Ilja Mandelbaum

Ilya Mandelbaum was born in Ukraine in 1909 and he married Ukrainian Maria who was a doctor. They had a son, Isaac, in 1936. Ilja enlisted in the Red Army in the summer of 1941. After that, Mary and Isaac never heard from him again.

Photo of the burial site i.a. to the Ukrainian Ilya Isakovich "Makarenko". From the book "Do svidanija" by Magne Haugland.

In 2008, Magne Haugland published the book "På gjensyn - Do svidanija" which is about the fate of alot of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Norway. In this book, the dramatic events at Åndalsnes and in Valldal are described in a separate chapter. It was late in the year 1944, just before Christmas, that four prisoners of war escaped from a prison camp in Isfjordbygda in Western Norway. It was engineer Ilya Isakovich "Makarenko", teacher Boris Shestakov, Mikhail Ivanovich Maslov and Dmitry Mikhailovich Cherkasov.

Ilja and Dmitrij headed for Dalsbygda, while the other two headed towards Grøvdalen. The Germans began searching for the prisoner on Christmas Eve as soon as they discovered that the four had escaped. Three German soldiers found Ilja Mandelbaum the next day. He had come halfway up to Dalsbygda. There he had fallen into the river and been soaked. He therefore probably gave up the escape and went, the story is told, back to the camp. Halfway back he was apprehended by the three Germans and taken back to the camp. Ilja was first lined up against a wall, tied up, dressed naked and thrown to the ground. The poor prisoner lay for a long time undressed and tied up in the field on the cold first day of Christmas. The other prisoners were forced to look at the punishment that followed. To probably "thaw" the naked and frozen Ukrainian, the Nazis poured boiling water over him. He was then beaten with pistols and rifles, and then kicked and tied to a bench. The German beasts pulled out the nails on the fingers of Ilja's left hand, then cut off his nose, right ear and testicles. Finally, Ilja was stabbed with a bayonet several times. The gruesome torture and torture of a completely defenseless prisoner lasted for four hours before Ilja died. This is described by the Bredeli family who witnessed what happened. Their house was near the prison camp. This is how the Nazis' "untermensch" doctrine was practiced.

After Ilya's death, his body was thrown into a trash can and lay there for three days. The body was then wrapped in paper and tied around with wire. The prisoners then carried the dead to Setnesmoen where they buried their comrade.

First in 1965, his wife Maria and son Isaak found out what had happened to Ilja. They were then visited by Dmitry Cherkasov who told about the escape in the Icefjord in Norway. Isaac never chose to tell his mother the details of the story of what had happened to his father.

Ilya, took the surname Makarenko because he was a Ukrainian Jew and wanted to hide his ethnicity. He was one of four prisoners who managed to escape from the German prison camp which was established in the youth and shooting house Fritun in Isfjorden. Dmitry Cherkasov survived the escape after great help from Norwegians. Two of the others who escaped were shot in Nesstranda and the fourth was Ilja Mandelbaum. He had probably given up the escape up to Dalsbygda and was on his way back to Hen when he was arrested by the Germans. Ilya "Makarenko" was subjected to bestial torture. Among other things, the Germans pulled out the nails on his left hand and on his upper body and in the palate he was stabbed with bayonets. This was documented when the tombs were opened in 1945.

On 8 and 9 June 1945, the tomb of Ilja Mandelbaum was opened on Setnesmoen to clarify the cause of death of those who had fled. Ilya's body showed clear signs of the terrible abuse he had been subjected to. The bodies were cared for and placed in separate coffins. Norwegians and released prisoners are gathered for a final farewell. (Photo from Magne Hauland's book "Do svidanija - På gjensyn". The owner Einar Sødahl.)