History
In 1860 the Russian Tsar Alexander II granted permission for Norwegian settlements on the Kola. Around 1870, scores of families from Finnmark in northern Norway departed for the Kola coast, attracted by the prospects of fishing and trade. The Russian authorities granted them privileges to trade with Norway.
Most of them settled in Tsyp-Navolok (Russian: Цыпнаволок) on the easternmost tip of the Rybachiy Peninsula (Russian: Полуостров Рыбачий; Norwegian: Fiskerhalvøya - both terms meaning "Fishermen's Peninsula"). Others settled in Vaydaguba (Russian: Вайдагуба) at the northwestern tip (Russian: мыс Немецкий; Cape Nemetskiy, i.e. "Cape German") of the same peninsula. A vibrant society developed, retaining contact with Norway, especially with the town of Vardø. Some settlers returned to Norway shortly after the Russian Revolution of 1917, but most of them remained at Tsyp-Navolok. In 1917 perhaps about 1000 lived on the Kola.
On 23 June 1940 Lavrenty Beria of the NKVD ordered the Murmansk Oblast, encompassing the entire Kola Peninsula, to be cleaned of "foreign nationals". As a result, the entire Norwegian population was deported for resettlement in the Karelo-Finnish SSR. Soon they had to move from there too, because of pressures caused by the Finnish invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. In spring 1942, a large proportion died of starvation and malnutrition.
Despite many having served in the Red Army, they were not allowed to return home to the Kola after the end of the Second World War. Many children were raised without learning to speak Norwegian.
Read more about this topic: Kola Norwegians
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