Operation Blumenpflücken () was a counter- resistance operation in

occupied Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the World War II, Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the Norwegian Campaign, German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi G ...

, planned and carried out by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

Sicherheitspolizei The often abbreviated as SiPo, is a German term meaning "security police". In the Nazi Germany, Nazi era, it referred to the state political and criminal investigation security agency, security agencies. It was made up by the combined forces of ...

in 1944 and early 1945. It was planned by Ernst Weiner, and was a part of the ''Gegenterror'' organized to weaken the Norwegian resistance. The purpose was not to terrorize or liquidate central resistance leaders, but rather to capture and kill other known Norwegians and hide the real purpose. According to

Arnfinn Moland Arnfinn Moland (born 25 August 1951) is a Norwegian historian. He was born in Kvinesdal. He finished his secondary education in Flekkefjord in 1970, served in His Majesty the King's Guard from 1973 to 1974, and graduated from the University of O ...

, the killings were made to look like actions by the Norwegian resistance (Home Front), specifically the

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

parts of it. Many believed the deception well into the 1990s. Egil Ulateig's 1996 book ''Med rett til å drepe'', with consultant help from

Hans Fredrik Dahl Hans Fredrik Dahl (born 16 October 1939) is a Norwegian historian, journalist and media scholar, best known in the English-speaking world for his biography of Vidkun Quisling, a Nazi collaborationist and Minister President for Norway during the ...

, made such a claim about two of the Blumenpflücken victims. During the war, even some of the German participants thought the initiative had come from Siegfried Fehmer or the

Reichskommissariat Norwegen The Norwegen was the Reichskommissariat, occupation regime set up by Nazi Germany in Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, German-occupied Norway during World War II. Its full title in German was the ("Reich Commissariat for the Occupied Norweg ...

. Arnfinn Moland also claimed that the Norwegian Nazi police

Statspolitiet (; shortened STAPO) was from 1941 to 1945 a National Socialist armed police force that consisted of Norwegian officials after Nazi German pattern. It operated independently of the ordinary Norwegian police. The force was established on 1 June 1 ...

were not informed. Historian

Tore Pryser Tore Pryser (born 9 January 1945) is a Norwegian historian who has served as professor at the Lillehammer University College since 1993. Born in Oslo, he took a cand.philol. degree at the University of Oslo. He was appointed at the Lillehamme ...

has stated that Statspolitiet were indeed involved. According to Moland, Weiner participated and, between 12 June and 1 July 1944, shot the first three of the eleven victims,

Einar Hærland Einar Hærland (3 January 1909 – 12 June 1944) was a Norwegian military officer who was executed during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. He was born in Solum to Ole Hærland and his wife Marie, née Knudsen. Einar Hærland married, ...

(long thought to have been liquidated by Norwegians),

Sigurd Roll Sigurd Emil Roll (14 October 1893 – 24 June 1944) was a Norwegian diplomat and former sprinter who was executed during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. His brother William was a US diplomat. Early life and family Roll was born in C ...

and Gunnar Spangen.Moland, 1999: p. 285 According to

Berit Nøkleby Berit Nøkleby (25 September 1939 – 26 July 2018) was a Norwegian historian. She was born in Drammen, and is a cand.philol. by education. She has contributed to several books on the German occupation of Norway. She wrote book II and IV of ...

in ''

Norsk krigsleksikon 1940-45 Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *Norwegian language, including the two ...

'', a woman named Sigrid Hammerø was also killed, the operation's only female victim. The next seven killings took place in November and December 1944. The first was carried out by two Norwegian perpetrators and a German helper, Erwin Morio. The next three were carried out by Germans only; Heinz Vierke was legally acquitted for one killing during the

legal purge in Norway after World War II The legal purge in Norway after World War II (; ) took place between May 1945 and August 1948 against anyone who was found to have Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, collaborated with the German occupation of Norway, German occupat ...

. The next killing was by two Norwegians. The last three were carried out by Nickerl (first name unknown, participated twice) or Heinz Vierke (once) with Norwegian helpers. The last victim, Georg Henrik Resch, killed in Drammen on 6 January 1945, was the wrong person. Two attempts failed, one on 4 September 1944 and the other on 30 October 1944. All but three killings took place in

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 ...

or Aker. Of the eleven killings that went to trial after the war, there were convictions in each case, except the one with Heinz Vierke. Ernst Weiner was among the arrested, but was said to have shot himself and a fellow inmate while in prison. Historian

has cast some doubt on the "official version" that this was a suicide.Pryser, 2000: pp. 65–66

Bibliography

* Christopher Hals Gylseth: ''Operasjon Blumenpflücken: Gestapos hemmelige terrorplan''. Aschehoug 2013, .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blumenpflucken 1944 in Norway 1945 in Norway Gestapo Military history of Norway during World War II Norwegian resistance movement World War II deception operations Nazi war crimes