What is "trandumskogen"

Trandumskogen is a forest located in Ullensaker, Akershus county, Norway. It was the site of one of the first discoveries in May 1945 of German mass graves in Norway. The German executioner Oskar Hans was the officer in command of the unit performing the executions.

In total 173 Norwegians, 6 British and 15 Soviet citizens were executed in Trandumskogen. Many had been sentenced to death by the German occupation forces, but there was also a great number who were subject to arbitrary executions. After the Second World War, Norwegian citizens sentenced for treason, and leading members of the Norwegian national socialist party Nasjonal Samling were forced to open the graves and exhume the bodies of the executed prisoners. The medical identification of the corps was led by professor in forensic medicine Georg Waaler, assisted by dentist Ferdinand Strøm.

On 10 October 1954, the memorial in Trandumskogen was unveiled. Crown Prince Olav stood for the ceremony. Per Palle Storm, artist and sculptor and professor at the National Art Academy had carried out the artistic part of the work. The memorial is carved of light Granite (Iddefjordgranitt). To the south side an inscription is carved in Norwegian. The same text translated into Russian is cut into the east side and in English to the west side. The memorial is located south of the burial ground. The memorial lists the names of those who were executed there. The memorial has status as a Norwegian national memorial.

The text on the memorial reads:

IN THE COMBAT FOR FREEDOM
DURING THE 1940-1945 WAR
173 NORWEGIANS 15 SOVJET-
SUBJECTS AND 6 BRITONS WERE
HERE IN THE WOODS OF TRAN-
DUM EXECUTED BY THE ENEMY