"Ruusiente" - Russian prisoners of wartime in the north

Hammerfest, in northern Norway, captured workers from the Soviet Union were called "Russiente"

The beginning of this work was an attempt to trace the fate of children born to Russian parents who were captured in Norway during the Second World War. Prisoners of war captured on the territory of the Eastern Front, along with Soviet citizens hijacked for forced labor, made up most of the forced labor in Norway during the war. Approximately 100,000 men and about 1,400 women from the Soviet Union worked in various manufacturing plants in Norway during the occupation period. The study focuses in particular on the plight of women employed in the fishing industry in northern Norway. Fish mined in the Lofoten Islands and in the Barents Sea were important for Nazi soldiers who fought on the fronts, as well as for their families in Germany.

So-called women "from the east" worked in rapidly growing fish processing enterprises in the northern part of the country. They worked in factories located in Hammerfest, Svolver, Budø. Soviet prisoners were engaged in fish cutting in factories. Work in factories was controlled by German authorities together with Norwegian representatives. The liberation of Finland and the evacuation, which began south of Hammerfest, also affected the fate of the "Russian girls." 150 women and 3 children fell into Swolver in November 1944.

Interest in this story arose after a meeting with Mikhail Salnikov in St. Petersburg in 2005. He turned to us for help in finding his father's birthplace. He knew that his father Yuri Salnikov was born in a prisoner of war camp in Norway at the end of 1944, but did not know the exact location. For 45 years, Yuri Salnikov tried to reveal the secret of his birth. In his young years, he believed that he was born on the Pacific coast. Subsequently, in 1961, by the will of chance, he learned that he was born in a prisoner of war camp located in Norway near the Northern Arctic Circle.

About 150 children were born to Soviet women in Norwegian prisoner of war camps during the military period. About 50 children were born in a camp in Langstrand near Budø in 1944-1945, and Mikhail Salnikov's father was among these children. Tracking the fate of children born in northern Norway is a difficult task. In Norway, the birth of children was not recorded either in civil acts or in church metrics. The artist Yuri Salnikov from St. Petersburg in October 2005 passed 60 years, when he finally received confirmation that he was born in Norway at the end of 1944. It was possible to confirm this information thanks to electronic archives, which store lists with the names of Russian prisoners transported to the Soviet Union from Narvik through Luleo in the summer of 1945.

At that time, Yuri Salnikov was 6 six months old, he was registered as Yuri Fedorovich Korolenko, born on January 1, 1945, registration No. 2141025. The lists also contained information about his mother - Galina Valentinovna Korolenko, born in 01.01.1925, registration No. 2140823, and his father - Fedor Vasilievich Savin, born in 01.01.1918, registration No. 2140924.

However, the place of birth remained a secret. The birth certificate was not found in any of the archives of Norway, nor in Bad Arolsen in Germany. In the "zero year," like Ian ^[1] dubbed 1945, the year after the war, which was supposed to put an end to all wars, in Europe about 1.5 million people were in the situation of refugees. Bad Arolsen, a small town near Dortmund, has an archive that stores the most extensive materials on World War II.

430 people sort archival materials from day to day and respond to requests. Until now, people from all over the world are trying to find information about what happened to them or their relatives from 1933 to 1945. 500 thousand information requests are received annually in the archive. One of these requests concerned the history of Yuri's parents. But this information was not found in the archives of Bad Arolsen.

After several years of detective searches, we managed to find out that 17-year-old Galina Korolenko and 24-year-old Fedor Savin-Salnikov ended up in Norway in 1942. They were Soviet prisoners, from 1942 to 1945. They forcibly worked at a fish factory near the small town of Budø in northern Norway. They never shared their military memories with their son and did not disclose the secret of his birth in Norway. They did not remember in a word their difficult trials of the military era. Zolingen's engraved scissors revealed their secret many years later. The real story of the acquaintance of parents was told to Yuri by his uncle Mikhail. Once Yuri found Zolingen scissors left on a table in the living room of his grandmother Anastasia Yakovlevna Korolenko, who lived in Leningrad. He asked his uncle: "It does not seem that these scissors are made in the Soviet Union. Where are they from? " His uncle told him that the scissors were brought by Jurina mother from Norwegian captivity in August 1945. She returned with Yuri in her arms, with a couple of jars of canned fish and Zolingen scissors.

Galina and Fedor received the birth certificate of Yuri in Vladivostok two years later, on March 18, 1947. On that day, Galina gave birth to a second boy, and Yuri and his younger brother were registered born on the same day as twin brothers. Yuri thought that he was 14 years old at the time when his uncle told him the truth that his parents were in captivity during the war years. On that day in 1961, he learned that he was 16 years old, that he was born in Norway. However, the exact place of birth of Yuri remained a secret, which his parents took with them to the grave.

The case brought us together with the son of Yuri Salnikov, Mikhail in St. Petersburg in 2005, and Mikhail's request for help in determining the place of birth of his father was the beginning of this study. A fish leather purse with the inscription "Budyo. 194? "And several photographs that dated back to the last days of the war - all that was discovered after the death of Legal parents in the 1990s.; his father died in 1987, his mother in 1993. This information became the starting point of the study. Later, the name of Yuri, the names of his parents were found in the lists of workers of the fish factory in Langstrand, assigned to the Russian prisoner of war camp in the territory of the commune of Budin, near the city of Budø. As a result there was a big need for hardy human resources, the women who arrived from the East appeared near Northern polar ^[2]

In Norway, demand for labour in the fishing industry increased during the German occupation. In the late 1930s, with Norway cod mined in the Lofoten Islands and herring from the Barents Sea, it was the main supplier of fish in Europe. The Nazi command highly quoted these resources in order to supply food to the Wehrmacht soldiers fighting on the fronts, as well as to peaceful German citizens. During the war, two German companies worked here together with Norwegian entrepreneurs, the number of fish fillet factories in Trondheim, Budø, Melbu and Hammerfest grew rapidly. Norwegians, prisoners of war, civilians sent to forced labor worked in these factories, among them there were many women. In February 1940, an agreement was reached between Norwegian and German entrepreneurs on close cooperation in the supply of fish for the needs of the Third Reich. Accordingly, negotiations between the Norwegian and German leadership were in full swing in the spring and summer of 1940, while Norway fought against the German military machine.

The increase in the number of fish production and the increased level of fish exports to Germany created a zone of responsibility of the civilian population to the occupation authorities. After the Nazi units entered the territory of Budø on June 1, 1940, a large fish factory in Langstrand was taken over by the German leadership and worked under the name Frostfile. The German Reichskommissariat was tasked with increasing the number of fish production and increasing the level of exports to Germany as soon as possible. The development of the main fishing industry, and in particular the production of frozen fish fillets, has become an important task for the occupation government.

The German government made large capital investments in order to gain control over the Norwegian economy and its subsequent integration with the German economy. Fish production and fish production became the main priorities in the plans of the Nazi government of Germany regarding Norway. During the war years, half of the fish and all canned fish supplied to Germany were of Norwegian production. Canned fish were a good help in providing food for the fronts. In his book "At War," Soviet war correspondent Vasily Grossman mentions a "large oval can of canned fish," supplied from Norway to provide high German command on the Stalingrad Front. Canned bankabula was found in an abandoned bunker during the positional war, accompanied by the retreat and offensive of Soviet and German units in 1942-1943. Grossman also compared this can with strikingly distinguished finds in the soldier's dugout: "Here you will not see empty wrappers from under chocolate or malnourished sardines. There is only dry peas and cherry bread like stone. "

Another cornerstone problem during the occupation involved skilled personnel and the use of slave labour. Soviet prisoners of war, as well as civilians, the so-called "Ostarbeiters," who were slave labor, were sent to Norway in August 1941 due to a shortage of the population, ready to engage in unskilled labor. Finding suitable workers among Norwegians was a difficult task. Soviet prisoners of war were taken to Budø shortly after the attack of German troops on the Soviet Union in June 1941. The first prisoners of war arrived in September 1941. On June 22, 1942, the German naval transporter Levante delivered 700 Soviet prisoners of war to Hammerfest. 150 young women captured in the territory of the Eastern European States occupied by German troops, as well as from the Soviet Union, were forcibly sent to work in fish factories. This is the first available document testifying to the arrival of women from Eastern Europe, but it is also known that the prisoners were delivered in the fall of 1942.

Starting in June 1942, Soviet prisoners of war and civilians sent to forced labor were taken to the Frostfile factory in Langestrand. They worked in a factory side by side with Norwegian employees. Women working on the new fish fillet conveyor were engaged in cutting, weighing and packing. Women who separated fish were an important workforce. Soviet women were called "pioneers of the frozen fillet industry."

The fates of many Russian prisoners of war and civilians sent to forced labor, working in the fishing industry of Norway under the yoke of the Nazis, are today shrouded in secrecy. Fencing structures, roads were built, the Nordland railway line was extended to the city of Budø. Until recently, the existence of Russian prisoners, their contribution to the development of Norwegian industry during the war years, as well as the history of their fate after returning to the Soviet Union, remained a secret for seven seals. Some Norwegians still remember themselves or told them about Russian captives, but very few documents were found indicating the stay of Russians in Norway and their future fate. Who were the 792 men and 160 women registered in the Langestrand prisoner of war camp in May 1942? Who were the parents of 52 children born in a prisoner of war camp in the last months of the war? Forced laborers from the east, who worked at a fish factory in Langstrand, were often called Ukrainians by local residents. In a detailed analysis, we see that men came from many cities of the Soviet Union, as well as from other occupied countries. Women were captured and sent to forced labor from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, most of them from cities and villages. 52 women gave birth in the last year of the war. What happened to children born in the Langstrand prisoner of war camp 70 years later ^[3]

Children born in the Langstrand prisoner of war camp in 1944-1945

Finding the truth - tracking the fate of these people was a difficult task, both in Norway and in the post-Soviet space. We found five of them, three children and two mothers. Nadezhda Lacutina, Yuri Salnikov and Valentina Stepina are currently 72 years old. Two forced laborers, Anna Kolyada and Marfa Maksimovna Stepina, are now living, they gave interviews, their memories were partially recorded. Anna Kolyada worked in Hammerfest, Svolver and Budø, Marfa Stepina - in Budø. Anna Kolyada - the only one of 160 women - remained in Norway. She gave birth to a boy on March 16, 1945 in a field hospital at a prisoner of war camp. In May, she married the father of her child, Jacob Evensen from Hammerfest, where they remained after the war. However, at the age of only 6, their son drowned.

Valentina Stepina lives with her 95-year-old mother Marfa Maximovna Stepina in Russia, near Bryansk. Nadezhda Lacutina lives near Valentina and Martha. They maintain relationships and help each other. Their fates are similar. Like Yuri, Valentina and Nadezhda made attempts to establish their place of birth and their cultural affiliation. All of them are still eager to see where they were born. Only Yuri managed to fulfill this dream.

In 1961, when Yuri found characteristic scissors in his grandmother's living room in Leningrad, he learned that he was born in Norway and that at that time he was 16 years old, not 14. For many years, Yuri Salnikov believed that he was born on the other end of the country - in Vladivostok, March 18, 1947 - on the same day as the "twin brother." For many years, Yuri was looking for his place of birth. He tried to find the true story of his parents' lives. These searches expressed interest in the history of the acquaintance of his parents, as well as the history of his own life. Where do its roots come from? Until now, Yuri tirelessly continues his search. He turns to the Russian archives. Yuri speaks only Russian. The only phrase that he can pronounce in English and German: "I want to go home."

What does this fervent desire to learn more about your past imply? See where you were born? Is it a desire to see at first hand a world you had no idea about? What is the reason for his tireless attempts to uncover the mystery of his parents' past, which encourages him to continue searching? Does he ask himself: "Who am I? I'm Russian? Or Norwegian? " How important is this in this story? How do children born to captive parents feel? While the Government does not provide any documents indicating the birth of these children. Finding documentary evidence of the birthplace of Yuri Salnikov turned out to be an extremely difficult task to perform, both in Norway and in Russia.

On May 8, 2005, a memorial plate was opened in Luleo. She memorialized 24,399 thousand Soviet prisoners of war and forced laborers who were transported by train from Narvik to Luleå to return to the Soviet Union in the summer of 1945. They left numerous camps for prisoners of war and civilians, which were located in northern Norway. Men lived at old German warehouses in the port in Karlshall, women and children - at a school in Karlswick.

Yuri Salnikov and Valentina Stepina were guests of honor at the celebration of the end of World War II, as it is customary to call World War II in Russia. As children, Valentina Stepina and Yuri Salnikov lived with their mothers in a yellow school building. They were supposed to be transported by sea to the Finnish city of Oulu, and from there to their homeland. Finding traces of this journey was not easy. What happened in this story? At the very beginning of the history of Russian prisoners of war in Norway, was it decided to remain silent and forget about the fate of these people, about their return to their homeland? The contribution of Russian prisoners of war to the development of Norwegian industry during the Second World War can hardly be considered significant in the framework of world history. Finding any information about the transportation of Russian prisoners to their homeland through the territory of Sweden in the summer of 1945 is a difficult task. Archives of the Ofotenskaya railway for 1945 -1948. Were destroyed.

However, the Narvik Museum has a stationary exposition telling about Russian prisoners of war in Norway during the Second World War. On the walls of the museum are newspapers dated the first days after the end of the war. The magazine Ophotens is a note dated June 14, 1945: "The first train with prisoners of German camps located here in northern Norway left last night. About 800 Russian prisoners left in 30 cars, among whom were women. " This train left Narvik at 9 pm on June 13, and a 9 hours later, by 6 am on June 14 reached Luleo. Further, the newspaper note says that the transportation of Russian prisoners will continue, every day at 9.15 pm about 800 Russians will leave Narvik. On the same day, the Nordland Social Democratic Newspaper printed greeting words in Russian. These events were in the media interest zone, both in Norway and in Sweden. In the June 14, 1945 journal Ophotens, we find a quote from the Joint Information Bureau in Stockholm indicating that all organizational measures were taken to transport Soviet citizens from Norway to Sweden. It is also reported: "According to the Norwegian News Agency, 60 Swedish journalists who received permission to travel to the International Border to meet the first Russian train gave prohibiting instructions regarding the mention of transport." Who created the conditions for forgetting this journey home?

In the process of searching for the birthplace of Yuri Salnikov, we got new ideas about what we consider to be "true" and how little information we have about modern history. The decision on which stories in our society should be announced and which should be silenced is made on the basis of political motives. This phenomenon is characteristic not only for Russia or Norway. Selective amnesia is part of our modern life, in all corners of the planet. In 1882, the French philosopher and historian Ernest Renan noted that national ideology consists equally of memoirs and amnesia. In recent years, more and more questions have arisen regarding our memories and amnesia about World War II.

At the time of Yuri Salnikov's visit in 2008, few residents of the city of Budø knew about the fact of having children in a camp in Langestrand in 1944-1945. However, Yuri's desire to find a place of birth revealed a number of additional facts about the contribution of the Norwegian fish production to the work of the German "military machine" and about the labor exploits of Soviet prisoners of war. Yuri Salnikov is an artist, he created a blank for sculpture, which he wants to present as a gift to the city of Budyo, in which he was born. The sculpture depicts a woman standing in the wind. The wind and cold were daily companions of the captives on their way from the camp to the factory in the morning and evening. Today there is an opportunity to erect a memorial dedicated to these people. They're not forgotten. This is the starting point in their history.

Synopsis, July 2017

Search for relatives of Karabanov Vasily

During World War II in Norway, the Germans had more than 40 camps for Soviet prisoners of war. During 1941-45. 102,000 Soviet prisoners of war were in the camps. The Norwegian hope to identify the preserved graves, preserving the memory of the heroes.

The church of the city of Elverum (a commune in the province of Hedmark in Norway) is looking for the relatives of Karabanov Vasily, the date of birth of 28.07.1908. The Soviet soldier was a prisoner of war in the Skjelstad camp near Elverum. When the war ended on May 8, 1945, Vasily was in a hospital in Elverum, died in a hospital on June 16, 1945 and was buried in a cemetery in Elverum.

We hope that we will be able to find relatives, and we will be able to inform them about the grave of Vasily.

If you have any information that will help the search, let us know. We will transmit contacts to the Norwegian side.

Notes