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The Norwegian State Railways (Template:Lang-no or NSB) was a state-owned railway company that operated most of the railway network in Norway. The government agency was created in 1883 to oversee the construction and operation of all state-owned railways in Norway. On 1 December 1996, it was demerged to create the infrastructure operator Norwegian National Rail Administration, the train operator Norwegian State Railways and the Norwegian Railway Inspectorate. The name was taken by the train operator, although the infrastructure operator remained a government agency and is the legal successor.

History

History

In 1862 Norway's first national railway started operating—the Kongsvinger Line.

In 1871 the national railway was connected to the Swedish rail infrastructure.

In 1920 the Bratsberg Line was acquired by the government.

In 1926 the Trunk Line was acquired.

World War Two

In January 1942 NSB gave "green light for putting POWs into construction work of the Nordland Line. The POWs had to perform slave labor under conditions that were inhuman, and Westlie shows that NSB was fully informed about the prisoners situation", according to a 2015 Klassekampen article.

Of the 100 000 Soviet POWs that came to Norway, 13 000 were put to work on the Nordland Line. Over 1000 died as a result of cold, starvation and exhaustion (out of a total of 13 700 dead "foreign POWs, political prisoners and forced laborers" in Norway between 1941 and 1945).

"NSB transported Jews to the outward shipping from the Oslo harbor (...) the NSB employees did not know what fate awaited the Jews. Naturally they understood that the Jews would be shipped out of the country by force, because the train went to Oslo harbor". Furthermore Westlie points to "dilemmas NSB's employees found themselves in when the NSB leadership cooperated with the Germans".

" Vik was to be made the scapegoat for the cooperation with the Germans, writes Westlie, even though many of the darkest chapters are from the period before Vik" became the chief, according to Halvor Hegtun.

There was no investigation of the agencies after the war. However, the former chief Vik was not to be prosecuted if he "did not again work for NSB".

After World War Two

In 1952 a plan of electrifying operations was adopted. In 1970 the Dovre Line was electried. In 2002 the freight operations were split to the subsidiary CargoNet, and the maintenance department became Mantena.

Reactions to World War Two activities

"The transportation of Jews that were to be deported and the use of POWs on the Nordland Line is a dark chapter of NSB's history ", according to kommunikasjonssjef Åge-Christoffer Lundeby in NSB in 2015. Later Bjørn Westlie said about the extermination of Norwegian Jews: "what else than co-responsible was NSB ? For me, NSB's use of POWs and this deportation of Jews be viewed as one: namely, that NSB thereby became an agency that participated in Hitler's violence against these two groups, who were the nazism's main enemies. The fact that the pertinent NSB leaders received awards after the war, confirms NSB's and others' desire to conceal this".

See also

• The Holocaust in Norway

References

1. ^ Kongsvingerbanen
2. Bratsbergbanen
3. Hovedbanen
4. NSBs skammelige historie
5. ^ Halvor Hegtun (2015-02-27). NSB sa ja til slavedrift - Disse russerfangene ble tvunget til å bygge Nordlandsbanen. Så skulle de glemmes. Aftenposten A-magasinet. p. 26.
6. "Fleire bøker viser korleis offentlege etatar og private selskap tente på den tyske okkupasjonen av Noreg: Slavane som bygde Noreg". Klassekampen. 2015-02-27. p. 20. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
7. ^ Bjørn Westlie (2015-0306). "Å fortie historien". Klassekampen. p. 19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
8. ^ Halvor Hegtun (2015-02-27). NSB sa ja til slavedrift - Disse russerfangene ble tvunget til å bygge Nordlandsbanen. Så skulle de glemmes. Aftenposten A-magasinet. p. 31.
9. Guri Kulås (2015-02-27). "Fleire bøker viser korleis offentlege etatar og private selskap tente på den tyske okkupasjonen av Noreg: Slavane som bygde Noreg". Klassekampen. p. 21.
10. ^ jernbane
11. Halvor Hegtun (2015-02-27). NSB sa ja til slavedrift - Disse russerfangene ble tvunget til å bygge Nordlandsbanen. Så skulle de glemmes. Aftenposten A-magasinet. p. 32.

• Defunct railway companies of Norway
• 1883 establishments in Norway
• Former Norwegian government agencies
• Government agencies established in 1883
• Railway companies established in 1883
• Norwegian State Railways (1883–1996)
• Government railway authorities of Norway