In memoriam : Ottar Lie

My Norwegian grandmother had a few old lady friends that would visit her now and then.
I remember that one of these old ladies was Inga Lie. It was only years later that I was told who this lady was.

Ottar and Inga Lie were both Norwegian Communists before World War Two.
She was pregnant when she was arrested by the Germans and following the harsh interrogations, she lost her baby. She was later deported to Germany and imprisoned in Ravensbrueck till the end of the war. In the small group of Norwegian women imprisoned there as political prisoners, she got the job of dividing the bread rations equally among the women.

Ottar Lie, born 1896, was arrested by the Germans on October 30th 1942 and placed in the prison camp Trandum in Norway.

According to the story I was told he was there with his nephew, also a Communist. One day the Germans decided to execute some of the prisoners. When it turned out that Ottar Lie was to be one of those to be shot, he walked over to his nephew and gave him his boots : "You will need those more than me."
Ottar Lie was shot at Trandum March 1st 1943.

A few days ago while visiting my grandparents' grave in Oslo, I saw a memorial at the same cemetery. It turned out to be a memorial for 23 Norwegian Communists who were murdered during WWII by the Germans.
Imagine my surprise of finding this memorial and then seeing the name of Ottar Lie!

Inga Lie survived the war. As I already said, she was a friend of my grandmother - perhaps because they both came from the same area, Hedmarken.

She never remarried. She had no other children.