Ånebyleiren (Aneby detention camp) was the first

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

prison camp in the

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

area, and the second in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

after

Ulven Ulven is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Kjetil Ulven (born 1967), Norwegian ski-orienteering competitor * Per Ulven (1925–2009), Norwegian harness racer * Tor Ulven (1953–1995), Norwegian poet See also * Ulven detention ...

near

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

. Six

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

were built on

stilts Stilts are poles, posts or pillars that allow a person or structure to stand at a height above the ground. In flood plains, and on beaches or unstable ground, buildings are often constructed on stilts to protect them from damage by water, wav ...

from the autumn of 1940 to the spring of 1941. The prison camp was located in a field near Fossen farm, north of the current gas station in

Hakadal Hakadal is a village in the northern part of Nittedal municipality in Akershus, Norway. The village and parish is the site of Hakadal Church (''Hakadal Kirke''). Hakadal Church dates to around 1610 and was originally constructed in a rectangu ...

. The Germans called their camps in Norway " Häftlingslager".

Prisoners

The first prisoners were the 97 hostages taken by the Germans after the British commando raid on Lofoten on March 4, 1941. These prisoners spent four days onboard the troop transport ship "Bretagne" before arriving at the harbor in

Svolvær (Norwegian language, Norwegian, ), , or is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town and the administrative centre of Vågan Municipality in Nordland County, Norway. It is located on the island of Austvågøya in the Lofoten archipelago, alon ...

where they were then moved by train to

. After an initial stay in

Møllergata 19 Møllergata 19 is an address in Oslo, Norway, where the city's main police station and jail was located. The address gained notoriety during the German occupation from 1940 to 1945, when the Nazi security police kept its headquarters here. This ...

, they arrived at Ånebyleiren on 15 March 1941. The prisoners were numbered from 1 and up. The last number assigned to an Åneby prisoner was 184, and the prisoner numbers at

Grini detention camp Grini prison camp (, ) was a Nazi concentration camp in Bærum, Norway, which operated between 1941 and May 1945. Ila Detention and Security Prison is now located here. History Grini was originally built as a women's prison, near an old croft ...

continued directly from this. In addition to the hostages, there were many who were imprisoned for minor acts of resistance, such as the demolition of posters or illegal newspapers, or for fighting with German soldiers.

Leadership

The commander's name was Georg Angerer and he was, among other things, head of security for the Germans in Møllergata 19. He had been a German spy in 1934 when he came to Norway as a refugee. Angerer disappeared from Ånebyleiren after only five days. After a short time,

Obersturmführer __NOTOC__ (, ; short: ''Ostuf'') was a Nazi Germany paramilitary ranks, Nazi Germany paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organisations, such as the Sturmabteilung, SA, Schutzstaffel, SS, National Socialist Motor Corps, NSKK and the ...

Hermann Koch (nicknamed "Stormfyrsten" by the prisoners) joined the leadership. He then went on to become the first commander of the

Notable prisoners

* Ole Siem * Nils Hønsvald * Thorleif Karlsen * Moritz Rabinowitz

References

World War II prisoner-of-war camps in Norway Nazi concentration camps in Norway The Holocaust {{Prison-stub