Befrielsen - "Liberation". Impressive photo album documenting the liberation of Norway at the end of World War II - 150 historical photographs taken by the photographers Odd Helland and Edmund Johansen who captured with their camera the return of the Norwegian soldiers, and the Norwegian government home, and the events of the victory celebrations in the streets of Norway - important photographs of liberated prisoners, the return of the government in exile, victory parades of Norwegian soldiers alongside American soldiers, mass celebrations in the streets, the return of the king, and many more. All the photographs in the album were taken between May 8, 1945 and July 4, 1945 and they are neatly dated in handwriting by the graphic artist Arne Larno in the body of the album (in Norwegian). Larno even added short victory poems on some of the pages.
Among the photographs appearing in the album:
The political prisoners are released, the Allies arrive in Oslo for the first time, an excited prisoner who escaped death, the masses waiting for the Allies, Crown Prince Olav arrives! The Crown Prince greets Norway, the Prime Minister of the Norwegian government in exile during its occupation by the Nazis Johan Nygaardsvold, Norwegian police soldiers returning from Sweden, Norwegian officers returning from German prison, General Ruge returns home from German prison, the mass victory march on June 7, 1945, the government in exile returns to the House of Representatives after 5 years of exile, the destruction of the signs put up by the Germans, the soldiers of the 99th Norwegian-American Battalion in the parade of honor on the Victory Tank, Allied Day in Oslo, Russian officers alongside Allied officers in the celebrations, the Crown Prince of Norway and General Summers, American units in the July 4, 1945 parade, a series of photographs documenting the return home of King Haakon VII of Norway, coffee returns to be marketed to the Norwegian people, Soviet soldiers celebrating alongside Norwegian soldiers, and many more.
During World War II, the Kingdom of Norway was mostly occupied by Nazi Germany, despite declaring neutrality. The German occupation of Norway began on April 9, 1940, after German forces invaded the neutral country. About 80,000 Norwegians fled the country during the war years. On May 8, an Allied military delegation arrived in Oslo to announce the terms of surrender to the Germans, and arranged the surrender, which took effect at midnight. The terms included the German high command agreeing to arrest and hand over all members of the German and Norwegian Nazi parties to the Allies, the disarmament of all SS personnel, and the sending of all German forces to designated areas. Following the surrender, units of Norwegian soldiers and Allied forces were sent to Norway. Representatives of the Norwegian civilian authorities came immediately after these military forces, with Crown Prince Olav arriving in Oslo on May 14, with a delegation of 21 Norwegian government personnel. Finally, on June 7, which was also the 40th anniversary of the dissolution of the union of Norway and Sweden, King Haakon VII and the rest of the royal family arrived in Oslo.
Album: 31x24 cm. Photographs: 10x7 cm. Very good condition.
