She Is, However, Hopeless (Inspection of the Underage Underperformers

Villa Fridheim

Villa Fridheim is a striking Swiss-style wooden mansion located on the shores of Lake Krøderen in Krødsherad, Norway. Built in the late 1800s as a summer residence, it now houses a fairytale museum and is one of Norway’s largest and best-preserved wooden buildings from that era.

Bjørøya work discipline camp

While preparing for my exhibition at Villa Fridheim, I was told a little-known chapter of its history. From September 1944 until the end of World War II, the house was used as an internment camp under the “Law on the Prevention of Venereal Diseases.” Girls deemed a health risk to German soldiers were held here under strict guard.

At this so-called “rescue home,” activities included basket weaving, and punishments—such as forced head shaving—were imposed for disobedience or escape attempts.

This haunting past inspired my diorama, which seeks to reflect the daily life of the young women confined there and to bring attention to a largely forgotten part of history.

The Girls

One of the girls in this diorama has had her head shaved.  It was a punishment used for disobedience, escape attempts, or even for using foul language. Other forms of discipline included being locked in a cell for four days without food, being forced to wake at 4 a.m. for labor, or being sent to bed as early as 5 p.m.

The Director, the Nurse and the Guard

Some of the girls were still infected when they were brought to the camp, so a small team of nurses was assigned to care for them. These nurses were also responsible for reporting on the girls’ behavior. Punishments were determined by the camp manager, Nazi sympathiser Nils Lassen Kaurin.

Due to staffing shortages, local residents were hired to monitor the girls. People living in the surrounding area were even paid for assisting in the capture of those who attempted to escape.

The Room

Due to the absence of photographic documentation from this era at Villa Fridheim, I based my diorama on informed speculation. I selected to recreate the room that, based on its size and layout, may plausibly have been used for basket-weaving.

Details and Interior Elements

Among the details are the nurse’s clipboard and a sink bucket used for soaking wood shavings—essential in the basket-weaving process. The bucket was handmade from aluminum and filled with crystal resin to replicate the appearance of water.

On the wall, a wooden board displays the camp’s rules, punishments, and the legal justification for the girls’ detention. Nearby hangs a portrait of a well-known Norwegian Nazi figure from the era, a detail I imagined would have been included under the authority of the camp’s Nazi-sympathetic leadership.

I also created a miniature letter—symbolizing the personal correspondence that was often confiscated from the girls.

Research Material

An invaluable source for this project was the book Jentene på Bjørøya (The Girls at Bjørøya) by Knut Erich Papendorf, Dr. philos., retired professor at the Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law at the University of Oslo. Our personal conversations also provided essential context and insight.

Reading this book greatly influenced the development of the scene and even inspired its title. “She Is, However, Hopeless” is a direct quote from a psychiatric evaluation report of one of the girls. “Underaged Underperformers” was a term used in official documentation to categorize them—a cold, bureaucratic label that speaks volumes about how they were viewed.

The Clothes

For the clothing, I carefully selected fabrics that reflected the austerity of the 1940s, a time when most people had very limited resources. The girls sent to the camp were required to bring their own clothing—there were no uniforms provided.

My mother once told me that during the war, her own mother made them dresses from umbrella fabric. Inspired by this, I repurposed material from a vintage children’s umbrella to create dresses for two of the girls in the diorama. To add authenticity and function, each girl also has a small piece of leather on her lap, used as protection while working on basket weaving.

The Baskets

The girls made baskets according to their individual skills and abilities. They worked in groups of five or six, with each person responsible for a specific task in the basket-weaving process to maximize efficiency.

As I have no prior experience with basket weaving, I consulted professional basketmaker Hege Iren Aasdal for guidance on techniques and tools. With her advice, I was able to use finely cut materials to weave the miniature baskets required for the scene—each shown at different stages of the production process.

Propaganda posters

I chose to recreate some propaganda posters from the era, imagining that the Nazi-friendly camp director would have welcomed such decorations on the walls. To fit the visual language of my miniature universe, I reinterpreted the characters as mice. The posters were hand-painted using watercolor and gouache, maintaining the bold, graphic style of the originals.

Although I experimented with a few black-and-white pencil versions, I ultimately decided to stay true to the color schemes and visual impact of the original posters.

Making the characters

The characters in my diorama are sculpted using Super Sculpey, my preferred medium for its flexibility and fine detail.

For the whiskers, I use real cat whiskers generously sent to me by people from around the world—whiskers naturally shed and found around their homes. This small but meaningful detail adds a personal and authentic touch to each figure.

Wood-burning stacked stove

The only piece of furniture I chose to recreate in detail was the large, wood-burning stacked stove. It was constructed using a combination of cardboard, polymer clay, and metal elements for the decorative features.

For the rest of the interior, I relied on informed imagination. Since the building was originally a boarding house for wealthy summer guests, rented by the authorities for use as a work camp, it’s likely that the original furnishings were placed in storage. I imagined that basic worktables and stools were either built locally or borrowed to accommodate the new purpose of the space.