The monument depicts a silver hammer smashing a silver swastika. The hammer and swastika rest atop a large boulder. On one side of the boulder is the following quote:
[NORWEGIAN] "Det var verd å kjempe for friheten for alle land, for alle klasser, for alle mennesker. Asbjorn Sunde"
[ENGLISH TRANSLATION] It was worth fighting for freedom for all countries, for all classes, for all people. Asbjorn Sunde
There are two bronze plaques on another side of the boulder. The plaque on the left reads:
[NORWEGIAN] "Tjenestemenn Som Ga Sitt Liv" and then lists the names of 61 men.
[ENGLISH TRANSLATION] Organization Members Who Gave Their Lives.
The plaque on the right reads:
[NORWEGIAN] "Til minne om Osvald-gruppas falne i NORGES KRIG 1940-1945" and then lists the names of 35 men. At the bottom, it states "Gagforeningskamerater Takker".
[ENGLISH TRANSLATION] In memory of the Osvald Group's fallen in Norway's War 1940-1945. Your Buddies Thank You.
The following information is from Wikipedia (
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"On 29 April 2015 a monument was installed at Jernbanetorget, and unveiled on 1 May. The monument—["crush nazism"] Knus nasismen by Bjørn Melbye Gulliksen—shows a hammer (specifically a mukkert) that is crushing a swastika, with the swastika nearly becoming "invisible (...) What we now see is a sledgehammer slamming at Norway's bedrock". On the base of the monument are two plaquettes and one inscription: an Asbjørn Sunde quote, "It was worth fighting for the freedom—for all nations, for all races, for all classes, for all people". (One plaquette is dedicated to dead Osvald members; another larger plaquette is for State Railway employees killed in World War II. Two of the names appear on both plaquettes.) Present at the unveiling were 4 surviving members. The permit (from the municipality) for the monument's current location, lasts for six months, whereupon placement of the monument will be reviewed. Controversy has lasted since 2014."
The following additional information is from a May 5, 2015, news article about the monument's unveiling (
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"Seventy years after they helped liberate Norway from the Nazi German occupation, members of the resistance organization known as Osvaldgruppen (The Osvald Group) have finally won recognition in the form of speeches and a sculpture. The latter, though, has stirred nearly as much debate as the group itself.
Five surviving members of the Osvald Group unveiled the sculpture meant to serve as a monument to the group’s contribution during World War II, and to the lives lost as a result of their resistance efforts. The group was one of the first and most active armed civilian groups resisting the Nazi German invasion of Norway, and known for its members’ daring acts of sabotage against German installations and the Norwegian industry that served them throughout the war.
The Osvald Group was best known, however, for being led by radical socialist Asbjørn Sunde, a member of Norway’s communist party NKP during the 1930s who fought fascism in Spain and started resisting the Nazi movement early. He used the cover name “Osvald Pettersen,” hence the name later given to the group he led even before the Nazi invasion of Norway in 1940. The Osvald Group later took orders from both the exiled Norwegian government in London and officials in the Soviet Union.
While Sunde was one of Norway’s most important resistance leaders, his Soviet ties and communist sympathies were unpopular after the war and he was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union in 1954. The Osvald Group and its members never won the honours, public gratitude and positions of post-war power accorded other Norwegian resistance heroes.
Efforts to finally honour the group, in line with the long-overdue recognition accorded the Pelle Group of wartime saboteurs just two years ago, emerged with the formation of a committee to raise an “anti-fascist monument” in front of the train station, since much of the Osvald-led sabotage was against state railway NSB. The committee’s jury unanimously commissioned the sculpture by Bjørn Melbye Gulliksen entitled Knus nazismen (Smash Naziism), but now it’s become the subject of even more controversy because of its depiction of a hammer smashing a swastika."