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Bjorn Westlie. My Father’s War

(Translated from Norwegian by D. Nikandrov, M. Schchyrba; published by UCHS)

During the Second World War a young Norwegian Petter Westlie was a Nazi supporter and a Waffen-SS volunteer to fight for Gemany on the Eastern Front. When his son Bjorn grew up to realize his father’s actions, he broke off with him. It was only in many years that Brojn felt that his father wanted to tell his son about this past. Finally, Petter Westlie recorded the story on tape for him.

The story is about an unusual relationship between a man and his father, and also about the experience young Norwegians gained in military service after Nazi attack on the Soviet Union. The author researched all available historical sources to compare his father’s story with facts. He also made a trip in his father’s traces to the sites in Ukraine where the soldiers of invading military squads (including Petter Westlie) committed crimes against hundreds of thousands of civilians, foremost the Jews of Ukraine.

[See the book (in Ukrainian)]

Announcements

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6/27/2025
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5/26/2025
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5/18/2025
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8/18/2025
Educational seminar-school “History of the Holocaust in Ukraine: Research, Education, Commemoration”

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8/1/2025
Holocaust Memory: Ukrainian and Polish Experiences Public Lecture at the “Sense” Bookstore in Kyiv

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7/31/2025
Open Lecture on the Occasion of the International Remembrance Day for the Victims of the Roma Genocide at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

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Bjorn Westlie. My Father’s War

Announcements

Latest News

Educational seminar-school “History of the Holocaust in Ukraine: Research, Education, Commemoration”

Invisible. Resilience: The Past and Present of the Roma

You're walking down the street and suddenly see a name. No Grand Words. But a Story.

Holocaust Memory: Ukrainian and Polish Experiences Public Lecture at the “Sense” Bookstore in Kyiv

Open Lecture on the Occasion of the International Remembrance Day for the Victims of the Roma Genocide at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine