Mørsvikbotn

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Mørsvikbotn is a small village located in the north of Sørfold in northern Norway. Mørsvikbotn has a school, a grocery shop, a small church, an aquaculture co-op and a few camping sites.

[edit] World War Two in Mørsvikbotn

Five kilometers north of Mørsvikbotn lies the lake Mørsvikvatnet. In this area, Mørsry, the German army had a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, the German Army soldiers serving here where from Austria, housing mostly Russian POWs. They were building a railway, which was intended to be a link between Fauske and Narvik. Some ruins of the camp, the foundations of the causeway for the railway, a tunnel and roads can still be observed. A small, now empty, cemetery for fallen Russian soldiers is located close to the camp, fifty meters on the left handside just before the single concrete bridge. The Camp Commander was considered by the locals to be quite "humane", and German and Austrian visitors to this village in the years after the war (and even today) has always been warmely received. Only a very few Russian POWs were shot or died of exhaustion during the 5 long years of war. The small camp cemetery was emptied for corpses shortly after the War. And their remains now rest at a larger War Cemetery in the south of the County. Only two escapes are known by the Norwegian population living close to the camp; 1.) First, a small group of Russians was ordered out in the woods for cutting timber for heating purposes. One of the Russians used his axe on the head of the single German guarding them. 2 or 3 Russians then escaped (perhaps all). But they were quicly captured, as the Germans were using dogs. They were brought down to the road, and executed while standing with their backs to a large stone. There was bullet marks for many years after the War on this Stone. This Stone is located at the end of the road that goes north of Mørsvikvatnet (some 50-60 meters into the woods on the left side!) The next escape 2.) One small group of Russian POWs are supposed to have escaped. At first succsessfully, but as they believed the Swedish border lay only some kilometers away, - they died of exposure to the elements in the fridgid northern Scandinavian winter. Little is known about this. Another escape by to polish workers (probably not POWs but two poles who had been forced to a work camp!), from a nearby camp, Toemmernesset, escaped to Sweden via Mørsvikvatnet. They were helped by local Alfred M. Iversen, who gave them skies, clothing and "a bottle of vodka". He also gave them his address, so that they could "send him a postcard from Sweden". This they did (after the war!) One of them, Aleksander Robaszkiewicz, then living in Australia, visited Mørsvikbotn in the late 1990ties. But did not meet his helper A.M. Iversen, as he died some years before. This last event is mentioned in an article written by Kåre Breivik in "Årbok for Sørfold" (Yearbook for Soerfold County, printed a.d. 2000 ) page 25.

Color photos taken by a German priest of the German camp in 1943-1945 to be found here: http://www.museumsnett.no/alias/HJEMMESIDE/saltenmuseum/samlinger/tyske%20foto/side3.htm