About the event
This year’s WDEC theme honors 80 years of peace in Europe, focusing on European cemeteries as memorial sites celebrating peace, inclusion, and justice.
On Monday, May 26, 2025, from 17:00 to 19:30, a special event will take place at Alfaset Cemetery (Nedre Kalbakkvei 99, 1081 Oslo, Norway), with the spotlight on the Occupation Power’s Gravesites in Oslo.
Program
The first part of the event will take place inside the Alfaset Chapel and will consist of three interesting lectures on the history, significance, and personal stories connected to foreign and German war graves in Oslo.
1.) Lecture by Janne Wilberg: The Honorary Cemetery at Ekeberg and the German Burial Machinery. Janne Wilberg is the former City Antiquarian of Oslo and has 15 years of experience and engagement in working with military cultural heritage for the Norwegian Defence Estates Agency.
2.) Lecture by Haakon Vinje: On the Foreign War Graves in Oslo and a Deep Dive into Individual Stories. Haakon Vinje is the head of the War Graves Service in the Ministry of Culture and Equality.
3.) Lecture by Kristian Ilner (Outdoors at the German war cemetery): Stories of Three of the Buried Individuals. Kristian Ilner is a history enthusiast and a lawyer who works as a political advisor in the Norwegian United Federation of Trade Unions, responsible for education and competence. He has written five books in total. The story of the German soldiers at Alfaset is his fourth book.
The second part of the event will take place outdoors at the cemetery and will feature a guided tour along with compelling stories about individuals buried in the German war section, offering a deeper, more personal perspective on the historical legacy of these gravesites.
Additional information
If you would like to participate, please send an email to Wenche Elizabeth
Madsen Eriksson at
wenche.eriksson@gpe.oslo.kommune.no.
For more information visit www.aktuelt.oslo.kommune.no.
Photo credits:
- First photo (War graves at Alfaset Cemetery): Naomi Wilde
- Second photo (Commemorative ceremony at the German war graves): Haakon Vinje