The German invasion of Norway in 1940 met substantial resistance but there was also support among segments of the public. About 15,000 Norwegians volunteered for combat duty with the Wehrmacht, and 6,000 saw action as part of SS operations. In September 2008, as part of a renewed effort to confront this controversial chapter of the country’s history, the Norwegian Kaprolat Committee sought the assistance of ICMP to resolve the fate of Norwegians who fought in the SS and to uphold the right of citizens to know the truth about the fate of missing family members.

ICMP assisted Norway in identifying 14 individuals.

An article in the July 2015 article of the Journal of Forensic Sciences presents the multidisciplinary effort to identify the skeletal remains of the Norwegian soldiers who were killed in Karelia in 1944. It examines the process from the recovery of the remains through to the final identification using DNA. Of the 150 bone samples sent for DNA testing, 93 DNA profiles were obtained relating to 57 unique individuals. Forty-five reference samples, relating to 42 cases of the missing, were donated. DNA matches for 14 soldiers and 12 additional body part re-associations for these individuals were found. Another 24 bone samples were re-associated with 16 individuals, but no familial match was found. The exercise showed that more than six decades after the end of WWII, DNA analysis could significantly contribute to the identification of remains.