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Historie

How did they get home after the war?

At the end of the war the forced  workers together with other foreigners were assembled in camps by Norwegian and allied authorities. The forced workers had the status of displaced persons . At the camps they were identified by Czechoslovakian officers  from the London government. The officers guaranteed their repatriation to their homeland. During the summer 1945 several repatriation transports were effected from Norway.

The repatriation included around 800 Czech forcibly displaced workers and also around 3.000 Czechoslovakian citizens (mostly Germans from Sudetenland) in the service of Wehrmacht.  For the repatriation of the Czechoslovaks the transport went by train to Oslo, boat to Denmark or Germany and from there by train home. A few, and mostly the married ones, went by airplane to Germany and then train home. Most came home in September, the last ones in November 1945.

Ludvík J. Halásek from Havířov described the journey from Trondheim to Oslo like this:

"The train was filled with music and dance, several had music instruments and bands were made. On every station groups of Norwegians greeted us and since people knew that the train was expected to stop here and there, we were everywhere welcomed. On the wagons was written: Long live Czechoslovakia and long live Norway!"

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