Camp Norway Lunenburg Nova Scotia

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An archived article of:

Skjold Lodge - Sons of Norway

Arlington Heights, Illinois

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CAMP NORWAY, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, World War II

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When Germany invaded Norway in 1940, Norway had over 1,000 ships at sea which were ordered to go to a “British or Allied port”. During the spring and summer of 1940, seven factory ships and 22 or 23 whale catchers with upwards of 2,000 men on board arrived in Halifax. These whaling ships were converted into patrol vessels and mine sweepers for the Royal Norwegian Navy.

After conversion, the ships needed less men—they couldn't go home; they couldn't come ashore and they weren't needed at sea. Norwegian authorities built and paid for a camp where the unemployed whalers would live under Norwegian military control. On September 2nd 1940, the Norwegians moved to Lunenburg and were housed in the curling rink while the camp was being constructed. They did a lot of the work themselves since they had carpenters, pipefitters and other tradesmen in their whaling crews. The camp, called “Camp Norway”, was officially opened on Friday, Nov 29th, 1940, and consisted of a barracks to house about 800 men. Later, a mess hall, two storage buildings, a garage and a carpentry shop were added. The original buildings still exist.

The camp was primarily a Royal Norwegian Navy training depot for seamen and whalers who were being taken into the navy. Norway has compulsory military service so most of these men had been through basic training and were listed as reservists. The camp trained about 450 men as crew members for the converted whale catchers and other vessels and 635 gunners for armed merchant ships. The Royal Norwegian Naval Service in Halifax was disbanded in August, 1944.

People from Nova Scotia are proud of their connection to the Norwegians. There are memorial monuments to the Norwegians in several different cities. St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lunenburg has a Norwegian flag next to the pulpit and a picture of Jesus, donated by the Norwegian artist, hanging behind. In a room adjoining the sanctuary, there is a display about the history of Norwegians in Lunenburg. The Lunenburg Fisheries Museum also has a section about the history of the Norwegians in Lunenburg.

There are many memorials in the area to Norwegians. One of them has the following inscriptions (Norwegian on one side of the memorial and English on the other side). The inscriptions follow:

TIL MINNE OM

KONGELIG NORSKE

MARINES PERSONELL OG NORSKE SJØFOLK

SOM KOM TIL LUNENBURG

OG TRENET

“CAMP NORWAY”

UNDER ANDRE

VERDENSKRIG

ALT FOR NORGE

1940-1945

IN MEMORY OF

ALL NORWEGIANS