The war experience in Northern Norway differed in some areas from the experience of war elsewhere in Norway. To a large degree, this was the result of the strong German presence in the Northern Theatre of War, which formed the context for people's lives for five years. How did the German occupiers treat different groups of peoples in Northern Norway? How can one describe the relationship between collaboration and resistance among the civilian population? Why was the end of the war so brutal?

Stian Bones is professor of modern history at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. He is also affiliated with The Narvik War and Peace Centre as senior researcher. He has written extensively on political, security and diplomatic topics related to Norway and the European High North during the Second World War and the Cold War. Among his latest publications is The Struggle for Freedom. The Second World War in the High North published in 2022, of which he is the editor. The subject of his doctoral thesis (2007) was North Norway during the Cold War. Bones has also worked with the history of Norway’s relations to the United States, Norwegian-Russian relations, and the history of Norway's polar politics.