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Archiver > NORWAY > 2004-01 > 1072975487


From: "Lill Ann Parry" <>
Subject: Re: Occupation Diary/War Stories Norway
Date: Thu, 01 Jan 2004 11:46:01 -0500
In-Reply-To: <4.3.2.7.0.20031231233657.00aba6a0@mail.tdn.com>


I can remember my mother telling me about her cousin, who was a prisoner during
the war, but not until I found this article among my parents belongings did I realize
how deeply this one family, my grandmother's (mormor) sister's family had been
affected by the occupation. My aunt and uncle had five children, after the occupation
was over, only my aunt and her three daughters survived. I don't remember this great
aunt, but I understand she was deeply scarred by the occupation, never to be the
same person she was...

I have several newpaper articles from 1984. A memorial service was held in
Porsgrunn for those who lost their lives on 30 October 1944:

Among those honored was a cousin, Borti Reichelt. The article also talks about his
father and his brother who also lost their lives. There is also a write up on one of his
three sisters who also participated in the resistance.

He grew up in Kragerø and would probably have gone to sea. He had completed
the telegraph school in Tønsberg and moved to Porsgrunn for the seamans school.
It was in Porsgrunn that he became linked with Carl P. Wright. He lived with Wright
and it was completely natural that he joined the illegal work in various ways to
oppose the Germans from the start of the war in 1940. He participated in the
distribution of the newspaper "Alt for Norge" and was arrested when this
underground activity was uncovered by the Germans. He and Wright were released,
but on 17 October 1941 he was taken to Grini where he spent the next three years
under arrest. Most of the resistance members were sent to Germany, but Borti was
left in the locked section of Grini. He was later sent to Akershus and from there as an
ill prisoner, he was sent to Ullevål. What happened after this is uncertain until the
execution order came from Trandum. Kaptainløytant Brekke stated that 13
nordmenn were to be shot on 30 October 1944. One managed to escape, but the
others were taken to the "retterstedet" and shot. Borti was among those executed by
the Germans on that day. He was 28 years old.

A street in Vestre Porsgrunn is named in his honor - "Borti Reicheltsvei".

And from the same newspaper article, this is about his sister:

Bittema, as she was called by the family, was young when the war broke out (20
years old in 1940). She participated in the effort to help evacuate Norwegians to
Sweden. Her work in this operation was the reason for her arrest. She sat in solitary
confinement for 20 months in Grini and then was sent to Germany where she was a
prisoner of Ravensbruck concentration camp until the conclusion of WWII. She was
held a prisoner for a total of 3 1/2 years before she was released to Sweden for her
eventual return to Norway. It was not until then that she learned that her father and
her two brothers had succumbed to the Germans.

Brother Erik, had been a member of Lignekompaniet and was shot during a mission,
He died in a hospital in Tromsø.

Their father, was a seaman and while on the ship "Annevore" it was sunk by a
torpedo on 21 Dec 1941.

Lill Ann


On 31 Dec 2003 at 23:44, wrote:
> Your stories from real ancestors have touched us all deeply.
I hope others who have stories to tell, or family history
> of this time, will also share them with us here.



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