Evangelical Priest and Artillery Officer
German officers in occupied Norway, with a dog, May 9, 1943. Lt. Franz Affolderbach (holding the dog) was a German evangelical priest and artillery officer, who from February 1942 until the end of the war was adjutant with the commander in Brønnøysund, Nordland, Norway. He wrote a diary and took many photos that illuminate daily life among German officers in that quiet outpost. Affolderbach never took part in any acts of war.
Affolderbach was born in 1911. After studying theology in 1935, he was appointed priest in Oberseifersdorf in Saxony. In 1939, the year after his marriage, he was called up for military service in the artillery. The service was to last for six long years. Shortly after the recruitment service, he was seriously injured during an exercise. After a long stay in hospital, he was ordered to officer training.
On April 9, 1940, Germany invaded Norway. The German forces had relatively little trouble occupying southern Norway, but the fighting in northern Norway was tougher. He wrote in his diary: “Of course, we heard very one-sidedly in the press and radio the news that the government wanted to give us. It was constantly emphasized to us that the occupation was necessary because England would otherwise have occupied the country and the iron ore from Narvik would have been blocked. The battles over Narvik occupied us a lot, but everything was more or less presented as a heroic epic, and it was then also with triumph that the high command where the Wehrmacht announced that the war over Narvik was over, that Norway had capitulated.”
In an interview, Affolderbach emphasized that it was impossible to discuss a possible German defeat; it was seen as treason: “At the end of the war, there was only an implied doubt about the final victory, it was in line with treason. An open conversation about that kind was never conducted in the Casino. It might have to be when one was on two hands and knew the other well. Then one could scoop out of one’s heart and say: - not true, it’s over, Germany can not win the war. But to say this in the circle of officers, or among the crews, it would be high treason. That was true even when the Allies were deep in Germany.”
The author Dag Skogheim traced Affolderbach in 1970 and they developed a close friendship that lasted until Affolderbach’s death in 1992. They exchanged letters and visited each other. Skogheim did long interviews with his friend where he tells in detail about his life and his experiences during and after the war. This photo is from Affolderbach’s collection and is in the Arkiv i Nordland, Bodø, Norway.