Bergen was in a state of chaos from April 9^th 1940. All the schools were closed that day, something which lasted throughout the summer. A lot of people evacuated from Bergen to the country side around the city, but most of them returned to the city within a couple of weeks. When things had stabilized and the schools reopened in mid August a lot of children found their classrooms occupied by German soldiers. The soldiers needed a place to stay, and had turned a lot of schools into military barracks. School children who found their schools occupied by soldiers were sent off to other schools, which in turn had to make room for more children.

Bergen Katedralskole was not occupied by German soldiers. All classrooms were available, however some changes had to be made. The classrooms at the third floor were closed because of the threat of bomb-raids, and some rearrangements had to be made to give all classes a classroom.   Gerhard Stoltz was headmaster at BK when the war broke out, and from the very first day he was a strong opponent to the nazis and the occupation. He was determined to keep the teaching at BK the way it had been prior to the war. Stoltz did not allow members of  Nasjonal Samling (NS) to promote nazi propaganda at BK.   To obstruct the German government in their work of recruiting new members was a serious crime, still Stoltz fought against the nazi-regime as long as he could.   As already mentioned BK was a state governed school. It was administered by the Department of Education, which was controlled by members of Nasjonal Samling. The link between the German government and BK caused the headmaster and the teachers at BK a lot of trouble. During the fall of 1940 the occupation authorities, in co-operation with the NS, started to get a closer grip on the everyday life of people in Bergen. All political parties were declared illegal, except for Nasjonal Samling. The German government did not dissolve the city council at this moment, but NS worked towards one goal, to put their members in important political and administrative positions which of course included the education sector. 

In February 1941, "Hirden" carried out a raid at Sydneshaugen skole, one of the schools in Bergen.   According to Langvand, the members of Hirden were looking for anti-nazi propaganda, and they made a lot of trouble at this school.

The reason for the raid, was that there were no nazis at Sydneshaugen. Hirden carried out the raid, in the classrooms, without asking the teachers, nor the headmaster. There was a lot of fuzz about this raid, because Hirden found an illegal newspaper. Subsequently a protest letter was written, by students from Sydneshaugen skole and BK, and sent to the Gestapo.   

The next day Hirden made harass at other schools in Bergen. As an act of protest, a school strike was organized. The strike was intended to be local, but almost every pupil in Bergen were out on the streets marching, for two days. While the young people were marching, the ten students who organized the strike delivered a protest letter to the Gestapo headquarters in Bergen. Political activity was not allowed at schools and consequently the raid was illegal. Nevertheless the ten boys who organized the strike were punished. They were expelled from all further education. By expelling the students the Gestapo wanted to scare other students from all further resistance, but among the young people the anti-nazi feelings only got stronger. They were united in their fight against the German government. 

Hirden marching in the streets of Bergen. (Greve 1978)

The expelling of the young boys made Gerhard Stoltz furious, he told the German government to leave the school alone. Subsequently he was arrested, and in March he was fired from his job as headmaster. When the students returned to school after the summer vacation, things had changed. NS had put one of their faithful members as headmaster at BK. He was supposed to make things easier for the nazi children, as they had a hard time during Stoltz reign. The school year from autumn 1941 was hard for both employees and the students at BK, the new headmaster was busy in his work defeating all resistance. He managed to get some nazi sympathizing teachers to work for him. They worked to promote the nazi ideology, and to raise all pupils in "the true nazi spirit". 

In February 1942, NS tried to form a trade union for Norwegian teachers. The occupants believed they could control the education system, if they controlled the teachers union. NS aimed at making all teachers and all children older then twelve, members of NS. However, the teachers were prepared for this and refused to join the union. Instead they organized a strike. They had worked out a protest letter and hundreds of identical protests were sent to the Department of Education. This blunt refusal called for immediate actions from the German authorities. Consequently more than a 100 teachers were arrested and sent to Kirkenes, in the northern part of Norway.  Because of the resistance among the teachers, all the schools were temporarily closed. Official statements from the Department of Education expressed that the closing was a result of the lack of firewood. However it was common knowledge that the refusal to join the trade union was the cause of the arrests. Truls Langvand went to primary school at this time, but his teacher was not arrested.

Our teacher visited all parents, except those who were nazis. We had some in my class, and they were not supposed to know what was going on. Our teacher told the parents he visited, that he would give lessons in private homes. [...] One of the boys in my class lived in a big house, and we used their living room as a classroom. To give lessons was illegal so we had to keep it a secret, and we had to come one at a time, and leave one at a time. Our English teacher was arrested by the German government, but one of the children's father gave us English lessons, so even during the strike we had classes. 

During the school strike teachers gave lessons in private houses. (Hjeltnes 1978)

According to Lotsberg the same things happened at her school, Fridalen skole. Her teacher gave the class lessons in private homes. At Lotsbergs school they did not have nazi teachers prior to the strike, but they came later in the war, after the strike. NS removed the headmaster and replaced him with a nazi sympathizer. The headmaster had done a good job, in Lotsbergs opinion. He had been in touch with all parents and told them to fight against the nazis, and he organized the resistance against the teachers union, as well. 

The situation at Bergen Katedralskole changed in a profound way, during the war. The German authorities tried to control the school, by placing German sympathizers there. This split the school in two camps, the Norwegian patriots and the German sympathizers.

From the day the German government replaced Gerhard Stoltz with one of "their own", BK became the school where children of German sympathizers were placed. The number of German sympathizers at BK increased throughout the war, but never beyond five, or at the most ten percent of the students. Also teachers who were German sympathizers came to BK, particularly after the arrest of the Norwegian teachers in February 1942. 

Working with this paper one tendency has become clear; the extraordinary good relationship between the Norwegian patriots. In this part of the paper I will focus on the relationship between students and teachers who were patriots. I will look at how the fight against the German sympathizers put the patriots closer together, and how this fight split the school into two camps. The Norwegian patriots on one side and the German sympathizers on the other. 

According to Johannes Solheimsnes, there was a small number of German sympathizers at Bergen Katedralskole, he started his first year in August 1941. Even though there was a small number, Solheimsnes had some sympathizers in his class.

At most I had three German sympathizers in my class, they were offensive and proud of their political standpoint. In the same class there were two students who had parents who were sympathizers, but they were ashamed of their parents point of view. We had some teachers at BK who were German sympathizers, they were not as good as the teachers we used to have. Some of them were not qualified to teach, but the German government could not find enough qualified people. 

From Solheimsnes' experience, all the Norwegian patriots avoided contact with students who were German sympathizers. The nazi students were separated from the rest of the students. No one talked to them, or played with them in the school yard.  Langvand recollects the same kind of experience.

I guess we treated them like they were leprous or HIV-positive, we kept distance nobody had anything to do with them. It must have been hard for them, because they did not get any help from their class mates. 

It seems like the students who were opponents to the German occupation established a very good relationship amongst themselves. They were united in their fight against their common enemy; the Nazis. According to Presterud the Norwegian patriots disliked the members of Hirden even more than the German soldiers. The German soldiers were following orders. Hitler and his superiors officers sent them out on the front. But the young Norwegians who were members of Hirden were seen as traitors. While other Norwegians fought for their country,  they were cowards who had let their fellow countrymen down. 

According to Solheimsnes one of the important things they learned during the war, was to keep their mouth shut, specially when it came to politics. His father had a radio at home, and they spent the evenings in front of the radio listening to news from London. To keep a radio was a serious offence, so naturally it had to be kept a secret. Johannes Solheimsnes only told his closest friends about the radio. The news from London were passed around among the patriots. The close relationship among the patriots seemed to be very important. Listening to the radio and passing the news around like this was exciting for the people involved. 

Truls Langvand finished primary school in the spring of 1942, and he wanted to go to Sydneshaugen Skole at secondary school, but because of his low marks he was not admitted. From Langvands experiences BK was a school he did not want to go to. He had heard stories about all the nazis at the school. However, when he came to BK for the first time in August 1942, he was quite surprised. The children and teachers who were German sympathizers were few in number. He had thought there would be more of them. Langvand had a few students in his class who were German sympathizers, and his teacher was a nazi.

Our teacher wore a black uniform with silver buttons, he was a member of the Norwegian SS. We were terrified by the sight of him, he had a pistol in his belt and a big dog by his side. 

In Solheimsnes view, the "good Norwegians" behaved towards the nazi-teachers as they behaved towards all nazi-sympathisers; the relationship was less than friendly. The students made jokes about their teachers, and opposed to them in any situation possible. Both Solheimsnes and Langvand experienced teachers who were not qualified for the job, but were put there in order to increase the number of German sympathizers. 

The new headmaster at BK tried to get rid of all the teachers who did not share his belief in German victory. He made a list of names and sent it to the Gestapo. Subsequently several teachers from the list were arrested, and replaced with teachers with NS memberships. This frightened the rest of the opposing teachers, but at the same time they seemed to be united by the terror of the enemy.  

In Truls Langvand opinion the students had a close relationship to the teachers who were anti-nazis. The teachers were not allowed to talk politics in class, but everyone knew perfectly well who were members of NS, and who were not. His teacher gave the class assignments with "hidden meaning", and they sang songs which made them understand that he was a Norwegian patriot.  According to Langvand, they  had a good relationship to the "good teachers" at BK. One of them, Johan Steen, worked for the resistance movement, he hid two English telegraph operators in his house. Later he had to flee from Bergen because he knew that the Gestapo would arrest him.

After Steen had left Bergen his class continued to show up for his lessons. There were only Norwegian patriots in this class, and it seems like they knew that Steen was in some kind of trouble. Steens class went to his lessons for another two weeks, before the headmaster discovered that he was gone. 

Students at Bergen Katedralskole. (Gjesdal 1978)

I think this gives a good description of the solidarity between teacher and students, but this good relationship only existed between teachers and students who were anti nazi. At BK the teachers who were Norwegian patriots kept distance from the teachers who were German sympathizers. The two groups were separated from each other, and they had no relationship. It was important for the patriots to take care of the students who were patriots, and to stay together, fighting the German regime.  

There were differences in school life from one school to school another. Children who went to school during the war have different experiences. I will now focus on how problems like lack of classrooms, undernourishment and air raids were handled at BK. During the war these issues were a part of the everyday life at the school, and the teachers had to cope with the problems.

When the war started, Langvand and Solheimsnes were students at different schools, and they experienced the period differently. According to Truls Langvand conditions were relatively normal. The teaching was the way it used to be and there were no signs of German soldiers at the school.  Johannes Solheimsnes was a pupil at Nordnes skole before the war, but during the summer vacation this school was occupied by German forces. He spent his last year at primary school at two different schools.  

Throughout the war a lot of schools were occupied by the German army. The children had to go to other schools to get their lessons, and according to Langvand some of the schools were crowded.

For a period of time I went to Nygård skole to get my lessons, but because of all the students, I could only go every second day in the afternoon. At daytime the school were used by children in primary school, and students in secondary school, like myself, had lesson in the afternoon. 

Presterud, who was a student at Solheim skole experienced the same thing. She had to go to Nykronborg skole because German soldiers had occupied the school she used to go to. 

From Langvands experiences  the teaching were poor in periods of the war, particularly the teachers who were NS members or German sympathizers. They were not qualified to teach in secondary school, but after arresting the patriotic teachers the German government had to find new teachers. Some subjects were left out, and others were taught at a minimum. In addition to the poor lessons came all the holidays. During the war the schools closed for summer in April, so we did not get any teaching in May and June.  

The inhabitants in Bergen experienced times with little or no supply of food, at worst there could be weeks or months without meat. Milk, potatoes, coffee and butter were other scarce products and people had to get used to substitutes. Most families in Bergen had something to eat, but often it was substitutes and it contained less nourishment than preferred.  According to Solheimsnes', his family had enough food during the war, and compared to others they had plenty. Solheimsnes relatives in Sunnfjord were farmers, and his father who worked at a brewery sent beer to Sunnfjord, who delivered meat and flour in return. In addition to this food, Solheimsnes and his brother had part-time jobs, one of them at a bakery and the other  at a dairy. This supplied his family with extra bread and milk.   Things were different for Langvand and his family, they did not have relatives in the countryside. They did not starve, and they always had something to eat, but the food had very little nourishment. In Langvands point of view the soup they served at school saved him and many other children from undernourishment.

After a while we got soup at school. Three days a week they served what we called "Danish-soup", this was a soup made of rolled oats. [...] It was a thick good soup and we got one mug each. Two days a week we got what we called "Swedish-soup" which was soup with meat. [...] We loved this soup, and I am sure that it was important for us to get some food with nourishment. 

The soup was cocked in a huge saucepan in the basement of BK. One person from each class were sent down in the basement with a big mug, and each student got a mug of soup. The soup was made from groceries sent from Sweden and Denmark, and the soup was served at schools all over the country. 

The basement at BK was used for another purpose, as well. It was an air-raid shelter. Air-raid warnings became a part of people's life during the war. From Langvands experiences the students would run to the basement as soon as they heard the air-raid warning. The basement was a safe place to stay, as the walls were thick and all the windows were covered with bags of sand. 

Bergen Katedralskole was never hit by bombs, but Holen skole, a school at Laksevåg was. British bombers dropped their bombs over Laksevåg, in October 1944, and 194 people were killed. At Holen skole 60 schoolchildren and 2 teachers were killed, This happened only a few months after a cargo ship exploded in the harbour of Bergen. The explosion ruined parts of the city, hundreds of people were killed and thousands injured. A great number of people lost their homes and belongings, and the city was in a state of shock.  Johannes Solheimsnes was at school when the accident, and he remembers it very well.

We went down in the basement after the explosion, and a teacher went out to see what had happened, because we did not know. When he came back he said that everybody could relax, there were no damages at the school, it was only a fire at Nordnes. I knew that my mother, my aunt and my brother were in our house at Nordnes, and I got really scared. I jumped out of a window and ran across the city and all the way home. At the time I got there someone had taken care of my family. The Red Cross were at the place and helped injured people. 
 
 
 

Fire at Nordnes after the explosion, April 20th 1944. (Lyngvi 1994)

 

In the early days of the war neither Langvand nor Solheimsnes were scared when they heard the air-raid warning. Later in the war when they saw the damages caused by bombs and explosions, they knew that they had to pay attention to the air raid warnings. However there were always teachers in the air raid shelter, and they did their best to make the students feel safe. 

According to Truls Langvand, his class did not learn what they were supposed to, during the war. Their qualifications were in some subjects poor. He experienced teachers who gave lessons without necessary knowledge to the subject, and in some subjects they did not give lessons at all. He spent an extra year at BK to prepare for higher education. According to Johannes Solheimsnes, he learned what he was supposed to learn during the war. so even within the same school big differences appear. One can wonder whether these differences are a result of the effort they put into their schoolwork. Anyway, Langvand seems to be more dissatisfied with the teaching during the war, than Solheimsnes.