The Daily Alaska empire., 1941-07-07
LETTER TELLS
 OF CONDITIONS
 IN NORWAY
Writer Escaped Country by Crossing North Sea in
 30-foot Boat

Telling of some of the conditions
 n the German occupied country of Norway is a letter recently received " a man in Juneau from relative, now in Canada, who managed to es-
 ape the German net in Norway and to reach the safety of England.
 Cor obvious reasons no names are used.
 The following is a translation of part of the letter:
 ". Living conditions in Norway gre very poor but there is no famine 1t the present time, at least not in the southern part of the country. Tn the northern part I understand the cond i t ions are considerably worse. Even in the southern part there is very little food and what can be had is very expensive. Meat and eggs are practically non-exist- ent, fish is expensive beyond req son, because of export to Germany. There is bread enough but it is al- most inedible. The coffee ration is enough for one cup per week and butter is very scarce. Articles like chocolate and cigarettes are impos- sible to get The clothing ration is such that if man buys suit he can not buy any other thing, not even a handkerchief, for 1l2 years. On top of that the cloth is 30 per cent ar tificial wool. As you will see it is not very abundant but as most peo- pie got themselves some stores be- fore the Germans started to loot the country, we have been getting along fairly well. But if the war lasts for a long time the conditions are going to be terrible at home
 Mentally, the people in Norway are suffering. It is hard on the nerves to have about 350,O00 "ani- mals" so close to oneself, not to speak about our own animals" The quislings are however only a very minor part of the people (one to two percent but these few are noticed by their dirty work. I believe, however, that the membership in National Samling' (Quisling's party) is stead fly diminishing.
 ''The morale at home is very high. The Norwegians have done as much or more than ony other people for effective passive resistance, resis- tance that is growing in step with the measures the Germans and the quislings are taking against it. Noth- ing has stimulated our morale more than the dumb, arrogant steps they have taken to break our resistance
 Regarding my own trip. l dc not dare to give you any details War is war you know. Tn general did what most of the NorWegians do when they escape. I went on skis from Oslo over the mountains to the west coast in order to get by with cut the otherwise necessary pass port and also to avoid as many guard stations as possible. At home they had nc idea of my plans. only told them that I was going up in the mountains and that I would not be home until after Easter. I here by got the necessary time to get out of the country without being looked for while I still was in the country. They, at home, are suppos- ed to report to the German authori- ties as soon as anyone is missing. Ii it is not done and it is discovered it may result in execution as it is regarded as giving aid to escape the country. One is also punished by death if one knows of someone try ing to escape and does not try te stop him. That is why I could mol say anything at home about my plans.
 T left Oslo on April 5 and left the country on April 16 in a 30-foot sailing boat. Had an adventurous passage across the North Sea and finally arrived in London where enlisted in the Norwegian aircorps and was sent to Toronto for train ing Here We live like princes, no rationing, no blackouts, it seems strange to US who now have been fumbling our way in the dark"