An interview with Major and Pastor Asle Enger, founder and the first president of the KBS (MCF of Norway)

Asle Enger graduated from the Military Academy and was trained at the theological faculty at the university in Oslo. He was a pastor in Oslo when Norway was forced into World War II by the Nazi invasion on the 9th of April, 1940.

After the fighting was over in Norway in June 1940, the Norwegian officers and soldiers were demobilized and allowed to return to their civilian life. However, in 1943 the Germans seized those who had not already fled to serve with allied forces in Britain, or who were hiding as members of the resistance movement

[Asle Enger was a little bit embarrassed when he told how it came about that he went as chaplain together with the Norwegian officers into German captivity. Other pastors were asked to volunteer to become chaplains with these prisoners, but they couldn't go. Asle's wife Ellen let him make the decision by himself. When he chose to go, she was left in the same situation as thousands of other wives of prisoners in those days.]

I was arrested and then taken to the Hvalsmoen garrison outside the city of Hønefoss. We were about a thousand officers in the first batch. I met several of my old friends from the Academy. They frankly asked if "Asle was a complete lunatic and really knew what he was doing?", if I had the knowledge that we were about to be sent to Germany, etc.

I was not allowed to perform any kind of chapel service while we were at the Hvalsmoen garrison and some smiled overbearingly: "We surely don't need any nanny in captivity."

My first chance came while we were on board the slave ship, passing between Sweden and Denmark on the 9th of September 1943. The order came from the commander of the squadron: The Norwegian chaplain is allowed a ten minute service, the prisoners are to be taken up on the deck. This was a "bulls eye" for me as the chaplain, since the boys were more than happy to get away from the wet and dim interior of the ship. It was a pleasure for them to breathe the fresh air, get a view of Copenhagen at starboard, which held rich memories for many of the boys, and see Malmø on the port side as it disappeared in the light haze. We were heading south, and the destination was Stettin ("Szczecin", in today’s Poland).

I stood helpless on the hatch: "Lord, what will you give me to say?" I let my Bible fall open at random and decided to read what was on the upper left page. It was Acts chapter 27: "And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but only of the ship." It was a bit of a strange experience for this chaplain when later, in the POWcamp, rumors came back telling us that the very same ship, on its way north to take on board more POWs, was sunk by an allied submarine. "How could you know about that?" was the reaction from the boys. I replied, "God told me!" This event really opened the door for me as a chaplain and a counselor. My cell-mate had never in the world dreamed that he would end up arranging the line into our cell for a chaplain!

One could not complain about the conditions in the POW-::amp. There was military order and the Wehrmacht behaved well, but provisions were all too short. The Germans didn't have food for their own people, and had even less for us. During the first months of my imprisonment I lost more than 40 pounds, coming close to looking like what we used to call a "muselman" [a scrawny, almost skeletal, man]. Within the POW-camp area we had full opportunity to have fellowship - there were no obstacles preventing us from being together and talking as desired. It is therefore no exaggeration to say that during the time of day which was not occupied with the necessary labor and parades, I was continually in counseling with people.

No, nothing! The pain of captivity was the total lack of any kind of information. We might receive one small letter or postcard every third week, censored by the Gestapo. We never knew what our loved ones got to know. Letters from our loved ones were given the same treatment - large black areas gave us no comforting information about the situation back home.

Some Red-Cross telegrams were a part of the most cruel experiences of prisoners. One message told that the Norwegian chaplain had to tell a man that his only son had been killed in a skiing accident. However, we knew a bit more about the cause of death in our mind and in our imagination. Gossip and rumors which reached us through new POWs caused great concern, and were the reason for some of the hardest counseling I do believe a human being must have to do.

The fairy-tale that became real during captivity was that hearts were opened to the light of the world that Jesus Christ gives to humanity in despair.

Our hope was never gone. For me, myself, it was a rather marvelous help that I had colleagues and friends who had the ability to smile through tears; and who could continue the counseling when I no longer could manage because of the heavy strain.

Our services became unforgettable. Our latest Chief of Defense, General Ruge, never missed being the first person present in the barracks where the service was to be held. As the boys filled the barracks to the last seat, there was always some chatting amongst them. Then the General would stand up and look over the men without saying a word. And so he stood until it became all silent

The Gestapo was of course there. If not every word from my preaching was written down, they were marvelous in capturing what was "on the edge". As a result I was taken to have "conversations" with the local chief of the Gestapo. There was no doubt in his mind that POW No.1577 Major Asle Enger was a spy and should have treatment thereafter. In some way or another, Bishop Bergrav in Oslo learned about this. With the initiative this spiritual chieftain possessed, he managed to collect the necessary amount of money and had a bishops cross made in silver. It is told that he personally met with the commander of the Gestapo in Oslo, asking him not to send the cross to Asle Enger, but to send it to the chief of the Gestapo in Oflag 21c. This request was not denied, and one day I was ordered down in the basement where our camp's Gestapo chief - showing a poorly hidden rage -handed me the silver cross with a necklace from Bishop Bergrav, carrying the inscription: "KGF 1577 MAJOR ASLE ENGER FELDPFARRER DER NORWEGISHEN KRIEGSGEFANGENDE OFFIZIERE IN DEUTCHLAND 1940-1945" I was told that this did not convince the chief of the Gestapo, who promised that at the next crossroads the "spy-chaplain" was to be sent to Auchwitz where he - in his opinion - rightfully belonged.

We were liberated in two different sections. First, we had to break camp in Scheildberg at the beginning of 1945. The temperature was freezing cold, about 0 degrees. We had no marching training at all, yet marched westward on icy roads, constantly hearing Russian artillery in the distance. We were fleeing westward, and the Germans were scared to death by the possibility of the Russians capturing the POWs and finding out about the bad treatment of the prisoners. That's why Adolf Hitler himself had given the standing order that if he lost the war all POWs were to be shot.

We were then moved to another POW-camp south of Berlin where there already were thousands of other allied POWs. In this camp we came in contact with British and US Air Force officers who seemed to be totally unaffected by the death sentence Hitler had given them in case he should lose the war. After the Germans fled the camp, Russian troops took control over the POWs. Many of us Norwegians were scared to death by the rumors which said that the Russians intended to ^"repatriate" us via Siberia. We knew all too well that that would be a death sentence in itself.

It was then that a "sunrise experience" occurred for me. I heard the other allied officers singing Christian songs and hymns. During my meeting with them, I saw their courage and their confidence in the mercy of God, and my vision of KBS, the MCF of Norway, was born. This was because when I asked them what gave them this boldness, their shining answer was: "OCU -Officers Christian Union. We are all part of a fellowship of prayer, a praying fellowship of Christian officers which makes us fear nothing! We have stood at the gates of hell for four years, and our Lord and Savior makes sure nothing more can scare us". I then prayed that the Lord would help me carry out the vision of an OCU of Norway if I ever made it home alive.

We tried to establish an "OCU of Norway" just after the war. Several of the generals and the chief Chaplain also had this vision. We gained support and inspiration from the SKO, the Swedish MCF and the Finnish captain Sven Harno, who himself several times came over to Norway for the sole intention of strengthening and inspiring us in our work. But it just didn't work.

I had the opportunity to come to an autumn conference of OCU at High Leigh for the first time during the '50s. There I met the German general Count Hans von Kanitz, from the German MCF -the Cornelius Vereiningung (CoV). He had been a close friend of Col. Count von Stauffenberg, and was therefore suspected of taking part in the assassination attempt of Hitler on the 2Oth of July, 1944. He was a prisoner in Spandau until the end of the war. Both von Kanitz and his wife were a great inspiration in the work to realize the vision of a Christian officers movement in Norway. But of greatest importance was the fellowship with military Christians in England and the USA, personified by Cleo Buxton from the American Officers Christian Fellowship.

The MCF of Norway never got started until Capt Atle Brundtland took action after a visit to England. Atle and I met and went to Bardufoss in northern Norway, in what became the founding of KBS in the winter of 1982. The next milestone was when we started having associated members and prayer support. Our former king, Olav V, was sincerely satisfied when we got associated members - "Now KBS is on the right track."

Our illusions about what peace would be like when we won the war left us, one by one. Behind the great words and superlatives we have seen during our cheerful celebration of the 50th anniversary of our liberation, I sense an unrest because of the thought of what's happening in the world around us. The jubilee should remind us that peace is not won once and for all, but must be won every new day - this fact is being made clear to most of us as time passes by. Perhaps even KBS is a kind of an answer - when we worriedly ask each another what we have to do to pay the price for our freedom, KBS can help by continuing to work for peace.

KBS is in the unique situation that as long as our vision is being realized, and the officers and NCO's of the armed forces of Norway are coining in to the light of the love of Jesus Christ - then the hundreds of thousands of Norway's youth, that during the years, do their national service in the military, will then be influenced by Christian faith, by Christian morale and by Christian culture -what a perspective! Maybe KBS can be an important tool in a national revival?

KBS is really an answer. There is the fellowship that gives the power of spirit when the devil puts his efforts in to taking away our courage. In KBS we are the soldiers of Jesus Christ, where we are given the freedom no one in the whole world can take away from us. In our faith in Jesus we meet the guidance of the Holy Spirit who calls us into action. God has in reality given us a battle to fight - we are His front-line soldiers in the struggle against sin, death and devil. And in this fight He creates the freedom in us that gives both strength and courage to win over the world.