War Ruins on the Farm
If you walk along the north fence on Farfar’s farm you will find a corner pocket of fir trees. The fir trees grow in rows, equal distance apart. This little forest is certainly man made, Farfar planted it a long time ago. Maybe it was to hide what was on the ground underneath, or maybe the trees are there to hold this part of the farm as a monument.
Nestled under the fir trees are ruins left by the Germans from WWII. The stones are cracked and moss lines the top of them but their frame is still clear.
It felt strange walking through the ruins. I wondered what it would feel like to have your country ‘stolen from you’. I don’t know why Farfar left this reminder on his land. The war is practically forgotten in Norway. Maybe he left the ruins not to remind Finnmark Norwegians of all their homes being burnt down and of the forced relocation but to give foreigners like me a chance to reflect and understand the Norwegians affinity to their land.
Whatever the reason, these ruins are part of the farm… home… and I don’t think it would be the same without them.
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where is that?
I’ve been all over the farm and can’t for the life of me remember seeing that, granted while I was there it was mostly under snow and dark all the time.
From the back door of the house by the duck pond how do you get to the ruins?
I wish I had known
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From Moose:
They are fairly easy to spot from the road, given there is no snow. The ruins are in the south-east corner of the forest near the “new” wing of the house.
That explains it, the first few weeks before snow I was a greenie and too overwhelmed to notice much.