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Norway

Crown Prince Haakon walks the “Refugee Route”: Day 2

Crown Prince Haakon of Norway

Crown Prince Haakon is currently walking parts of the Norwegian Refugee Route to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Norway following the German occupation. His Royal Highness will walk parts of the Refugee Route from Oslo to the Swedish border from 26 to 28 August. The trip aims to shed light on the history of the liberation.

The walk started on Wednesday when Crown Prince Haakon walked the western part of the route close to the capital of Oslo. On Thursday, the walk continued on the central part of the route.

In the first part of the walk on Thursday, Crown Prince Haakon met the youth section of Norway’s Tourist Association who walked parts of the day with the Crown Prince and his tour-party. By the lake “Nordre Hallangen”, the Crown Prince and his tour group was received by the mayor of Aurskog-Høland, Gudbrand Kvaal. At this place a short ceremony was held at the memorial-statue for Norway`s border guards, couriers and helpers.

Simen Løvberg Sund, Det kongelige hoff

At the farm of Malnes, Crown Prince Haakon was received by Magne and Marit Malnes, descendants of border-couriers who helped about 1.000 refugees during the war. They are both members of the refugee-route’s association which receives school classes to educate them on this important part of Norwegian history. The farm of Malnes played an important role in refugee transport during World War II.

At Malnes, Crown Prince Haakon also met with two contemporary witnesses who in different ways have experienced war and escape from Norway. Crown Prince Haakon talked to Gerd Golombek who fled as a 12-year-old barely avoiding deportation to Auschwitz as a Norwegian Jew. Crown Prince Haakon also spoke to Bjørn Lybæk who helped his father transport refugees through the forests of eastern Norway.

The Refugee Route is a route about ten miles long and was used by many people during World War Two to get to freedom in Sweden. The route starts in Oslo and goes through the great forests of eastern Norway to the Norwegian Border-crossing Museum, only a few kilometres from the border to Sweden. A detour also goes to Skillingmark in Värmland, where there was a refugee reception centre during the war.

About author

Senior Europe Correspondent Oskar Aanmoen has a master in military and political history of the Nordic countries. He has written six books on historical subjects and more than 1.500 articles for Royal Central. He has also interview both Serbian and Norwegian royals. Aanmoen is based in Oslo, Norway.