Espeland detention camp (Norwegian: Espeland fangeleir, German: Polizeihäftlingslager Espeland) was an internment camp opened in 1943 by Nazi Germany in occupied Norway next to the village of Espeland in the borough of Arna, Bergen. Built to house prisoners after the closure of the nearby Ulven detention camp, Espeland was soon being used to mitigate overcrowding in Bergen. It functioned as a transit camp, sending many inmates further to Grini detention camp and to camps in mainland Europe. Abuse was common and the total number of people killed during captivity is unknown. Following the surrender of the Nazi regime the previous day, the camp was liberated on 9 May 1945. It was subsequently used by the Norwegians to house post-war prisoners. Since 2000, there has been an effort to convert the camp into an education and archive centre. It is currently run by the Stiftelsen Espeland fangeleir (Espeland Prison Camp Foundation), which, as of 2021, was in the process of being merged with the Norwegian Gestapo Museum. It is among the most well-preserved Nazi concentration camps in the world and in November 2014 the facility was declared a protected monument. Background After the invasion of Norway by Nazi Germany during World War II, the Nazi authorities and collaborationist Quisling regime established over 600 concentration camps throughout the country. These would be used to house POWs, political prisoners, groups considered undesirable by Nazi ideology, and ordinary criminals. In the summer of 1942, the Ulven detention camp near Bergen – at that time used by the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo) to hold political prisoners – was deemed to be at risk from British sea raids due to its proximity to the coast. A decision was made to transfer the camp to the Wehrmacht and repurpose it for military training. The prisoners would be relocated further inland to a new facility in Espeland, a few kilometres south of Indre Arna, a small village outside Bergen. Design and construction The Espeland detention camp was built to designs drawn and signed by SS-Untersturmführer Niebel. Construction was organised by SS-Wirtschafter Rudolf Klotz through Gruppe Bauwesen – an SS-run building organisation in Norway. Barracks were prefabricated in Germany before being transported to and assembled in Norway through the use of Norwegian contractors and slave labour. Construction began around June–July 1942, with hundreds of Yugoslavian POWs (ferried to and from Bergen on a daily basis by train) made