Border Lands in Kirkenes

01/09/2025

The north east is where Norway has land borders with Finland and Russia. It’s not the land of high mountains and deep fjords, but is interesting in it’s own way. Border lands everywhere have complex identities. Political borders rarely reflect the reality of people’s lives and the way they establish communities and build relationships. The Russian, Finnish and Norwegian borders in this area have been fluid for a long time and the peoples of the area, whether they identify as Sami, Kven, Pomor, Norwegian, Russian or Finnish, do not neatly align their homelands and traditions with borders established by governments.

Kirkenes Borderlands Museum     

Our first stop, once we’d returned to Norway, was at the Kirkenes Borderlands museum to find out more about the area. This was an excellent museum with a large WWII exhibit that bought to life the complexities of life during the war with moving first hand accounts and recollections of stories told by parents and grandparents. It’s an aspect of the war that we didn’t know anything about having been educated in the UK where stories of the Blitz, Dunkirk and D-Day form the backbone of WWII history.

We knew that Norway was under German occupation during WWII but had no knowledge of the impact of this area of Norway and it’s key strategic importance to the Nazi conflict with the Soviet Union. In the museum we found out about the locals secretly trained with the Soviet Union and became ‘partisans’ (spies who reported back to the Soviets on German troop movements),  teachers who refused to include German propaganda in their lessons and children who were evacuated to Sweden.

Despite having so many allies in the area, the Soviet Union bombed it heavily to try to drive the Germans back. The local population resorted to taking shelter in the local mines for several weeks. Following WWII and during the cold war the tide of opinion turned on the partisans who were sometimes suspected of being communist sympathisers. The central Norwegian government distrusted the population of the area because of their cross border allegiances.

While Norway resisted German occupation, Finland was allied with Germany at the beginning of the war, fighting with German troops against the Soviets. The Finnish campaigns against the Soviet Union, an animosity that started long before WWII, wasn’t successful. In 1944 they signed a treaty, the outcome of which meant they had to turn on their former comrades in arms in order to drive them out of the area. The first hand accounts showed the level of confusion and pain this caused on an individual and personal level.

As well as WWII history there were other exhibits covering the history of the local area and people. One thing I had thought was an urban myth turned out to be a true story. Prior to the Ukraine war, asylum seekers used the border between Norway and Russia to enter Europe. They exploited a loophole which meant that although they would be returned if they tried to cross the border on foot or in motorised vehicles, they could cross using pedal cycles.

Also in the same building is a small gallery of work by the Sami artist John Savio. You would probably recognise his woodcut artworks. Like many artists he lived in poverty and struggled to sell his work while he was alive, but his work has become more popular in recent years.

Kirkenes Town

We didn’t spend long in Kirkenes itself. Although it’s one of the bigger towns in the area and visited by cruise ships, it’s not very touristy. The town architecture is not very inspiring as not a lot survived the retreating Germans and the rebuilding was very utilitarian.

The town has a monument that celebrates the liberation of the town by the Red Army in 1944. The car parked next to the monument marked how few decades it takes for opinions to turn.

Driving to Grense Jacobselv

We wanted to drive up to Grense Jacobselv which sits on the coast of the Barents Sea tucked right up against Russia.

On our way we passed through a tunnel that was opened with local fanfare in 2017, part of a road improvement project to allow greater access across the border. The Ukraine war, and Norway’s alignment with the EU’s package of sanctions, means that the only legal road crossing between Russia and Norway is now closed to ‘normal’ traffic. The improved roads haven’t seen much activity. We drove past the crossing point, where the turning is signposted for Murmansk, and wondered how long the war would continue.

The road got progressively worse as we continued. It was potholed and deformed as well as being narrow and wiggly. We had to drive slowly and carefully and Paul complained that it was hard work although we at least had plenty of reindeer sightings to keep us interested. As we got closer to our destination we saw a Norwegian border patrol on quads. They waved at us as they passed.

Reindeer on the road to Grense Jacobselv

The last part of the border is a strip of green and fertile river valley between two rocky and inhospitable areas. We were surprised how many summer homes there are up here on the Norwegian side. We passed postboxes and bin stores out by the road. On the opposite side of the road at the river’s edge were the yellow border markers that mark the Norwegian side of the border. Strict controls are enforced and I wouldn’t be tempted to test the surveillance of either nation’s border guards. There are anecdotal stories of people being detained for messing around at the border and accidentally or deliberately crossing into the border zone.

Border signs

Grense Jacobselv

As we approached the end of the road we passed the King Oscar II chapel, built to remind the local population that this was the Norwegian side of the border agreed in 1826. It doesn’t have a congregation now but stands as a landmark watching over the visitors and holiday home owners.

Finally the road reached the sea at a small harbour, with deteriorating concrete providing a desultory protection from the sea. A curve of beach and plenty of low rocky coastline made a pleasant outlook. We parked up the van and went out to clamber on the rocks and see what was around. The boat association hut was closed. There was a shelter where border guards were sitting eating their lunch around a firepit. They waved hello, we couldn’t tell if they were the same people we’d seen earlier.

One of the reasons for coming here was the possibility of seeing beluga whales. Paul went fishing while I sat and watched the sea in hope. Neither of us were successful. Our plans to stay overnight were also scuppered as we had no mobile signal and I needed to work the next day. We considered whether to spend the night and then leave early the next day, but Paul wanted to get the drive over and done with. So after a few hours we headed back the way we had come along the bouncy, twisty road back to Kirkenes.