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Ulf Bergerud is sitting alone in the apartment he shared with his twin brother Bjørn until recently.
– We had grown a lot together. You can imagine that you take a root and divide it in half.
Identical twins Bjørn and Ulf have had a very special life together.
They have never been married. They do not have kids. They have had each other.
IDO: The twin brother Bjørn that Ulf has spent almost every day is gone. Photo: Odd Sprakehaug / TV 2.
“Our little country” on TV 2 was going to do a program about this special coexistence, and that the two had shared almost every day for 83 years.
But this year it didn’t turn out as Ulf and Bjørn had imagined.
I KNOW «OUR SMALL COUNTRY»: «UNTIL DEATH SEPARATES THEM AD» HIS
Art and classical music
During the coexistence, the two twin brothers transformed the apartment at the Sagene senior center into something like a museum.
INTERESTED IN ART: The apartment is like a small art museum, with original art on all the walls. Photo: Odd Sprakehaug / TV 2
All the walls are covered with original paintings by famous artists, everywhere there are exclusive porcelain figures from the country and abroad, and the sound of no less than 17 antique clocks can be heard.
Both were interested in art, and in recent years they have amassed an impressive collection.
Furthermore, both Ulf and Bjørn have loved classical music their entire lives.
TOGETHER: Twins Ulf and Bjørn have spent 84 years together. Photo: Odd Sprakehaug / TV 2
Face to face
In the bedroom, their beds were long, each with its own wall. Every night they lay face to face and talked until they fell asleep.
SHARED BEDROOMS: Ulf and Bjørn always chatted on the edge of the bed before falling asleep. Photo: Odd Sprakehaug / TV 2.
Now there is only one bed left in the bedroom.
– Bjørn had cancer, and cancer he had had in the skeleton, says Ulf.
BED EMPTY: Now Bjørn’s bed is empty. Photo: Odd Sprakehaug / TV 2.
Twin brother Bjørn died at home in his own bed in June.
After that, life became difficult for Ulf.
– I feel a terrible emptiness. It feels like the whole wall is gone, everything is gone, he says.
If Bjørn had been alive, he would have completed the reasoning. So it was talking to Ulf and Bjørn. One is happy to complete the other’s sentence.
But now he is calm.
MISS: Ulf misses his twin brother Bjørn, with whom he lived for 83 years. – I feel an emptiness, he says. Photo: Odd Sprakehaug / TV 2.
According to Ulf, he and his twin brother never quarreled, although they also had their differences and quirks.
Bjørn was a morning bird and a man. Ulf is a b-human.
Bjørn was responsible for breakfast. Ulf took care of dinner.
Ulf wrote the shopping list. Bjørn handled the finances.
Childhood with a pair of shoes
Ulf and Bjørn were born in 1936 and grew up in Torshov in Oslo with an older brother, a mother and a father.
BORN BEFORE THE WAR: Ulf and Bjørn were born in Torshov in Oslo in 1936. Private
These were bad times, and at times the twin brothers wore a pair of shoes, which they shared and wore every two by three.
When they were children, their parents often sent them to the Hudøy holiday colony during school holidays.
They were there for two months almost every summer and they were fine.
The mother liked to dress them in the same clothes. Neither the family nor the neighbors could tell the difference between them.
KNOLL & TOTT: In their youth, guys could be called Knoll & Tott. Photo: Private
– We were a bit rabagaster. I remember they called us “Knoll & Tott,” says Ulf.
Commitment
Since then, they have always been each other’s best friends. No one has come between them.
But Ulf says that Bjørn was once worried that they would split up.
ENGAGEMENT: Neither Ulf nor Bjørn have a wife and children, but once Ulf became engaged to Gerd Photo: Odd Sprakehaug / TV 2
That was the moment he got engaged.
– Yes, I got engaged. But that didn’t happen then. I don’t really know what happened, says Ulf.
– Bjørn didn’t like that I was doing it, because it separated us a bit, he thought.
WORRIED: Bjørn was worried about being alone when twin brother Ulf got engaged Photo: Odd Sprakehaug / TV 2
His name was Gerd. But I don’t remember much else.
– And it wasn’t that long, so forget it, laughs Ulf.
A year of longing
After that, the two twin brothers worked together in different places. They went to sea in the same boat as the cooks, and together they did a laundry.
the one the time they lived apart was when Ulf had to move to Larvik for work, but even then they had daily contact, by phone.
They lasted a year apart. So he was too surprised.
– Then Bjørn left his job in Oslo and moved with me to Larvik, says Ulf.
Family view
About 20 years ago, they returned to Torshov in Oslo, where they grew up. In the district, they have been a family sight driving on their two motorized driving donations, wearing similar clothing.
ON A JOURNEY: Ulf and Bjørn have been a familiar sight in Oslo’s Sagene / Torshov cityscape on their motorized donations. Photo: Odd Sprakehaug / TV 2
They both had leg problems several years ago, due to a nervous disease that they discovered around the same time.
With Bjørn, it started with him “losing” the big toe on his right foot. While with Ulf it started on the big toe of the left foot. Doctors determined that it was polyneuropathy.
– We could go a bit at first, then it went from bad to worse. But it stopped here, says Ulf and points to his leg, a little below the knee.
– At least it started out the right way, so to speak. It is better to start in the legs than in the head. Right?
Believe
There is a Bible on the table in the living room. For many years, both have been an active part of the congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Vossegata, Torshov.
Faith has given them security, Ulf believes.
– There are many who believe that life has no meaning. But we found out early on that it is, he says.
– We believe in a resurrection. It gives me great hope and it gives me great joy.
– Are you sure you want to see Bjørn again?
– Yes. I am.
A unique life
Perhaps it is this conviction that one day he will meet his twin brother Bjørn again, which has made Ulf regain some of the spark of life when TV 2 reunites with him, after a few difficult months alone in the apartment.
– Yes, I have been banned, he says.
– But suddenly bad thoughts can disappear. Instead, I can think that I’m happy with the life we’ve had together. That we’ve lived through thick and thin together for 83 years.
Ulf smiles.
– We have had a unique life. It feels good.
SOLO: Even though he misses his twin brother Bjørn, Ulf now manages to think positively and enjoy the 83 years they spent together. Photo: Odd Sprakehaug / TV 2.
Watch “Our little country” on TV 2 on Sunday at 10:15 pm or on TV 2 Sumo now
