Some thoughts on the social costs of war

During an interwiev with BBC' World Book Club, famous Norwegian author Jo Nesbø reveals that his father fought on the eastern border for the Germans during 2nd WW. He also adds that some of the most unbelivable parts in his book "Redbreast" are actually true events experienced by his father. In "Redbreast" the story is built up around a Norwegian soldier on the eastern border that experiences traumatic events resulting in personality disorders.

The fact that more than 5000 Norwegians fought on the German side of the Eastern border has been held a lid on for many years. A lot of these Norwegians took an important political choice at the age of eitghteen or nineteen. They would be punished for it for the rest of their lives! The ones that didn't die during combat, must have brought back experiences impossible to forget. A few also spent time in Russian prisons or prison camps before returning to Norway. Finally back home, they faced three years of prison after standing trial as collaborators.

It is not difficult to understand the way Norwegians who had fought against the Germans and experienced both physical, emotional and material losses felt towards Norwegians who had fought on the German side. Not so many Norwegians actually experienced shooting with weapons directly on other human beings during the German invasion of Norway in 1940. As the grand daughter of two men who fought on the Norwegian side with weapons in their hands, I believe most people who have experienced war carry it with them for the rest of their lives. According to history research the fights on the eastern border were of a brutality unlike anything they experienced here in Norway.

The bottom line to me, however, is that no matter what side chosen in a war, the accumulated traumas in every human involved, most likely will - weak or strong - influence their families for generations. Take a look at yourself and your own family. I believe there is a high probability that whatever your grandparents or close family did during the last war, the traumas they experienced became part of their personality and thus affected everybody around them - wifes, husbands, children, grand children and so on. So whoever is to decide that a country will actively take part in war must take into concideration that the social costs (amongst others people with traumas that is to be integrated into society afterwards), probably will be as big a challenge and cost as the direct losses in terms of casualties...

Links / References:

http://www.frontkjemper.info/show_bn.php?BataljonsID=8

http://www.feldgrau.com/norway.html

http://sv.metapedia.org/wiki/SS-Schij%C3%A4ger-Bataillon_%22Norge%22

http://mediabase1.uib.no/pls/apex/f?p=108:24:7426833322816620

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS1dO0JC2EE&feature=related

http://www.ivodefigueiredo.no/Artikler/Frontkjempere.htm

Albrecht Wacker: "Snikskytter på Østfronten"; 2009