Jul 17

Jul 17 Writing in Europe & Thor update

I started my European summer trip by attending the Paris Writer’s Retreat the last week of June. Meeting writers from all over the globe, with interesting and varied pasts, was exactly what I needed to ground me and encourage me to move forward with writing this book as a memoir, rather than a work of fiction.

Now I have settled into my Airbnb, a 5-minute walk to the Royal Palace in Oslo. Somehow I was able to find the perfect apartment, in a lovely neighborhood of Oslo, near the lovely Litteraturhuset (coffee shop/bookshop).

On my third day in Oslo, I wandered into the Historisk Museum in Oslo and found a display that confirmed my belief that Thor was indeed involved in the Resistance movement (an act that most likely led to his untimely death in 1941). The display contains 15,000 gold coins, coins that were part of the Gold Transport (1940), the removal of all the gold from the vault of the Oslo Norges Bank branch, and the transfer of the gold to the Lillehammer Norges Bank branch (that had a more secure vault). (See the previous blog post for more info). The exhibit has an accompanying animated video, where Thor’s name is listed, reinforcing my belief that he did participate in resistance activities during WWII.