Oslo, Thor, Gold

I have been back in Oslo now for 10 days. I’ve gotten settled into the Litteraturhuset - Skriveloft (The Literature House - Writer’s Loft), had a shrimp sandwich, eaten Norwegian chocolate, absorbed the Norwegian sun, and have had trouble sleeping since it stays light out until midnight. Feels perfect.

I was finally able to watch the film “Gulltransporten” (the Gold Transport) about the mission to secure Norway’s gold away from the invading Nazis in 1940. The opening scenes show Norges Bank employees grabbing gold bars and boxing them up into crates and then loading them on trucks. Nicolai Rygg , Norges Bank’s director, then starts handing out guns to the distress of some of the employees - the idea being to safeguard the crates of gold while en route to Lillehammer. ahead of the invading troops. This is exactly what Thor did - I half expected to see an exact likeness of him in the film.

Gulltransporten - Film Still - showing trucks loaded with crates of gold in front of Norges Bank, Oslo

The film made visible to me what I could only imagine was the worst day for all Norwegians. The Nazis invaded on April 9, 1940, and were literally marching down the main street toward the bank as the last truck was speeding out of the city. Watching the actors portray employees and random truck drivers they enlisted off the street to help, was nerve-racking, to say the least.

Gulltranporten - Film Still - showing Norges Bank employee sitting on crates of gold while holding loaded pistol, en route out of Oslo to Lillehammer

As I work on the book this summer, I have a different perspective than in past years. Principal research has been completed, and now it is a matter of consolidating all the documents, photographs, and writing into a cohesive memoir - one that will hopefully be interesting, exciting and worthwhile to read.