Short Falstad history

Falstad is a place with a very unique history: the large brick building has housed a boarding school for “unruly boys” (1921-41), a prisoner-of-war camp known as Strafgefangenenlager Falstad (1941-45), a forced labour camp (1945- 49), and a special school for the mentally impaired (1951- 92).

During WWII the SS-Strafgefangenenlager Falstad was the second largest prison camp in Norway. About 5000 people from more than 15 different countries were imprisoned here in the period 1941-45. Most were Norwegian political prisoners. The majority of foreign prisoners came from the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Poland and Denmark. To many Falstad served as a station en route to Grini or concentration camps in Germany. 50 Jewish prisoners from Trondheim were deported to Auschwitz in February 1943.

The Falstad building is among the best preserved remnants of the German camp system established in Norway during World War II. Here Falstad Museum opened in 1995, celebrating the 50th anniversary of liberation. The museum communicates the history of the war years at Falstad.