exhaustion.
By the war's end there were around 7,500 prisoners of war in Saltdal, but the number is uncertain. There were up to 18 camps from Saltfjellet and north to Saltdal Fjord, but the treatment that prisoners received in these camps was considerably better. In the trials held after the war, the camps were referred to as extermination camps. It shocked the Norwegian authorities that the Norwegian youths as young as 16 had served as guards in the camp. The youths were members of the Hirdvaktbataljon set up under the NS Ungdomsfylking, and they treated the prisoners of war cruelly. In the postwar trials several Norwegian guards received prison sentences, and some of the German SS officers were sentenced to death by firing squad.
Background
Building the road and rail connections
During the occupation of Norway in the Second World War, the German forces had enormous transport needs, particularly in Northern Norway, where, among other things, they needed to bring supplies to the north front, transport ore from LKAB via Narvik, nickel from Finland, and personnel and material throughout the entire region. Transport by ship along the Norwegian coast was hazardous due to allied bombing. The road network was poor and insufficiently developed. The Nordland Line went no further north than Mosjøen, and on the trunk roads there were many ferry crossings. Railroad development was centrally seen as the only solution to obtain satisfactory transport. Adolf Hitler ordered the rapid development of the Polar Line to Kirkenes; the German commander in Norway, Generaloberst Nikolaus von Falkenhorst, demanded 145,000 prisoners of war to carry out development of the railroad to Kirkenes within four years.The very comprehensive plan was set aside, and in the first round 30,000 POWs were brought in to carry out railroad construction from Mosjoen to Tysfjord Municipality. The Todt Organization was responsible for all road development in the occupied countries, and a sub-unit named Einsatzgruppe Wiking took responsibility for building the railroad between Mo i Rana and Fauske. The head of Todt Organisation for Norway was Willi Henne and the sub-division "Einsatzgruppe Wiking". The head of Einsatzgruppe Wikings road construction department, Hermann Hesse, wrote to Willi Henne, of June 1943 "that he had been informed by the construction firm Hans Röllinger KG that they had recently stopped the beating of Yugoslavian inmates on their road construction site in the hope that this would raise the men’s performance." Einsatzgruppe Wiking was responsible for beating and killing of POW during the road construction. Several German construction companies were involved as sub-contractors, that still exist today: Müller-Altvatter, Eschweiler Tiefbau – J. Pellini and Röllinger KG
By the war's end, the Wehrmacht had used 140,000 POWs as slave labor in Norway. Of these, about 1,600 were Poles, 1,600 were Yugoslavs, and the majority, around 75,000, were Soviet citizens.
Five main camps in Northern Norway
The prisoners of war were sent through central Europe to Stettin on the Baltic Sea. On the way to Norway, they were quartered at various German camps. The transport from Stettin was by ship to either Bergen or Trondheim, and then further north to the five main camps. The northernmost one was located in Karasjok Municipality, the camp at Beisfjord was the largest, the Botn camp was located in Saltdal Municipality, and in the southern part of Northern Norway were the Osen and Korgen camps. These first five camps were each referred to as a "Serb camp". However, there were many more small camps throughout Northern Norway. Between Korgen and Narvik alone there were up to 50 camps with around 30,000 prisoners.In the summer of 1942, about 2,500 Yugoslav prisoners of war arrived at these five camps, and by the next summer only about 750 were still alive. The differences between the camps are apparent from the fact that in the camp at Bakken further up in Saltdal no prisoners died over the span of three years.
The conditions in many of the camps were cruel. Responsibility in the camps was split up systematically, so that the individual German officer with responsibility in each camp could with a certain kind of justification declare himself not liable for the misery. The personal character of the camp commandant was decisive for the conditions in each camp.
Highway 50 between Rognan and Fauske
Road construction was to take place simultaneously with railroad construction. Highway 50 traversing Saltfjellet was opened in 1937, but it was a low-quality road. From Rognan to Langset, a few kilometers north in Saltdal Fjord, there was a ferry. Further north in Salten there were also many longer ferry connections. In December 1941, the Germans demanded forced road construction and offered prisoners to the Directorate of Public Roads to carry out the work. It was agreed to prioritize the three road systems in Korgen, in Botn in Saltdal, and around Beisfjord in Ofoten.The new road over Korgfjellet in Korgen Municipality was intended to replace another ferry connection along Highway 50 between Elsfjord and Hemnesberget. On June 23, 1942, Yugoslav prisoners of war were brought to two camps: to Fagerlimoen and to Osen. The camps were active until the summer of 1943. A temporary bridge was set up over Beis Fjord in Ofoten in July 1943 and a ferry connection was set up between Fagernes and Ankenes. This was replaced by the Beisfjord Bridge in 1959. The Beisfjord camp was located in Beisfjord, south of Narvik, and was active from June 1942 until the end of the war.
The Blood Road was a road section northeast of Rognan in Saltdal Municipality. The road was a new section of Norwegian National Road 50 between Rognan and Langset on the east side of Saltdal Fjord, where there was a ferry connection before the war. The Blood Road itself now corresponds to a section of today's European route E6 between Saltnes and Saksenvik. The prisoners that built the road belonged to the Botn camp.
The prisoners of war were generally treated poorly during the construction. They received small portions of simple food, their clothing was not suitable for winter use, and the hygiene conditions were extremely deficient with much lice infestation.
Botn camp
The largest and best-known camp in Saltdal was in Botn near Saltdal Fjord, about from Rognan. The camp was set back from the other buildings in Botn, but was still close to the work and the fjord. Around Botn there are high mountains, and the areas to the east are bare deserted mountainous terrain. Before the Blood Road was built, the little village had no road connection.The prisoners carried out roadwork on the stretch from Rognan to Langset. Personnel from the Norwegian Public Roads Administration led the efforts technically and served as blasting foremen and facility managers.
Background of the prisoners
The prisoners of war that were used in Saltdal came from Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, and some were also from Poland.The majority of the prisoners from Yugoslavia were political prisoners, but the criminologist Nils Christie explains that their backgrounds varied, and so it is difficult to fully characterize them. Christie also offers some hypotheses for why it is probable that they were politically active. A portion of them were both political prisoners and Partisans, and they came from all walks of life and of all ages; the youngest were only 13 to 14 years old. The majority were Serbs, but some were also Croats.
The labor camps in Norway and in other areas conquered by the Germans were often as bad as the "Nacht und Nebel" camps, where political prisoners in particular would "disappear." Resistance movements arose in countries occupied by Nazi Germany. Executions of captured resistance member were counterproductive because they hardened public opinion. The "Nacht und Nebel" camps would keep the prisoners' relatives and other people unaware of their fate. This system was used against resistance members both in Germany and in occupied areas. In addition, the camps constituted an important economic base for the SS-dominated state. The expenses for labor were very small and the labor supply was almost unlimited.