Blood Road

67°06′N 15°29′E / 67.100°N 15.483°E / 67.100; 15.483

The Blood Road (Norwegian: Blodveien) is a route northeast of Rognan in Saltdal Municipality in Nordland county, Norway that was built by prisoners during the Second World War.^[1][2][3] The route was a new section of Norwegian National Road 50 between Rognan and Langset on the east side of Saltdal Fjord (Saltdalsfjorden), where there was a ferry service before the war. The specific incident that gave the road its name was a cross of blood that was painted on a rock cutting in June 1943. The blood came from a prisoner that was shot along the route, and the cross was painted by his brother.^{[2][4]: 16 [5]}

The prisoners lived in a primitive camp in the village of Botn, just 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) outside Rognan.^[5] The prisoners of war had very small daily rations, long working hours, poor clothing for winter use, primitive barracks, and miserable sanitation, and they were treated cruelly. The Botn camp was first led by the SS, and under their direction mass executions were also carried out.

When the Wehrmacht took over management of the Botn camp in October 1943, the conditions gradually improved. The conditions further improved when the Red Cross learned of the camps and several inspections were conducted.

The Botn camp was one of five original prisoner-of-war camps in Northern Norway. The camp held prisoners from Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, and Poland.^[2] The youngest prisoners of war were barely 12 years old. The conditions at all five camps were poor with high mortality. The number of prisoners in the Botn camp can only be estimated from testimonies of survivors. Almost 900 prisoners in total arrived at the camp; of these, about half died through execution, punishment, malnutrition, and exhaustion.

By the war's end there were around 7,500 prisoners of war in Saltdal, but the number is uncertain. There were up to 18 camps from Saltfjellet (a mountain) and north to Saltdal Fjord, but the treatment that prisoners received in these camps was considerably better. In the trials held after the war, the camps were referred to as extermination camps. It shocked the Norwegian authorities that the Norwegian youths as young as 16 had served as guards in the camp. The youths were members of the Hirdvaktbataljon (Guard Battalion of the Hird) set up under the NS Ungdomsfylking (the Nasjonal Samling youth organization), and they treated the prisoners of war cruelly. In the postwar trials several Norwegian guards received prison sentences, and some of the German SS officers were sentenced to death by firing squad.