One of my students, Juanita Rice told a Fact-Based story about children in Norway helping to smuggle gold out of the country in World War II, by packing it onto their sleds. The story was not The Snow Treasure. It was by a different author, but sounded very much like it. She wanted to know more. She wanted to get the real story.

Juanita not only searched the internet, she contacted the Norwegian Consulate here in Phoenix. She was then directed to the Norwegian Resistance Museum in Oslo, Norway. Eventually, she received this reply (she has given me permission to print it here):

Dear Juanita Rice,

 

The story of the Norwegian gold bullion is a truly dramatic and fascinating tale. It has however been the subject of a fair number of "alternative facts" stories. Around 1942 an American lady, Marie McSwigan wrote a book called "Snow Treasure" describing the gripping story of how Norwegian children with sledges managed to smuggle the gold passing German soldiers etc. This story sold quite well in the US, and I have through the years answered innumerable requests from pupils in the USA wondering what became of these brave children.

 

An old word of wisdom says "never check a good story". I 'm afraid this doesn't apply here. Facts are fascinating, but the gold transport was not a children's affair! At dawn of the German attack on Norway, April 9th, 1940, the gold was loaded onto trucks at the Bank of Norway in Oslo, following an emergency plan. The cargo was at first brought to Lillehammer and reloaded on railroad wagons taking the gold to the West coast at Molde. Parts of the gold was brought to Britain by warships while a smaller part was transferred to a small group of fishing vessels making their way to Northern Norway which was yet unconquered. Finally this gold was also salvaged and the total gold bullion ended up in America. The weight of it all was 53 tons.

 

I am sad to say that everything concerning children participation is purely fictitious. A number of books has been written trying to capture the whole drama. The best so far is probably Robert Pearson: "Gold Run - The Rescue of Norway's Gold Bullion from the Nazis, April 1940", Casemate Publishers, 2017.  

 

I may add that History Channel did a programme on the story many years ago in which I also participated!

 

Good luck with your Norwegian interest!

 

regards

 

Ivar Dyb Kraglund

Director

Norway's Resistance Museum

Kudos to Juanita for her determination to ferret out the truth. So, now the question for her, and ALL of us is: do we continue to tell this story as it is written? It is based on the fact that gold was smuggled out of Norway. But can we still tell that it was done on children's sleds? Hmmm...

GCC Students: Send me an Email, before 2:00 pm Tuesday, with ONE paragraph stating whether this story should be told WITH The children's sleds or NOT. Support your position regarding the ethics of Fact-Based storytelling.