– That birch has probably seen enough. That’s what Tine Komissar says. She refers to the birch tree that has stood in Borggården in Falstad – the former prison camp in Trøndelag where more than 4,200 people were imprisoned during the war years. – I have heard that trees have consciousness. If that tree has a consciousness, it has seen terrible things. Brutally violent The spring of 1942 to the autumn of 1943 is considered the most brutal period in the prison camp’s history. Then the prisoners were exposed to an arbitrary and brutally violent order system. The German security police established SS-Strafgefangenenlager Falstad as a prison camp in the autumn of 1941. The largest group of prisoners were Norwegians who were suspected or convicted of political resistance. Photo: Falstad center Soviet prisoners of war at Falstad prison camp. The garden in the inner courtyard, probably last in the 1930s. Photo: Unknown/Svein Helge Falstad The prison guards ordered large amounts of pointless slave labor carried out at a high pace, the Falstad center describes. During this period, the executions in Falstadskogen also took place. Over 200 prisoners were executed and placed in mass graves here. Tine Komissar’s grandfather, Hirsch Komissar, was executed in 1942 as one of ten son victims. At the forefront, he was one of those who suffered under the brutal system – and who came into close contact with the birch. – There the prisoners had to line up and be tortured. My grandfather was one of those who had to crawl on all fours and pick up leaves, says Komissar. Hirsch Komissar was executed without law or trial. Photo: news Eyewitnesses from Falstad have said that they had to lie on the ground, pick up one leaf at a time with their mouths, crawl across the courtyard, then crawl back and continue until the entire square was cleared. – The first time I found out about it, a chill went down my spine. Traumatized What happened around the birch, which has now seen its last days, Trine Komissar did not hear anything about as a child. – I read about it as a young adult, the things that happened there. I was spared that as a child, she says. – There is a dark cloud hanging over Falstad for me. I get a headache every time I’m there. Tine Komissar is now retired, but until recently was director of the Jewish Museum in Trondheim. Photo: Lena Erikke Hatland / news Despite the fact that Komissar never got to meet her grandfather, the suffering he went through has become a trauma in her own life. – That it is possible to abuse people in that way, it is a trauma that I believe that Jews – and many other peoples – have in them. So, in a way, we are not done with it, we have to work our way out of it in new generations. A change in time – Soon all those who experienced it themselves will be gone. The fact that the birch is also disappearing now that there are a few survivors left – makes it clear that we are in a new era. That’s what Arne Langås, conservator at the Falstad Centre, says. He says that the tree is most likely over 100 years old. It was already there when, in the 1930s, gardens were created inside the farm. Arne Langås describes that the felling of the birch is a change of times at the Falstad Centre. Photo: Tariq Alisubh / news Then came the war, and the building, which was a school home, was seized. The courtyard was prepared as an appeal site. – But even if that happens and all garden elements are removed, the birch will remain. And it becomes a symbol of the mistreatment the Jewish prisoners are subjected to, says Langås. Bjørka is used actively in teaching and guided tours. The Falstad Center has 8,000 school pupils and students visiting each year. – Then such a symbolic element as the birch is something that has had a place in those plans. I think everyone realizes that there is something that has been here all along, which is now disappearing. There will be an emptiness in the space. The archway and the birch painted in 1944–45 by the Soviet prisoner of war Sergej Grabovskij, theater painter from Kharkiv in Ukraine. Photo: Falstadsenteret Important message But at the same time, this is not something that comes as a surprise. For many years it has been announced that the tree had to be taken down. It has rotted, and now there was a danger that it could collapse. But Langås assures that the story will be carried on. – Offshoots have been taken. The plan is to plant a new tree in the same place, with the old tree as mother. This week the tree was cut down in Falstad. Photo: Tariq Alisubh / news The fact that the birch has now been taken down is not difficult for Tine Komissar. – We are all going to die. Bjørka has done her job, and witnessed the horrible things that have happened, she says. – In a way, it’s good that it’s history. Then we can hope that history has shown us how not to do it. That is the most important message in this.
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Bjørka at Falstad stands on what was one of Norway’s largest prison camps – now it is being cut down – news Trøndelag – Local news, TV and radio
