Bodø, Norway 1940

On 9 April 1940, Norway was attacked by German forces. German bombers had orders to bomb all cities where they met resistance. Namsos, Steinkjer, Elverum, Molde, Kristiansund and Narvik were destroyed in German bombings. On 27 May, Bodø was bombed. The town was seen as a military support base for Narvik where fighting was taking place, but the raid hit civilians hard. 15 people lost their lives. Of the town’s 760 houses, 420 were destroyed.

From town to town

In 1937, the small Basque town of Guernica was destroyed in an air raid. The targets were the railway station, a factory, and an important bridge, but when the planes disappeared, Guernica was in ruins. This was the first time in Europe’s history that an air raid affecting civilians became known throughout the world. 

Since then, innocent people all over the world have been targeted from the air. A common thread runs from Guernica and the bombing of cities like Dresden and Hiroshima to Aleppo and Ukraine in our time. 

Warsaw, Poland 1939
1 September 1939, Nazi Germany attacked Poland. This became the start of World War II. Civilians, like this ten-year-old girl in the photo, were in the line of fire. Her sister is in despair. The accident happened when a group of women were out digging potatoes. German planes flew in at low altitude and swept over the area with machine guns. Whether the raid was aimed at civilians, and thus was a war crime, is unknown.

Syria 2021
Imagine a situation in which your home and school have been destroyed by bombing. There is no electricity or water, the roads are damaged, and the police are gone. Dangerous people roam the ruins. This is the situation for many children in areas that have been destroyed by bombings. This image is from Syria in 2021.