CAPPELEN: Well, what I had done. Like most of us Norwegians, we regarded
ourselves to be at war with Germany in one way or another; and naturally
we, most of us, were against them by feelings; and also, as the Gestapo
asked me, I remember, “What do you think of Mr. Quisling?” I only
answered, “What would you have done if a German officer—even a
major—when your country was at war and your government had given an
order of mobilization, he came and said, ‘Better forget the Mobilization
Order?’” A man can’t do that with respect.
M. DUBOST: On the whole, did the German population know of, or were they
unaware of, what went on in the camps?
CAPPELEN: That is, naturally, very difficult for me to answer. But in
Norway, at least, even at the time when I was arrested, we knew quite a
lot about how the Germans treated their prisoners.
And there is one thing I remember in Munich where I was working. I was
not working; I was in Dachau for that short period. With some others, I
was once brought to the town of Munich to go into the ruins to seek for
persons and find bombs and things like that. I suppose that was the
idea. They never told us anything, but we knew what was on. We were
about one hundred persons, prisoners. We were looking like dead persons,
all of us looking very bad. We went through the streets and people could
see us; and they also could see what we were going to do, the sort of
work which one should think was very dangerous and which should in some
way help them; but it was no fun for them to see us. Some of them were
hollering to us, “It is your fault that we are bombed.”
M. DUBOST: Were there any chaplains in your camp? Were you allowed to
pray?
CAPPELEN: Well, we had among the “NN” prisoners in Natzweiler a priest
from Norway. He was, I suppose, what you call in English a Dean. He was
of quite high rank. In Norwegian we call it “Prost.” From the west coast
of Norway. He was also brought to Natzweiler as an “NN” prisoner, and
some of my comrades asked him if they could not meet sometimes so he
could preach to them. But he said, “No, I don’t dare to do it. I had a
Bible. They have taken it from me and they joked about it and said, ‘You
dirty churchman, if you show the Bible and things like that . . .’” You
know, therefore, we did not do anything in that way.
M. DUBOST: Those who were dying among you, did they have the consolation
of their religion at the time of their death?
CAPPELEN: No.