The area around Kirkenes was a common Norwegian�Russian district until 1826, when the present border was settled. The original name of the headland was Piselvnes, but this was changed to Kirkenes (meaning "church headland") after the church was built in 1862.
World War II
During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, Kirkenes was one of the many bases for the German Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe's Jagdgeschwader 5, and apart from that, the area served as a main base for supplies to the Murmansk front (see Lapland War). Reportedly Kirkenes is second after Malta on a list of European towns experiencing air-raid alarms and attacks, with more than 1,000 alarms and 320 air attacks. The town was taken over by the Red Army on October 25, 1944 as the German Wehrmacht was pushed out and fled the area after having destroyed most of the remaining infrastructure. Only 13 houses survived the war. Close to the town there is a memorial to 11 freedom fighters who helped the partisans collect information about the German occupation. In the summer of 1943 their activities were discovered and many of them were sent to a prisoner-of-war camp near Kirkenes. Following a Court Martial the 11 were sentenced to death and were killed near the memorial spot on 18 August 1943. When the common grave was opened in 1946 it was found that the men had been beaten to death. Following the post mortem and memorial service the bodies were returned to their homesteads
