WEBVTT

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After the German occupation 
of Norway in April 1940

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there was the story of your captivity 
as a prisoner of war.

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Willy Brandt
in a Norwegian army uniform.

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But even there your identity 
was not uncovered.

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It was a critical situation, you see.

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In early May 1940,

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I was in a valley
on the western coast,

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north of a little town

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called Åndalsnes,

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where the English disembarked
around 1 May,

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perhaps exactly on 1 May,

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as well as a little more
towards the north.

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So they'd landed there, did nothing,

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and were evacuated.

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It was clear that the area 
would become occupied by the Germans.

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I met some friends there,

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and wondered what to do next.

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Should we try to get
over the mountains on ski?

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I didn't know the area
well enough.

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Otherwise,
that would have been a possibility.

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Or do you act as if you're a civilian

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and go through
the probable border security

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to Oslo?

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This meant coming into undesired
contact with the secret police,

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or as we referred to them at the time,
the Gestapo.

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Or, after careful consideration,
we pondered:

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Do you put on a uniform

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and let yourself be imprisoned
with the other Norwegians?

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This means
you'll not have to deal with

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the organs
of the German secret police,

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but with the German military,

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hoping that the process
will not take long.

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This idea paid off.

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The only risk involved was, firstly,

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that someone might blow the whistle on me,

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someone who knew me.

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But this risk was low.

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There were few sympathizers
of National Socialism in Norway.

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The second risk was
that friends in Oslo

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were just about to mobilize
the Red Cross.

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It could have proven fatal

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if they had followed them...

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What do you mean
by "mobilizing the Red Cross"? -

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To search for me.

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Under which name were you captivated?

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Willy Brandt.

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I had thrown away all the papers
that contained the name Willy Brandt,

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and was given a certificate.

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I wasn't the only one

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who didn't have papers,
considering the chaos there.

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So I got another paper,

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signed by a Captain Nippus,
I remember.

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On it was stated

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that Willy Brandt had been 
in the Dovre barracks from then to then.

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"Lodging from then to then."

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"Pay from this date to that."

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It said that I was paid
a daily fixed rate.

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And that I now had the right to go
to my hometown in Oslo.

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You got your uniform
from none other than Paul Gauguin,

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not the great painter,

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but one of his grandchildren.

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A good painter too, though
not as famous as his grandfather.