Mørsvikbotn

Mørsvikbotn is a small village located in the north of Sørfold in northern Norway. Mørsvikbotn has a school, a grocery shop, a small church, an aquaculture co-op and a few camping sites.

World War II in Mørsvikbotn

Five kilometers north of Mørsvikbotn lies the lake Mørsvikvatnet. In this area, Mørsry, the German army had a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, the German Army soldiers serving here where from Austria, housing mostly Russian POWs. They were building a railway, which was intended to be a link between Fauske and Narvik. This was to be the so-called “Polarbanen” (The arctic railway)

Some ruins of the camp, the foundations of the causeway for the railway, a tunnel and roads can still be observed. A small, now empty, cemetery for fallen Russian soldiers is located close to the camp, fifty meters on the left hand side just before the single concrete bridge. The Camp Commander was considered by the locals to be quite "humane", and German and Austrian visitors to this village in the years after the war (and even today) has always been warmly received. Only a very few Russian POWs were shot or died of exhaustion during the 5 long years of war. The small camp cemetery was emptied for corpses shortly after the War. Their remains now rest with some 8000 other POW's at a large War Cemetery at Tjøtta, south of Sandnessjøen. Dead east European POWs in North Norway was buried at Tjøtta War Cemetery under "Operation Asfalt" in the early 1950s, due to the uprising of the cold war.
Some escapes are known by the Norwegian population living close to the camp; The first escape was from the small subsidiary camp at “Sildhopen). The local German guard trusted the Red Army POWs. And one late evening, after some alcohol consumption, one of the Russians used an ax on the guard's head. Thereafter the POWs escaped east over the mountains. For unknown reasons they went the wrong direction after the climb over first mountain, and headed south down to Kobbvatn. They were then recaptured. They were brought back to Mørsry, and executed while standing with their backs to a large stone. There were bullet marks for many years after the war on this stone. This stone is located at the end of the road that goes north of Mørsvikvatnet (some 50-60 meters into the woods on the left side!)

Another escape by Polish workers (probably not POWs but two Poles who had been forced to a work camp!), from a nearby camp, Toemmernesset, escaped to Sweden via Mørsvikvatnet. Some say the two young Poles came from the camp at Mørsry. They were helped by a local, Alfred M. Iversen, who happened to meet them in the area. He promised he would meet them at the shores of a small lake the following Sunday. This was “Lisjvatnet”, a small lake in the same valley as Sildhopvatnet. So the following Sunday he met them there bringing equipment (skis, and clothes) and a bottle of vodka. Giving them a good description of how to find their way to Sweden. ". He also gave them his address, so that they could "send him a postcard from Sweden". This they did (after the war!) One of them, Aleksander Robaszkiewicz, then living in Australia, visited Mørsvikbotn in the late 1990s. But did not meet his helper Alfred M. Iversen, as he died some years before. This last event is mentioned in an article written by Kåre Breivik in "Årbok for Sørfold" (Yearbook for Soerfold County, printed a.d. 2000) page 25.
Another escape from the camp in Mørsry, or possible an escape from a labor team. The POW was recaptured somewhere north of Tennvannet / Tennvasskollen, and was shot nearby on the north-west shore of that lake. This was observed by then nearby living Reidar Kirkfjell and his wife Ninni.

External links

• Color photos taken by a German priest of the German camp in 1943-1945
• Some photos taken by a German tourist visiting this area

Coordinates: 67°42′N 15°51′E / 67.7°N 15.85°E / 67.7; 15.85