Heavy water and foot-dragging in Hydroparken

Place: notodden · Exact position

Midway between Notodden town centre and Heddalsvannet lies Hydroparken, where Norsk Hydro ran electrolysis plants to make hydrogen for artificial fertiliser. In building 55 – the building with the clock tower just by the Stasjonen café, today offices – stood rows of Pechkranz and Holmboe cells that could separate out heavy water as a by-product, and the Germans had plans to step up production. It is nonetheless not documented that heavy water was actually made at Notodden before the plants were stopped. The credit for that may fall to Hydro director Bjarne Eriksen: in the summer of 1943 he set himself against increasing production and threatened to stop it altogether, among other things by pointing to the danger of bombing. Shortly afterwards he was arrested and held in prison in Germany right up to May 1945. While Vemork and Rjukan were put under bombs on 16 November 1943, Notodden was never hit – perhaps precisely because the foot-dragging here succeeded. At the office building where the newspaper Telen has its offices today, a relief by Ørnulf Bast was unveiled in 1945, in memory of workers and salaried staff at Hydro who lost their lives during the war.

Sources

• Tungtvannsfabrikken som unnslapp bombene – Verdensarven i Telemark — Om bygg 55 og elektrolysecellene, at det ikke er dokumentert produksjon før anleggene ble stanset, direktør Bjarne Eriksens somleaksjon sommeren 1943, arrestasjonen og fengslingen i Tyskland til mai 1945, og at Notodden aldri ble bombet.
• Statuer og minnesmerker i de tre verdensarvkommunene (Tinn og Notodden) – Rjukan-Notodden Industriarv (PDF) — Om relieffet av Ørnulf Bast ved kontorbygget (i dag avisa Telens redaksjon), avduket 1945 til minne om Hydro-ansatte som falt under krigen.
• Adresse: Heddalsvegen 11, 3674 Notodden (Kartverket adresse-API) — Hydroparken ligger mellom Notodden sentrum og Heddalsvannet; bygg 55 står like ved Stasjonen kafé (Heddalsvegen 11).
• Svein Vetle Træ: «Lamplight – krig og motstand i Notodden/Øvre Telemark 1940–45» (2016) — Lokalhistorisk bokverk om okkupasjonen i Notodden og Øvre Telemark; faktaene i teksten er korroborert av offentlig tilgjengelige kilder.