Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg has issued an official government apology to Norwegian women who were mistreated over World War Two-era relationships with German soldiers.
Up to 50,000 Norwegian women are thought to have had intimate relationships with German soldiers.
The Germans were also encouraged to have children with them by SS leader Heinrich Himmler.
Himmler, one of the most powerful men under Adolf Hitler, favoured Norwegian women, hoping they could help promote the Nazi concept of an Aryan master race.
The women who had relationships with the soldiers became known by the nickname the “German Girls”, and were targeted for reprisals in Norway when the war ended – standing accused of betraying the country.
Punishments included being deprived of civil rights, detained or expelled from the country to Germany along with their children.
“Young Norwegian girls and women who had relations with German soldiers or were suspected of having them, were victims of undignified treatment,” Ms Solberg said at an event to mark the 70th anniversary of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights on October 17.
Source: BBC
