Czechoslovaks in Norway during the Second World War

The temporary exhibition: “Czechoslovaks in Norway during the Second World War” is shown at Narvik War Museum in the period November 17th – December 1st 2022. The texts in the exhibition are in English.

How did it happen that thousands of Czechoslovak citizens ended up in Norway during the Second World War? Some of them had headed to Scandinavia before the war as refugees from Nazism. Others arrived because the Nazis had sent them here to do forced labour on fortifications for the Third Reich. Some got to Norway as soldiers in Allied armies. Others arrived in uniforms of the Wehrmacht. The exhibition reveals this colourful spectrum and tells of the lives of some of these people which intersected with those of the locals. It brings to light a forgotten chapter in the history of two small countries in the midst of a global conflict.

The exhibition is part of “Czechoslovaks in Norway during the Second World War” – a joint research and publication project of the Institute of Contemporary History (Czech Academ of Sciences) in Prague the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim and the Narvik War and Peace Centre.

The exhibition has been funded by the EEA and Norway Grants 2014-2021.

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