Trandumskogen Execution Site

Trandumskogen in Ullensaker, just north of Oslo Airport Gardermoen, is one of Norway’s most important and disturbing WWII memorial landscapes. During the occupation, the forest was used as a concealed execution site where prisoners were brought in secrecy, shot, and buried in mass graves at or near the place of death. After liberation in May 1945, the graves were discovered and the scale of the killings became known to the public.

In total, 194 people were executed here: 173 Norwegians, 15 Soviet citizens, and 6 Britons. The killings were carried out across multiple execution events (20 are documented), and the victims included resistance members and prisoners connected to sabotage and escape attempts. The execution unit was led by SS officer Oskar Hans.

Today the site is a national memorial. A central monument lists the victims and marks Trandumskogen as a place of remembrance rather than spectacle. Walking the forest paths and stopping at the marked execution and grave areas is a stark experience: ordinary woodland terrain, made unbearable by the knowledge of what happened quietly between the trees.