At the end of our trip on the Hurtigruten we spent a day in Kirkenes. On a city tour we visited a World War II bomb shelter in a mine at Andersgrotta in the city center. A half hour film about the war in this area is shown in English, German and Norwegian.
We also drove a very short distance to the larger mines at Bjornevatn. These are iron ore mines.
Nearly 2,000 people sought shelter in there mines for 2 months in the autumn of 1944, while Germans razed the town and the Russians fought their way forward to liberate it on October 26. Ten children were born in the mines during that time.
I can tell you, we were there in July and it was freezing!
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on May 27, 2006
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