Robert Eichinger
Odderøya
Like Ole Arnt Fosby, Robert Eichinger commanded one of the cannons at Odderøya Fortress on the morning of 9 April 1940. He survived the German attack, though he was severely injured. Eichinger played a central role in the resistance movement in Southern Norway, leading a resistance group of military personnel that bore his name, the Eichinger Group. The group received weapons training at a secret location at Høiekleiva near Mosby, just outside Kristiansand. All of the members were arrested after their cache of weapons was discovered by the Gestapo, the German secret police. Robert Eichinger and the Eichinger Group were sent to Gestapo Southern Norway headquarters in an occupied building called Arkivet. The members of the Eichinger Group were later sent to Grini, outside Oslo, one Norway's largest prison camps, where they were court-martialed. Ten were sentenced to death, though the sentence was later overturned. Eichinger was sent to a prison in Germany, where he was interred until the war's end.
Considering the above, what choices did these two men make, who stood side-by-side defending Kristiansand on the morning of 9 April 1940?
And why do you think Eichinger and Fosby chose different directions?
As seen on
World War II in Kristiansand:On Choices and Values