Bredtveit Prison is a prison

Prison

A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...

 in Bredtvet

Bredtvet

Bredtvet is a neighborhood in the borough of Bjerke in Oslo, Norway.Its origin is a farm of the same name. Its first private owner is registered in 1662, and from 1817 to 1824 it was owned by Hans Nielsen Hauge. Bredtvet is also a parish in the Church of Norway, created in 1966 although the church...

, Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 it was a concentration camp.

Pre-World War II

It originated at Bredtvet farm as a lærehjem for young boys, erected 1918 and in use from 1919 to 1923. In 1923 the state took over the property from Det norske lærehjem- og verneforbund. In 1929 it was decided to turn the property into a juveline center with teaching of labour skills; the green light was given in 1939. This plan did not materialize, as the construction of the facility was halted by war.

Concentration camp

In 1940, Norway was invaded

Operation Weserübung

Operation Weserübung was the code name for Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign...

 and occupied by Nazi Germany

Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany

The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany started with the German invasion of Norway on April 9, 1940, and ended on May 8, 1945, after the capitulation of German forces in Europe. Throughout this period, Norway was continuously occupied by the Wehrmacht...

. From 1941 the Nazi authorities Nasjonal Samling used Bredtveit as a political prison. It bore a similarity to Falstad concentration camp

Falstad concentration camp

Falstad concentration camp was a prison camp in the village of Ekne in what was the municipality of Skogn in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway...

, in the original purpose of the facility.

People incarcerated at Bredtveit during the war include several professors arrested during the crackdown on the University of Oslo

University of Oslo

The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...

 in October 1943: Johan Christian Schreiner, Odd Hassel

Odd Hassel

Odd Hassel was a Norwegian physical chemist and Nobel Laureate.-Biography:Born in Kristiania, his parents were Ernst Hassel, a gynaecologist, and Mathilde Klaveness. In 1915, he entered the University of Oslo where he studied mathematics, physics and chemistry, and graduated in 1920...

, Ragnar Frisch, Johannes Andenæs

Johannes Andenæs

Johannes Bratt Andenæs, often shortened to Johs. Andenæs was a Norwegian jurist. He was a professor of jurisprudence at the University of Oslo from 1945 to 1982, and served as rector from 1970 to 1972....

, Carl Jacob Arnholm

Carl Jacob Arnholm

Carl Jacob Arnholm was a Norwegian jurist.He was born in Oslo as a son of civil servant Carsten Johannes Andersen and Gunvor Henriksen . He finished his secondary education in Kristiania in 1917, and graduated with the cand.jur. degree in 1921. After one year as deputy judge he worked as a junior...

, Bjørn Føyn

Bjørn Føyn

Bjørn Føyn was a Norwegian zoologist, especially known for researching the genetics of algae.He was born in Trondhjem as a son of educator and major Anton Christian Føyn and Olga Barth Nielsen...

, Eiliv Skard

Eiliv Skard

Eiliv Skard was a Norwegian classical philologist.-Personal life:He was born in Levanger as a son of educators Matias Skard and Gyda Christensen . The family moved to Kristiansand in 1901...

, Harald K. Schjelderup

Harald K. Schjelderup

Harald Krabbe Schjelderup was a Norwegian physicist, philosopher and psychologist. He worked with all three subjects on university level, but is best remembered as Norway's first professor of psychology....

 and Anatol Heintz

Anatol Heintz

Anatol Heintz was a Norwegian palaeontologist.He was born in Petrograd to the geophysicist Yevgeniy Alfredovich Heintz and Olga Fyodorovna Hoffmann . He had two older siblings. In 1919 the family fled to Norway...

. Also, a group of Jewish prisoners that arrived in Oslo after the departure of SS Donau

SS Donau

SS Donau was a Norddeutscher Lloyd refrigerated cargo ship. In the Second World War the Kriegsmarine used it as a transport ship between Germany and Norway. She became known as the "slave ship" after the SS and Gestapo transported 540 Jews from Norway to Stettin, from where they were taken by...

 stayed at Bredtveit. They left Bredtveit on 24 February 1943, and were shipped towards Auschwitz on the following day.

Personnel in the camp include Hans Eng

Hans Eng

Hans Eng was a Norwegian physician and Nazi collaborator during World War II.-World War II:In 1940 he called for Norwegian soldiers in the Norwegian Campaign to lay down their weapons. He volunteered for front service in Germanic SS Norway, but was never at the front...

, physician.

Post-World War II

In 1945, after the war was over, Bredtveit was used as a prison for women who awaited trial for collaboration, as a part of the legal purge in Norway after World War II

Legal purge in Norway after World War II

When the occupation of Norway ended in May 1945, several thousand Norwegians and foreign citizens were tried and convicted for various acts that the occupying powers sanctioned...

. Later politician Aaslaug Aasland

Aaslaug Aasland

Aaslaug Aasland was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. She was the Norwegian Minister of Social Affairs from 1948 to 1953....

 served as prison director in the initial period. From 1949 it was a general women's prison

Women's Prison

Women's Prison may refer to:*A prison for women.*Women's Prison , 1955 film with Ida Lupino and Cleo Moore*Women's Prison , 1988 film from Hong Kong*Women's Prison , 2002 film from Iran...

, which included a facility for forced labour. Forced labour ceased to exist in Norway in 1970, whereupon the prison got the name Bredtveit fengsel og sikringsanstalt. It is one of three women's prisons in Norway, the others being Sandefjord and Ravneberget. It has a capacity of 54 inmates.

Famous people incarcerated at Bredtveit after the war include Veronica Orderud and Kristin Kirkemo.