On the 25th of October 2024 we marked the 80th anniversary of liberation of Finnmark, Northern Norway, from the Nazi occupation. And although the liberators – Russia, as the legal heir of the USSR – were not invited, Russia remembers. At out Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden” we dedicated several posts to the event, collating them here at the Beehive.
But first, read last year’s publication For the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of Northern Norway, the WWII History Is Being Rewritten There
Statement by Russian Consulate General in Kirkenes
25.10.2024
Dear compatriots, ladies and gentlemen!
Today we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of East Finnmark by the Red Army!
I am grateful to all those gathered at this monument to honour the memory of the brave soldiers who gave their lives for the liberation of the world from fascism. After all, it is by remembering that we remain faithful to the fallen, invariably proving that their sacrifice was not in vain.
It is important that the memory of the events of those years be preserved. It is important not to forget how the occupiers left behind only scorched earth when they left. It is important to remember the hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens who found themselves in Norway during the war – and the many thousands who remained lying in Norwegian soil forever. It is important to know about the assistance provided by the Soviet troops: the property that was saved was transferred to the local population, the supply of weapons and food to the Norwegian army was organised, demining was carried out, roads and bridges were repaired, and other work to establish a normal life.
2,122 soldiers – that’s how much the Soviet people lost on Norwegian soil during the liberation of Kirkenes and Northern Norway. But this is only a small fraction of the terrible statistics. Thousands of Soviet citizens lost their lives in the vast expanses of Eastern Finnmark and in the wilderness of the Falstad forest, on the Saltfjell ridges and the rocky shores of Lyngenfjord, on the construction of the Polar and Nordland highways, on the fortifications of the «Atlantic Wall» stretching for thousands of kilometers and in the guerrilla war in the North, in the «Rigel» disaster and in air battles in the sky above Norway. Monuments erected in the North by the Soviet prisoners of war and concentration camp prisoners, as well as by the Norwegian authorities and ordinary citizens, will always remind us of them.
These are pages of our common history. It is our obligation and moral duty to protect them and pass them on to new generations. The lessons of the tragic pages of the history of the Cold War were taken into account, when during «Operation Asphalt» *, as a result of haste and negligence in transferring graves to Tjøtta Island, many memorials were destroyed. Today, Soviet military graves are kept in exemplary order, and painstaking work is underway to establish the names of Soviet prisoners of war who died in Nazi camps in the country.
It is an honour for me to stand here today with the descendants and numerous heirs of the Soviet Union’s victory in that war. There is no family in these parts that would not keep the memory of relatives and friends who encountered the war both in East Finnmark and on its many other fronts. I know that celebrations are being held in Russia today as well. In the border area and in Murmansk, local residents and guests from other regions carry flowers to monuments and honour veterans. They do not forget about their Norwegian friends and asked me to lay their wreath at the monument today.
Today we need to talk about another anniversary. On October 25, 1974, the Soviet-Norwegian film «Under Stone Sky» [presented later in this publication] was released. The film is based on real events. Evgeny Leonov, Oleg Yankovsky, Arne Lee and many other wonderful actors very accurately conveyed the heroism, self-sacrifice of ordinary Soviet soldiers and local residents who liberated Kirkenes to save the innocent. I will definitely review it today and recommend it to everyone.
Thanks for your attention!
Consul General N.A.Konygin
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* In 1951, the authorities conducted «Operation Asphalt» — the graves of Soviet soldiers were ravaged and the remains were taken to the island of Tjøtta, where they were buried in a common cemetery. The stated reason for this was the fear that visits to soldiers’ graves would become a cover for espionage operations of the Soviet intelligence.
Source in Russian and Norwegian
The Liberation of Finnmark
— a commentary by Maria Zaharova
On October 25, 1944, 80 years ago, during the final stage of the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation, the Red Army liberated from the Nazis the northern Norwegian city of Kirkenes and its environs – Eastern Finnmark, and then the entire territory of northeastern Norway up to the Tana River.
Every year on this day we remember the heroism of Soviet soldiers who fought on Norwegian soil. We pay tribute to the fallen heroes.
In total, the Red Army lost 6,084 people during the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation. In German concentration camps on the territory of Norway — and those were terrible places — 12,678 Soviet prisoners of war died.
In 1952, as a token of gratitude for the liberation, a monument to a Soviet soldier was erected near the center of Kirkenes (the Norwegian name translates as «Russian Monument»). The inscription on the pedestal is in Russian and Norwegian. It reads:
Inscription on the monument in Kirkenes: “To the Soviet Union’s brave soldiers in memory of the liberation of the city of Kirkenes 1944”
«To the brave Soviet soldiers in memory of the liberation of the city of Kirkenes in 1944.»
☝️ According to archival data, the surviving residential premises, food warehouses and other captured property were transferred by the Soviet side to the local population.
The supply of weapons and food to volunteer and other units of the Norwegian army was organised. Soviet troops also cleared the territory of mines, repaired roads, rebuilt bridges and other civilian infrastructure blown up by the Germans, and in every way contributed to the establishment of normal life for the Norwegian population.
✍️ On October 17, 1945, Norwegian Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen wrote in a message to the Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars I.V. Stalin (direct quote):
«The people of the Red Army strengthened the friendship between our two countries, and they left behind with the Norwegian people the feeling of gratitude and admiration for the great Soviet people.»
King Haakon VII of Norway, assessing the liberation mission of the USSR, noted:
«The war was won by the Red Army on the eastern front. It was this victory that led to the liberation of Norwegian territory in the North.»
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Maria Zaharova:
“We watch with sorrow as today in Norway our common military history is being turned into a hostage to opportunistic interests.
We are watching this with disgust.
Watching the attempts of some Norwegian politicians and so-called historians, as well as “experts” to “highlight” the merits of individual peoples of the USSR in the liberation of Northern Norway, to divide war monuments into so-called correct and incorrect, and to call for their demolition.
It has been noted many times that for us there is no such thing as “our” or “others” Victory.
It is one and only for everyone, back then they didn’t hesitate to pay any price for it *.
❗️ We will always remember the feats of soldiers-liberators. Participants in the polar convoys in the Barents Sea, resistance fighters and partisan detachments, ordinary residents of Norway who helped Soviet prisoners of war in fascist concentration camps and, together with the Red Army, drove the enemy out of their land.”
* Reference to the well-known song about war – «We need only one victory for all»
«We need only one victory for all»
Maria Zaharova, in her indignant comment above on the Norwegian historical amnesia, said:
It is one and only [victory] for everyone, back then they didn’t hesitate to pay any price for it.
The MFA spox thus made a reference to an iconic war song, that any Soviet person would recognise.
The song was written for the film «Belorussian Railway Station» which came to the silver screen in April of 1971 and quickly became a true classic, a quintessence of the ultimate goal of the fight against the fascist invaders.
And of course Zaharova is spot on as always implying that the United States of America is the heir to the 3rd Reich and that it was the same fight back then as that of Russia today against the vile ukro/NATO-nazism, and that of the Palestinians and their allies against the genocidal US Zionist attack dog.
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The English lyrics of the song
Lyrics and music by Bulat Okudzhava
The birds don’t sing here,
The trees don’t grow
And only we, shoulder to shoulder,
Are growing into the earth.
The planet is spinning aflame
Smoke rising over our Motherland.
And that means we need one victory!
One for everyone, we will pay any price.
One for everyone, we will pay any price.
[Chorus]:
The lethal fire is awaiting us,
And yet it is powerless.
Throwing doubts away, goes into the night
Our separate
Tenth commando battalion,
Tenth commando battalion.
As soon as the battle waned –
Sounds another order.
And the postman will lose his mind
While looking for us.
Red rocket is taking off,
The tireless machinegun is firing
And that means we need one victory!
One for everyone, we will pay any price.
One for everyone, we will pay any price.
[Chorus]
From Kursk and Orel
The war has taken us
Up to the enemy gates,
That’s how it goes, brother.
Someday we’ll remember all this
And will not believe it ourselves.
But now we need one victory!
One for everyone, we will pay any price.
One for everyone, we will pay any price.
[Chorus]
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A trivia about its creation
According to the idea of the director of the «Belorussian Railway Station» Andrei Smirnov, the author of the song of the tenth battalion was to be a direct participant in the War.
Therefore, he turned to the poet-veteran Bulat Okudzhava.
“I came to his house,” recalls A. S. Smirnov, “I told him about our work and my idea. Bulat Shalvovich listened to me and began to refuse:
— I’m not writing songs right now. I switched to prose. There’s a lot of work to do. Find someone else…
He resisted for a long time. I barely persuaded him to read at least the script of the picture. But it would have been better if I didn’t — the script did not make any impression on him. And then I took a desperate step — I decided to show him the footage taken by that time.
I brought him to Mosfilm and sat him down in the screening room… When the light came on, I saw that his eyes were burning, he was excited. He really liked it. So the only thing that inspired him to write the song was what he saw on the screen.”
Soon the song was ready.
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Other performances of the song:
👉 from the film «Belorussian Railway Station»
👉 by Valery Kipelov
👉 Russian Airborne March (with subtitles)
Under Stone Sky – Under en steinhimmel – Под каменным небом
This is a 1974 Norwegian-Soviet war film directed by Knut Andersen in cooperation between TeamFilm (Norway) and LenFilm (USSR).
October 1944. In the chain of crushing blows of the Soviet Army against the enemy, a new link appears — the Far North. The troops of the Karelian Front and the sailors of the Northern Fleet defeated the fascists in the Soviet Arctic and reached the state border with Norway. The Germans, retreating, use “scorched earth tactics” – not only equipment, weapons, provisions, but also people are being exported from the city of Kirkenes.
However, residents moved into the mine tunnels at Bjørnevatn in Eastern Finnmark. By the winter of 1944, the entire mountain was populated by between two and three thousand people. The question then was whether the Germans would hear about this and take action before the Russians managed to liberate the area.
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The film exists in two versions – a Norwegian undubbed (in German, Norwegian and Russian); and a Soviet dubbed to Russian.
👉 Reconstructed from NRK TV
👉 Unreconstructed with Norwegian subtitles
👉 LenFilm dubbed to Russian
👉 A program about the director Knut Andersen, aired at NRK TV on October 26, 2019.