Norway Apologises to Its WW2 "German Girls"

"Norway's Prime Minister Erna Solberg has issued an official government apology to Norwegian women who were mistreated over World War Two-era relationships with German soldiers.
Norway, a neutral country, was invaded by Nazi forces in April 1940.
Up to 50,000 Norwegian women are thought to have had intimate relationships with German soldiers.
The Germans were also encouraged to have children with them by SS leader Heinrich Himmler.
Himmler, one of the most powerful men under Adolf Hitler, favoured Norwegian women, hoping they could help promote the Nazi concept of an Aryan master race.
Many of the Norwegian-German children were born in the German-administered Lebensborn (Fountain of Life) maternity facilities set up from 1941 by the Nazis in the country.
The women who had relationships with the soldiers became known by the nickname the "German Girls", and were targeted for reprisals in Norway when the war ended - standing accused of betraying the country.
Punishments included being deprived of civil rights, detained or expelled from the country to Germany along with their children."
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45893490

 

Sounds like another empty apology...given by people who weren't affected to people who no longer exist.

 

Sad but true........

 

You're right CAC, it's too little, too late. I've read about this problem before. It has parallels in other formally-occupied countries but Norway's reaction seems to have been the most extreme. I really feel that the children of those unions, who were punished due to no fault of their own, were especially victimized.

 

Many of them should still be alive. In their 70's but that's not all that old by todays standards.

 

Many Finnish women left also with German soldiers to the "Fatherland". However many Finnish women also stayed with their kids. Just imagine what the children suffered in school. We also had several hundred children by Red Army soldiers as almost all the men were at the front. Same fate.

 

I believe you are right. We have to learn from it. I fear we are not though.

 

Anni Frid Lyngstad was one one them.