The Blood Road was built during World War II, when Hitler aimed to build a road all over Norway. As many as 640 Yugoslav prisoners of war, young men and boys, died on Korgfjellet during the work of the German Occupation Force during the period from June 1942 to May 1944.
At Korgfjellet Fjellstue stands a memorial stone over these war prisoners, and also on each side of Korgfjellet, on Fagerlimoen and in Osen, memorial supports have been built. Here the prisoners lived in camps, just as cruel and inhumane as the camps in Poland and Germany. The locals helped the prisoners as best they could, and after the war a friendship was established between Norway and Yugoslavia. Hemnes got Prokuplje as his friendship municipality and Vefsn got Gornji Milanovac.
The film “Blodveien”, built on the manuscript by Sigurd Evensmo in 1955, is based on events at Korgfjellet.
In 2017, 75 years after the first Yugoslav prisoners arrived at the newly built prison camps in Korgen and Osen, six infoteboards were set up along the road over Korgfjellet, where you can read more about this cruel part of our history.
If you wish to learn more about local World War II history, we recommend reading about SS Nordnorge, the Hurtigruten coastal steamer that was sunk at Hemnesberget (see link to the right).