WEBVTT 00:00:00.340 --> 00:00:03.540 After the German occupation of Norway in April 1940 00:00:03.700 --> 00:00:06.620 there was the story of your captivity as a prisoner of war. 00:00:06.720 --> 00:00:09.460 Willy Brandt in a Norwegian army uniform. 00:00:09.560 --> 00:00:15.280 But even there your identity was not uncovered. 00:00:15.480 --> 00:00:18.220 It was a critical situation, you see. 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:20.480 In early May 1940, 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:24.320 I was in a valley on the western coast, 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:27.540 north of a little town 00:00:27.640 --> 00:00:29.780 called Åndalsnes, 00:00:29.880 --> 00:00:33.580 where the English disembarked around 1 May, 00:00:33.680 --> 00:00:36.060 perhaps exactly on 1 May, 00:00:36.160 --> 00:00:38.620 as well as a little more towards the north. 00:00:38.720 --> 00:00:41.500 So they'd landed there, did nothing, 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:44.300 and were evacuated. 00:00:44.400 --> 00:00:48.180 It was clear that the area would become occupied by the Germans. 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:50.620 I met some friends there, 00:00:50.720 --> 00:00:53.740 and wondered what to do next. 00:00:55.840 --> 00:00:59.780 Should we try to get over the mountains on ski? 00:00:59.980 --> 00:01:02.980 I didn't know the area well enough. 00:01:03.080 --> 00:01:06.100 Otherwise, that would have been a possibility. 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:09.780 Or do you act as if you're a civilian 00:01:09.880 --> 00:01:13.260 and go through the probable border security 00:01:13.360 --> 00:01:15.700 to Oslo? 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:21.500 This meant coming into undesired contact with the secret police, 00:01:21.600 --> 00:01:26.000 or as we referred to them at the time, the Gestapo. 00:01:26.160 --> 00:01:29.740 Or, after careful consideration, we pondered: 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:32.380 Do you put on a uniform 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:36.460 and let yourself be imprisoned with the other Norwegians? 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:39.300 This means you'll not have to deal with 00:01:39.400 --> 00:01:43.420 the organs of the German secret police, 00:01:43.520 --> 00:01:45.180 but with the German military, 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:48.860 hoping that the process will not take long. 00:01:48.960 --> 00:01:51.140 This idea paid off. 00:01:51.240 --> 00:01:55.180 The only risk involved was, firstly, 00:01:55.320 --> 00:02:00.940 that someone might blow the whistle on me, 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:02.980 someone who knew me. 00:02:03.080 --> 00:02:06.180 But this risk was low. 00:02:06.280 --> 00:02:11.220 There were few sympathizers of National Socialism in Norway. 00:02:11.320 --> 00:02:13.500 The second risk was that friends in Oslo 00:02:13.640 --> 00:02:17.060 were just about to mobilize the Red Cross. 00:02:17.160 --> 00:02:20.180 It could have proven fatal 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:22.700 if they had followed them... 00:02:22.840 --> 00:02:26.980 What do you mean by "mobilizing the Red Cross"? - 00:02:27.080 --> 00:02:29.460 To search for me. 00:02:29.700 --> 00:02:32.440 Under which name were you captivated? 00:02:32.540 --> 00:02:33.700 Willy Brandt. 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:37.860 I had thrown away all the papers that contained the name Willy Brandt, 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:41.580 and was given a certificate. 00:02:41.740 --> 00:02:43.860 I wasn't the only one 00:02:43.960 --> 00:02:47.020 who didn't have papers, considering the chaos there. 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:50.620 So I got another paper, 00:02:50.720 --> 00:02:54.860 signed by a Captain Nippus, I remember. 00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:57.060 On it was stated 00:02:57.160 --> 00:03:04.000 that Willy Brandt had been in the Dovre barracks from then to then. 00:03:04.320 --> 00:03:07.420 "Lodging from then to then." 00:03:07.600 --> 00:03:09.520 "Pay from this date to that." 00:03:09.620 --> 00:03:12.780 It said that I was paid a daily fixed rate. 00:03:12.880 --> 00:03:19.200 And that I now had the right to go to my hometown in Oslo. 00:03:19.460 --> 00:03:24.500 You got your uniform from none other than Paul Gauguin, 00:03:24.600 --> 00:03:28.000 not the great painter, 00:03:28.100 --> 00:03:30.760 but one of his grandchildren. 00:03:30.860 --> 00:03:34.760 A good painter too, though not as famous as his grandfather.