Furubotn Archives present here the unique photograph of 24-year-old Olaug Karlsen, who during the April days of 1940, prevented the invading Germans from executing 10 civilian hostages. According to Kari-Anne Karlsen, daughter of Olaug's brother Sigvald, has her father described the situation at Nordre Granum farm as follows:

«A procession with 10 Norwegian prisoners and several German soldiers guarding them came marching down the farmyard. I was outside the house, and Captain Lehmann approached me and told me that he was going to order the Norwegian prisoners to be shot against the barn wall. He called them franctireurs (civilian snipers). I tried to protest in broken German, but called on my sister Olaug, who had studied German at the University of Oslo. It turned into a heated exchange of words, with Olaug quoting the 1929 Geneva Convention and the rights of prisoners of war. Furthermore she stated that it was Norwegian soldiers, not civilians, who had fired at the German forces. «Aber – wir müssen einen Exempel statuieren» («We must make an example!»), shouted Captain Lehmann, swinging his arm.

Precisely this moment has been captured, and makes the photo unique in th context of European war. Kari Anne Karlsen found the photo in 2018, searching at internet to find pictures taken by German soldiers during the WW2.

Eventually Capteain Lehmann released 7 men, «but the last 3 are to be shot immediately», he said. At that moment, Olaug clenched her fist under the German captain's nose and told him that one of these 3 prisoners was only 14 years of age, a child. «You then have to exchange him with me, and shoot me instead», Olaug said, firm in her gaze and resolute in her voice. The last 3 prisoners, Kristian Fremstd, Johnny Klinkenberg and the young boy Trygve Røberg, were detained in the barn, but were released after a couple of days.

The background story of the photo dates back to the skirmish at Fall in Oppland County (now Innlandet) on April 19, 1940, where German soldiers fought against Norwegian soldiers by the river Fall. After the Norwegian forces withdrew, the Germans ravaged and burned down several houses and barns, resulting in one person burning to death and several animals perishing, 37 men were captured.

Polar hero Helge Ingstad, working for The Red Cross in war-zones, arrived the scene to help the prisoners. He was allowed to see the prisoners, who were kept in a cold, dark garage, and he managed to free 3 persons. The German soldiers put the 34 men into a bus, and told Helge Ingstad that they woud be taken to Brandbu (37 km away) where Major General Erwin Engelbrecht would decide their fate.

Helge Ingstad was worried, and he followed after the bus in his car. He had seen the murdering of civilians outside Hønefoss the privious days, Arriving the operational quarter in Brandbu he demanded to speak to Major General Erwin Engelbrecht. After intense argumentation Major General Engelbrecht promised to set free these men the next morning. However, he did not keep his promise. The next day the prisoners had to walk back to Fall, carrying ammunition and weapons for the German army with German soldiers guarding them. When back to Fall, 10 persons were picked out to be executed at Nordre Granum farm.

The photo, with Kari Anne Karlsen's assessment: from left Captain Lehmann, commander of the 6^th Company, Infantry Regiment 236, prisoner Peder Kleven, Olaug Karlsen. The shadow under Captain Lehmann's binoculars appears to be Kristian Framstad. Next is a German soldier wearing a helmet, next to him the photagrapher (Lanzinger?). Close to Olaug's face there is seen a small part of another face: her brother Sigvald.

Kristian Fremstad told Sigvald after the war: «Without the interfering from Olaug I had not been standing here. She was fiercely furious, argumenting with the German captain. She even clenched her fist under his nose!»

Infantery Regiment 236 (Wehrmacht) was led by Colonel Adlhoch, and his regiment paricipated in the clashes in Haugsbygd, outside Hønefoss, on April 16 and 17. Major General Erwin Engelbrecht, leader of Division 163, was also present. Gross war crimes were comitted, 17 Norwegian civilians, including elderly people and small children, were executed.

They then marched on to Søndre Land to the skirmish at the river Fall. There are several photos taken by German soldiers from the Fall district.

The German soldiers then walked towards Gjøvik. A major clash at Mustad farm in Vardal (now Gjøvik municipality) on April 21, 1940, resulted in the capture of 150 individuals. Half of whom were civilians and half were soldiers. They were driven towards Gjøvik, and in Hunndalen. The German soldiers initially wanted to execute 10 persons. «We only have 7» the German soldier said, «That will do» answered his superior. On this day they targeted Norwegian soldiers who had obtaied civilian clothing, and many were searched to find military items, which they found on a few. These were asked to take a step forward, and that's when they were sentenced to death. One person was released because his companion could prove that he worked on a farm, he was not a soldier. The 6 soldiers in civilian clothing were lined up and shot upon orders from Captain of the 2^nd Company, Infantry Regiment 236, Hans Frans von Hülst, under Colonel Adlhoch, on April 21, 1940. No one was allowed to move the bodies. They were to remain there as mockery and a warning to the town's population.

From the summer of 1942, Olaug Karlsen became one of Peder Furubotn's close associates in the illegal headquarters. She narrowly escaped a raid in Hemsedal by the Germans in the fall 1942. German soldiers came to arrest the resistance group of Peder Furubotn, hiding in cottages in the mountains of Hemsedal. Bullets were whizzling past her ears, but they managed to escape to the mountains in Valdres. It was biting cold, lots of snow, it was a fight also agains the Norwegian cold climate.

Olaug was captured by the Gestapo on June 17, 1944, during Aktion Almenrausch. The greatest German aktion towards a resistanc group in Norway. 2000 soldiers, Gestapo and Norwegian Statspoliti searched the mountains in Valdres to find this group. She was imprisoned at Grini concentration-camp outside Oslo to the end of the war. Parts of her remarkable story were published in the Norwegian weekly magacines «Vi Menn» in February 1923 and «Norsk Ukeblad» in May 2023, reahing a combined circulation of 100.000.

Olaug married Samuel Titlestad, the head of security of the Peder Furubotn's group, in July 1945. They got 4 children and lived in Bergen. She passed away in 2006. She never sought nor redeived any medal for her dramatic wartime efforts. A request for recognition of her wartime contribution by her family after her death, prompted by the government Erna Solberg (The Medal Case), was promptly rejected.

In 2019 Kari Anne Karlsen published the book «Høyt spill – de kjempet mot nazismen» (High Stakes – They Fought Against the Nazism) by Omnibus/Saga Publishing. The photo is in Tore Greiner Eggan's collection, possibly taken by Lanzinger, and has been colorized using artifical intelligence by Hogne Titlestad.

On Sunday, June 11, 2023, a hiking trail was inagurated at Granum farm in Fluberg, Søndre Land, where an installment about Olaug Karlsen is presented.