COMMENTS TO THE SMALL BOOK, A PHOTO, A NORWEGIAN SOLDIER AND THE ESTONIA IN WWII
Bergum was his name. Thorvald Sandli Bergum.Age: Nineteen years of age. The year is 1944.The date is February 26. The Norwegian SS-Sturmann Thorvald is killed in action fighting the Russian soldiers. The Norwegian soldier is unknown to me. No photo of the young soldier has been published. I do not know his face. But three photos of his destroyed grave at Kreenholm close to Narva in Estonia have I seen. After having read the book about Estonia and the Second World War, written by Mart Laar, I returned to page 36 to study a photo of destroyed graves. I knew I had seen the photo in one or another book. "... German Army Soldiers'graves and corpses. Narva front,February 1944...". The text is put above the photo to tell you about the content of the photo. Three graves are shown. The grave in the middle of the three is the destroyed grave to the young Norwegian soldier, Thorvald Bergum. He was killed at Vaivara, Estonia and he was a soldier in 11. SS-Division Nordland, 23. SS-Panzergrenadier-regiment Norge(Norway),company six. Information about him is published in the book: " De som falt. Nordmenn drept i tysk krigstjensete ", NRK Aktivum.2009. The book is written by the Norwegian NRK jounalist Eirik Veum in close coopertion with Geir Brenden.I have written a review of the book and I remembered the photo mentioned. The photo is also published in Eirik Veum's book on page 251.
But the text about the content of the photo differ. Soldiers from 11.SS-Division Nordland are buried at Kreenholm close to Narva where also the Headquarter for the
11.SS-Division Nordland and 23. SS-Panzergrenadierregiment Norge is situated. It is
not a nice picture and a view is not recommended for those of you whose nerves are not in shape for unpleasant impressions.But I recalled having seen the photo in another book? Correct. I attended a seminar in Oslo some years ago dealing with the problems of those who had sided with the German occupants of Norway 1940-44. The seminar was was a good one chaired by professor Hans Fredrik Dahl. I met two interesting persons at the seminar: Geir Brenden and Fredrik Jensen. Geir Brenden is
a photo collector. He has a private collection of pictures taken by Norwegians
fighting for the Germans. Many of the pictures are taken during the fight in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Fredrik Jensen from Oslo had volunteered for Regiment
Nordland but came to the division Das Reich. He won the highest German military decoration during the war: The German Cross in gold. After having being wounded, he
completed the officer-school in Bad Tølz, Germany.I asked him about the reason for risking his life fighting on the Eastern from knowing that Norway was allied to the Russians. "... The reason was his anti-communist attitude and the fear of the Russian
regime... and I was wounded more five times fighting the communists " he told me.
For his age he looked well and he is still defending his choice. Anyway I bought a
book at the seminar from Geir Brenden: " Nordmenn på Østfronten.Deres egen historie i
bilder " by Egil Ulateig and Geir Brenden. At page 110 I found the wanted picture.
The same photo published in the book: " Estonia in world war II " and also published
in the book." De som falt. Nordmenn drept i tysk krigstjeneste. ". The English text
explaining the content: "... The graveyard of Division Nordland on the island Kreenholm by Narva. The losses in the course of a few days were so grate that the dead were waiting in queue to be buried. Many Norwegians were buried here. The Russians destroyed the graveyard when they took Narva...". So far this book. A history not wanted and forgotten by many Norwegians after the war but still a part of the history of the Second world war written by those who lost the war.
But let us return to the small but important book written by Mart Laar. 71 pages of
military history of Estonia. A history of a country who was occupied by the Russians
and later on by the Germans. The Estonia population had to make a choice. Many sided with the Russians and many joined the German Army and a third front was established too to fight for the independence of Estonia. The fight for a free Estonia has not been talked about after the war. For many Estonians the fight was not ended in 1945.
The guerrilla warfare in Estonian forests and marshes continued for more than a decade. The country was occupied by the USSR. The story of Estonia is a dramatic and a tragic story. Some figures about the situation: About 30 000 were killed in battles. About 80 000 people fled abroad. Estonia became independent in 1991.
In 1974, the late Norwegian politician, Haakon Lie, wrote a book about the Norwegian Communist Party and the German-Russian agreement of 1939-41. The small book is written by a man who never trusted the Russians and the history of the Baltic countries are a topic for the book too. The title of the book is: " Hvem kan vi stole på? En dokumentasjon om Norges Kommunistiske Parti under den tysk-russiske alliansen 1939-1941 " .
Mart Laar (b.1960) is an Estonian statesman, historian and a founding member of the
Foundation for the Investigation of Communist Crimes. He was the Prime Minister of Estonia from 1992 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2002.
The book about Estonia and the WWII was given me during the conference of The Baltic
Audiovisual Archival Council(BAAC) in Tartu, Estonia, 2008.
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