We have received the sad news that Mr. Jaromír Šimr - the last living surviving survivor of wartime Norway - died at the beginning of November 2024 at the age of 101. It was an honour to have worked with Mr. Šimr.
We will not forget his colourful story and the joy in his eyes when we recalled the names of his friends with whom he spent three years of forced labour behind the Arctic Circle.
You can read an interview with Mr. Šimr about his deployment in Norway in the publication Sent North: 20 Stories.
Explore the stories of Czechs in forced labour in Norway.
We would like to thank the descendants of the Noraci and especially Mr. Jar. Šimr, the last Czech survivor of forced labour in Norway, for their warm cooperation.
The National Archives of Norway in Oslo recently made archival documents from World War II available. A central file of forced deployed foreigners in Norway was found among the materials of the German occupation authorities. 1534 personal cards from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia were found in the file cabinet, which register a total of 1366 persons. These were men born between 1890 and 1924. During the team's work meeting at the beginning of October in Oslo, the file was studied and the work cards of Czech workers were scanned. We would like to make the cards available on this website in the coming months. We are negotiating the permission of the National Archives in Oslo.
