Tromsdalen detention camp (Norwegian: Tromsdalen fangeleir, German: Polizeihäftlingslager Tromsdalen), colloquially known as Krøkebærsletta, was a Nazi concentration camp just east of Tromsø, Norway, built during World War II. From November 1942 until the end of the occupation of Norway in May 1945, it was primarily a transit camp for prisoners on their way to Falstad, Grini, or camps in Nazi Germany. It held over 2000 recorded prisoners. Tromstun skole (Tromstun School) now stands on the site of the former camp. A memorial marker has been erected there to commemorate it. Background Following their invasion of Norway, the Nazi regime and collaborationist Quisling government would establish over 600 concentration camps throughout the country. A handful were designated as Polizeihäftlingslagers (police detainee camps) and run by the Sicherheitspolizei, specifically the camps at Grini, Falstad, Ulven (later replaced by Espeland), and Sydspissen (later replaced by Tromsdalen). Despite being built with the intention of holding political prisoners, these camps would also hold POWs, Jews, family members of the Norwegian resistance, and criminals with short sentences. When the Sydspissen camp reached double its max capacity shortly after opening in 1941, it was decided to replace it with a new camp at Krøkebærsletta in Tromsdalen, just east of Tromsø. Construction on Polizeihäftlingslager Tromsdalen was finished in October 1942 and prisoners were transported there in November. The camp Layout The camp facilities were made up of five prisoner barracks, three personnel barracks, a toilet/wash barrack, a kitchen, and a tool shed. A further four barracks were later added, but the precise nature of their use is unknown. Two of the barracks burnt down in a fire in January 1944. The camp could house approximately 250 prisoners. Prison life Life in the camp was tough and rules were strictly enforced. Inmates spent the day doing forced labour. This included chores within the camp, work on nearby farms, and the loaning of prisoners for use by Organisation Todt, the Kriegsmarine, and the Luftwaffe. Collective punitive exercises were handed out for the slightest mistake and prisoner barracks were regularly raided. Those who had taken part in resistance activity were treated with particular brutality, facing torture on- and off-site at the hands of the Gestapo. With the first arriving on 13 June 1944, a total of 25 women would be held at the camp. Isolated from the male prisoners, they were only let out twice a day and given buckets of