HIMMLERS VALKYRJER: FRONT SISTERS ON THE EASTERN FRONT

Eirik Gripp Bay: Himmlers valkyrjer. Frontsøstrene på østfronten. Cappelen Damm.2017.

The Norwegian teacher in history Eirik Gripp Bay has written and published a book about the Norwegian Red Cross nurses who served on the Eastern front during the Second World War. The Norwegian Red Cross supported the work of the German Red Cross. The main aim of the work of the nurses was to make it possible for the wounded soldiers to return to the battlefields as soon as possible. The German attack on Russia in 1941 was the beginning of a terrible brutal and inhuman war. Germany wanted to make it possible for Germans and Norwegians too to settle in the new occupied places and countries. The official statement made by the Nazi- government of Germany about the reason for the war, was that the fight against communism was a fight for Western civilization. It was a wanted war. We have to make an end of the horrible communist regime of Russia.

The official statements made by the nurses of the Norwegian Red Cross after the end of the war, were that they all served the German army as nurses only. The Norwegian Red Cross was a part of the German Red cross. The girls who joined the fight on the Eastern front were young, wanted an education as nurse only and had no knowledge of the political conflicts and issues concerning the German attack on Russia. The Norwegian authorities did not believe the stories told by the nurses when they were accused of having supported the German army fighting in Russia.

Eirik Gripp Bay has studied the documents about the front sisters. The front sisters were treated as traitors after the war and sentenced for treason. The Norwegian Red Cross nurses were of the opinion that the sentence was unfair and unjust. They had just done the work they were supposed to do as members of the international Red Cross organization.

The main question to be asked was: Did the Norwegian nurses know about the link between the German Army and the German Red Cross? Were the front sisters politically involved in the fight against Russia?

Few of the nurses admitted that they had any political interests in the war at all. They should see to it that the wounded soldiers were taken care of in a good way.

The result of the studies of the situation of the nurses were not a result in favour of the nurses. No. On the contrary: They knew more about the brutal war than they wanted to tell when they returned to Norway.

Some of the nurses made public interviews about the work they did and why they did it.

The late Norwegian Red Cross nurse, Aase Grill Fasting, was interviewed in the Norwegian newspaper, Drammens Tidende, October 5, 2011, about her political approach to the war and her work as a nurse for the German Army. She was still convinced that her fight was a just one. She was a member of The right-wing party called  ” Nasjonal Samling “ –Norwegian for National Unity. She supported the German occupation of Norway and the German war against communism. She was not an innocent, young girl without any knowledge of the reasons for the war.

The research work done by the author has revealed that most of the front sisters knew what when on at the battlefields. War crimes were committed at sites, cities and countries were the nurses worked. No information is given in the book that they participated in war crimes. But they must have understood what went on. Jews were killed. Villages were burned down. People were killed. The German war on Russia was a brutal war.

The most shocking news revealed in the book is the story of the Norwegian front sister, Jane Lillian Steen.  She married an Austrian named Frantz Kutschera. He was SS- Brigadefuhrer. In the city of Mogilev he was responsible for the killing about 21 500 Jews. Later on he was moved to Poland where he acted very brutal. The Polish Resistance movement assassinated him on February 1, 1944.

When Jane Lillian Steen was sentenced for having assisted the German Army, nobody knew about her relationship with the Austrian mass murder.

The war crimes committed by the German soldiers were not on the agenda when the nurses were sentenced for treason.

Deutsche Rote Kreuz – The German Red Cross – was a part of the German military organization set up to support the German Army at all costs. The nurses were trained in Nazi ideology, in National Socialism genetics, racial hygiene and racial history .

The main conclusion of the facts presented in this book is that the Norwegian Red Cross nurses knew about the reasons for the work they had to do. Many of the nurses were also members of the Norwegian National Socialist Party (Nasjonal Samling). Any involvement with the German with the German Red Cross society was considered as an act of treason by Norwegian Authorities.

The Norwegian teacher in history, Eirik Gripp Bay, has done a good work. The book is based on his Master degree from 2014: “ Historien om frontsøstrene. De norske frontsøstrenes historie i et nytt lys.” Institutt for arkeologi, konservering og historie. Masteroppgave i historie. Universitetet i Oslo.

Photos byTedd Urnes

Photos from The German Red Cross, Berlin