The Forgotten Massacres of Defenseless Soldiers in WWII
287 Yugoslav Prisoners Executed by Nazi Guards in Norway: Beisfjord Massacre
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On 18 July 1942, in the prison camp at Beisfjord near Narvik in northern Norway, 287 Yugoslav prisoners were murdered by German and Norwegian guards. Officially justified as a measure to stop a typhus outbreak, the massacre was in reality the deliberate killing of prisoners considered too weak to work.
Deported from the fascist Independent State of Croatia and forced into brutal labour camps built to support the German occupation of Norway, the prisoners endured starvation, disease, and constant violence. When the order came from Reichskommissar Josef Terboven, the sick were separated, mass graves were dug, and the killings began. Some were shot at the edge of the pits, while others were burned alive inside the camp barracks.
The Beisfjord massacre remains the largest known mass killing of prisoners on Norwegian soil during the Second World War. After the war, several perpetrators were captured, extradited to Yugoslavia, and executed for their crimes, while the victims are commemorated at a memorial established at the site in 1949.
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