[1] On the same day that Norway was attacked by Nazi Germany, some people started fleeing to Sweden.
[2][3] With an increasing demand from people with various backgrounds to escape to Sweden, there was a need for local knowledge at the border to help refugees safely cross to the Swedish side.
The Norwegian resistance movement gradually established systems with transport routes for refugees, in which locally known border guides were the last link in the chain that took them to safety.
After the war, those that had served as border guides did not receive public recognition.
[4][5] This was exacerbated by the fact that many of the border guides were ethnically Sami and continued to face discrimination after the war.