A bit of random luck secured the unknown German documentary film "Kampf um Norwegen" (Struggle for Norway).
Associate Professor Jostein Saakvitne at Bergen University College stumbled over the film by accident at a German Internet auction. Now film archivist Ragnar Løvberg at the Norwegian Film Institute is responsible for the digital transfer of the five reels of delicate nitrate film from 1940.
"The film contains both known footage, but longer than we have previously seen, and a range of new scenes that have probably never been made public before. Among other things we see dramatic scenes from close range fighting between German and Norwegian forces, and a great deal of the film is devoted to the battle of Narvik ("Der Heldenkampf um Narvik")," Saakvitne said.
"Kampf um Norwegen", an 80-minute long documentary of the invasion of Norway in 1940 was commissioned by the German Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Armed Forces High Command). Dr. Martin Rikli and Dr. Werner Buhne directed the film, and the credits list 29 photographers who worked on the documentary, from preparations in Germany to the battle in Narvik.
"The story is based on German forces coming and freeing Norway from an Allied threat of invasion. It is strange that we have not known about this film earlier. No one we have contacted knows it," Saakvitne said.
"This must be due to only a few copies being made and it being destroyed during the war. Germany had trouble towards the end of the war and many film archives were burned, and that makes it difficult to get an overview of what documentary films were made during this period," Saakvitne said.
Associate Professor Jostein Saakvitne at Bergen University College stumbled over the film by accident at a German Internet auction. Now film archivist Ragnar Løvberg at the Norwegian Film Institute is responsible for the digital transfer of the five reels of delicate nitrate film from 1940.
"The film contains both known footage, but longer than we have previously seen, and a range of new scenes that have probably never been made public before. Among other things we see dramatic scenes from close range fighting between German and Norwegian forces, and a great deal of the film is devoted to the battle of Narvik ("Der Heldenkampf um Narvik")," Saakvitne said.
"Kampf um Norwegen", an 80-minute long documentary of the invasion of Norway in 1940 was commissioned by the German Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Armed Forces High Command). Dr. Martin Rikli and Dr. Werner Buhne directed the film, and the credits list 29 photographers who worked on the documentary, from preparations in Germany to the battle in Narvik.
"The story is based on German forces coming and freeing Norway from an Allied threat of invasion. It is strange that we have not known about this film earlier. No one we have contacted knows it," Saakvitne said.
"This must be due to only a few copies being made and it being destroyed during the war. Germany had trouble towards the end of the war and many film archives were burned, and that makes it difficult to get an overview of what documentary films were made during this period," Saakvitne said.
