Birger Anfinsen

The information on registered seafarers is not in all cases complete. As new sources are studied, information on engagements and medals etc. will be added to some of the already registered seafarers.

Date of birth

December 14, 1918

Date of death

November 23, 1957

Gender

Male

Nationality

Norway flaggNorway

Birthplace

Bergen

Place of living

Valsengården 2, Bergen

County

Hordaland/Bergen

Other

  • Participant in WW2
  • Ex gratia-arkivet:

    Registernummer under krigen: London 10572, NY 8986.

    Han ble tatt til fange av japanske styrker. Satt internert på Java fra 20. desember 1943 til 19. september 1945.

    Publikumshenvendelse:

    "Birger Anfinsen was on Java (Netherlands East Indies) when the Dutch surrendered on 8 March 1942. He became a POW in a camp on Java until september 1944. He was then selected to be brought to Sumatra to work there on the Pakanbaroe Railway that the Japanese forces were constructing. On 14 September 1944 he left his camp and boarded the Japanese ship JUNYO MARU. The ship left Batavia on 16 September and was torpedoed by the British submarine HMS TRADEWIND on 18 September, close to the port of Bengkoelen near the south coast of Sumatra. Anfinsen was one of the survivors of the attack. 5.620 prisoners on board died, making this one of the worst maritime disasters in history.

    Anfinsen was then transported to Pakanbaroe, but also managed to survive the hardships as slave labourer on the Railway until the end of WW2."

    Sources

    RA/S-3545/G/Gg

    Publikumshenvendelse til Arkivet freds- og menneskerettighetssenter (Dutch documents from the National Archive in The Hague, combined with British records from the National Archive in Kew)

    Fanger.no