In a world where you constantly get an insight into the destinies around you, and see people fleeing towards you
better life, Grandma once said that she and her family experienced being homeless 3 times
during World War II. Imagine that this has happened in Varanger.

A bomb attack in 1944

In 1944, grandmother and her family lived in the center of Vadsø, the area that today lies behind Scandic. Here she lived on the second floor of a two-story house with her mother, father and two older sisters. One day there was a bomb attack on the city and some houses were on fire. To contain the fire, the Germans (who had occupied the city at the time) decided to blow up some of the nearby houses.

Here was the house they lived in. They had a short time to try to save some things before the house was blown up and
brent. There was therefore very little they got with them. She said her father tried to save two
bikes they had, but they were so hot from the flames around that he could not take in the frame.

A borrowed cottage stays home

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In the situation that was, they borrowed a cabin directly across the city, which belonged to the Vinjevold family.
The idea here was that they should live, so they got ready.

One day they were visiting an uncle and aunt who lived in a cabin a little higher up in town. There was an ever-increasing bombing of Vadsø and Varanger. The uncle therefore stood with binoculars watching another attack on the city. While standing there, the cabin of Grandma's family got a hit. Fortunately, they were all visiting that day. Cabin was gone.

Later in the day, when the attack was over, they went down to the area where the cabin stood. Grandmother's mother had previously salvaged some long porters, they were now lying on the ground. When she lifted them, the dead German soldiers lay underneath. They had probably sought refuge in the cabin during the attack.

The bombing became more frequent

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Now the bombing of the city was so frequent that the family decided to evacuate to an aunt
who lived in Tana. They lived here for a few weeks, until the Germans were forced to flee. The Germans decided to use the tactics of the scorched earth. This meant evacuating the population in Varanger and the rest of Finnmark to the south of the country. At the same time, they burned all the houses and buildings.

Several families chose to flee to the mountains to avoid the forced evacuation. Among these were grandmother's family and her aunt with family. Grandma's father and uncle could see German forces burning all the houses in the village as they fled to the mountains. So they were homeless for the third time.

That this happened in the small peaceful Norway only 78 years ago can be difficult to understand. But it has happened.

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Grandma is gone now, but the stories from her childhood are still alive.

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