The ‘Lofoten War Memorial Museum‘ is a museum that carries out information work regarding the Second World War and what happened in Lofoten and Northern Norway but also further away, if it could have local consequences. An example of how acts of war far away could get into local lives were Stalingrad soldiers who had been sent all the way up to Lofoten to have convalescence, but many were mentally unbalanced and both the population and the German soldiers who were stationed in Lofoten felt insecure about them. Creating a museum from the days of the war had occupied many in the district, because many people from Lofoten and Vesterålen had taken part in the dramatic days of 1940. In addition, the ‘Lofoten Raid’ took place on 4 March 1941: this can be considered the first raid of the war (of some extent) and also the first total victory of the war (although the Germans were driven out of Narvik the year before, they were not beaten). The Lofoten raid took place in “the darkest hour”, with England that had until then lost everything: Parliament was opposed to the war, and Churchill needed a bright spot. The ‘Lofotraidet’ became a great encouragement in a hopeless time and was widely reported in the English press.
Over 300 of the Lofoten population escaped to England with the English soldiers to join our forces abroad: as punishment, Reichskommissar Terboven arrested almost a hundred people. They then became the first 64 prisoners (called Svolværgissel) at the Grini prison camp in Oslo. In addition, the Gestapo was given headquarters for Lofoten and Vesterålen in Svolvær. A massive expansion of positions and bunker facilities was also initiated after the raid. Svolvær will be the city in Norway that will have the most bunkers and cannon emplacements in 2 square kilometers. And most of it actually stands to this day.
The museum is mainly based on William Hakvaag’s long work which began almost 50 years ago, a job that consisted of securing historical and rare objects from this time period, photographs and stories. An interest to create a museum from the time of the war was shown in both the 60s and 70s: it took a long way between idea and execution, until the long and tenacious fundraising effort slowly began to show results. In 1991, Hakvaag participated in a major exhibition at Svolvær’s library. In 1994, a huge exhibition was set up in Svolvær school’s auditorium under the direction of school directors Ole H. Bremnes and William Hakvaag. A large number of students participated and efforts were also made to ensure that persons did not receive their recognition during the war, would now receive both a diploma and a medal: actually quite a cumbersome process, but during the early 90s we managed to get 6 participation medals awarded to participants who had been forgotten, and a few years later three more medals were also given.
After intense preparatory work, the ‘Lofoten War Memorial Museum’ was opened on 15 June 1996 in the premises of the old post office in Svolvær. The building was the first to be taken during the Lofoten raid in 1941 when it also housed the telegraph on the second floor: the building’s history therefore agrees with the museum. Since then, the museum has been able to expand its exhibitions twice as it has been able to rent more space. The museum currently exhibits around 140 uniforms and a large number of unique objects, including unknown photographs, also in colour, from the wartime. The museum has a full library with a lot of rare literature about the Second World War. Furthermore, there is access to original printed matter from the wartime such as newspapers, magazines and booklets. The museum also has its own photo collection as well as access to unique images from the wartime. This long-term work has resulted in the ‘Lofoten War Memorial Museum’ today appearing as Norway’s largest exhibition of uniforms and rare historical objects from the Second World War. So far, the ‘Lofoten War Memorial Museum’ has received countless positive feedbacks from all over the world and has an incredibly nice guest book.
Read more on Lofotenkrigmus.no
