Leiv Kreyberg. An officer and a gentleman in the spring of peace 1945
A chronicle by Ronald Nystad-Rusaanes, conservator at Saltdal Folk Museum and the Blood Road Museum.
On May 8, 1945, Nazi Germany capitulated and peace came to Norway. Tens of thousands of Allied prisoners of war and German soldiers made Nordland county vulnerable to precarious conditions. From Drag to Mosjøen, the camps were densely packed. The choice to lead the so-called repatriation of the liberated prisoners of war fell on a doctor and major in the army's medical corps, Leiv Kreyberg (1896-1984):
"On May 11, I received orders from the Allied Zone Commander in Tromsø to go to Bodø where I arrived on May 14 with the following mandate: I was ordered as `Chief of all prison camps for all Allied prisoners of war in Nordland County.'" This meant responsibility for the approximately 30,000 prisoners from the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Poland who had enslaved and worked for the German occupation forces. At the same time, 50,000 German soldiers were to be kept in check. With a lack of food, medicine and guards, there was much room for both rebellion and chaos.
Kjemåga, May 1945. Leiv Kreyberg speaks to prisoners and soldiers. Peace has come, but a German non-commissioned officer still carries his Mauser bayonet in his belt. Photo: Nordlandsmuseet
During the war, Kreyberg had warned the Norwegian government in London several times about the situation that awaited Norway when peace came. As an officer in the army's medical service on the continent, Kreyberg had the experience in May 1945 to lead the order for: "practical execution of mass transfers of civilians and liberated prisoners, with mass feeding. Mass transport, mass examination, mass delousing, etc." The task was formidable, not least medically, given the thousands of vaccinations that had to be carried out.
In his book "The Liberation of Allied Prisoners in Nordland 1945" from 1946, Kreyberg writes that the stretch between Tysfjord and Mosjøen was divided into six "sections": Drag, Sørfold, Bodin, Fauske, Saltdal , Mo i Rana and Vefsen (Mosjøen). Saltdal with its seventeen prison camps, was the most in the whole country. The chief physician at Vensmoen sanatorium, Simen Frostad, was given responsibility for the medical, while Lieutenant Odd Mjelde from Company Linge and Sepals III over Graddis became the military superior.
When Saltdalen was occupied from 23 May 1940, it was a municipality with around 4,500 inhabitants. During the war, the village was occupied with an equal number of Germans and around 10,000 prisoners of war. Women and men from countries such as the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia – and Norway, also worked for the Germans on various conditions in Saltdal . By the end of the war, supply lines were strained with shortages of everything. Especially in the four prison camps on Saltfjellet, the situation was precarious, and not everyone had the health to survive the peace.
In the work of controlling the camps, the summer of 1945 would be an endless car ride on bad roads for Leiv Kreyberg. Not all places were equally bad. On May 14, Chief Physician Frostad wrote in a report about the Bakken camp in Rognan: "The health condition is good. No one has died in the 3 years the camp has existed, no prisoners have escaped." Other testimonies tell of men so emaciated that they were barely able to wear the rags they were wearing. May 23 from Trofors: "The houses bore the appearance of having been hastily put together from poor raw materials ... The Russians were sleeping in bunks that were placed on two levels ... The excrement in the camp was left uncovered and caused a considerable stench."
Help had to come quickly. Milorg's head for Nordland County, senior doctor Anton Johnson at the hospital in Bodø, headed a committee for emergency aid. In the days before the liberation, fish, cod liver oil and potatoes were sent out to the districts via local representatives. But since the capitulation had not been finally confirmed, the shipments were rejected in some places by German commanders.
If Leiv Kreyberg were to succeed in coordinating relief efforts, starving ex-prisoners, disillusioned German troops, and home front men in lousy jackets with Krag Jørgensen magazines, he would have to use all his pedagogical cleverness. For how could Kreyberg, with "70 men of the national police" plus a few officers, gain control over tens of thousands of prisoners of war and German soldiers?
And what about the German disarmament when there was also a need for their guard outside the camps? The "Capitulation Terms" stipulated that German officers could still have their pistols and 2 percent of the soldiers could keep their rifles to ensure peace and order. Under military control, the Germans were to disarm themselves. Allied commander General Thorne writes that this was "one of the most difficult questions" and that the "special treatment of the Germans" was specific to Norway: "The small available forces could not disarm, internecine, guard and administer the enemy."
A photograph from the Soviet camp at Kjemåga is striking. Leiv Kreyberg speaks to prisoners and soldiers, peace has come, but a German non-commissioned officer still carries his Mauser bayonet in his belt. Kreyberg expressed it this way: "the Russians were tramping around in their rags and seeing the Germans riding their fine horses, or driving in their elegant pictures in tight uniforms and polished shoes, and when they knew that the Germans drank good coffee, wine and French liqueurs in the camps".
There were also episodes where German soldiers stole from the load, because as Kreyberg writes: “They withheld the best food, hid potatoes, destroyed clothes, tools and cars, and harassed the Russians as often as possible.” Lieutenant Odd Mjelde has told of “rebellion” in the camp at Rusånes and where “the German guards were overly nervous.” In Berghulnes, a German guard was disarmed of his Colt and at Kjemåga, creative Soviets connected various parts together to form a machine gun. With promises of better conditions, the situation calmed down over the summer.
Kreyberg and his crew made the former Soviet prisoners aware that they were now soldiers in the Red Army. They were therefore encouraged to establish their own local "soviets"; with stewards, cooks, scribes and their own military police. In this mapping, those with medical expertise were also activated. The Soviets could thus run their own field hospitals, such as at Klungset outside Fauske. In some camps, Germans were also chased out of their barracks.
Leif Kreyberg's report book was published as early as 1946. Perhaps it is characterized by the marginal mood that prevailed when he writes that the better-off "Poles were our problem children". Another challenge to Kreyberg's patience were the constant visits of opportunistic Soviet officers to inspect the camps. They were condescending towards their own and accusatory towards Kreyberg and the Norwegian organization.
The war-torn Nordland that Major Kreyberg came to in May 1945 was, like the rest of the nation, poorly prepared for peace. Five years of war were not reorganized overnight through a capitulation. Militarily, the Germans were still the masters and disarmament took a long time. The fact that the process went as painlessly as in Nordland should not be attributed to Kreyberg alone. The Milorg departments, the police troops that came from Sweden, the Red Cross, Swedish aid in the form of both food and personnel, a little British support and a lot of German discipline all benefited the peace.
As a doctor, Leiv Kreyberg had extensive knowledge of both epidemics and deficiency diseases. And as a military man with experience from wartime Europe, the major could carry out his tasks with the authority that was necessary. Both towards released prisoners, SS officers and Soviet commanders. 85 years after peace, Leiv Kreyberg still deserves the title: "An officer and a gentleman."
Sources:
Leiv Kreyberg: "The Liberation of Allied Prisoners of War in Nordland 1945: An Account" (1946)
Odd Mjelde: "Memories. The War Years 1939–1945" (2020)
Saltdalsboka 1980: "Odd Mjelde is interviewed about sabotage and the opening of the prison camps in 1945" (by Arild S. Ellefsen)
Anders Gogstad: "The Year of Great Challenges" (2005)
"The General of Peace. General Sir Andrew Thorne's reports from the liberation of Norway 1945"
