The Jews of Norway During WWII
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Heroes Henrik Wergeland’s Thanks To Scandinavia is committed to tireless efforts having the world learn about the efforts involved Jewish immigrants first began arriving in Norway in saving Jews during World War II. Our goal is in 1851, after the Storting (Norwegian national as- to make sure these commendable stories are sembly) voted to eliminate the paragraph in Article heard and never forgotten. Every year, dozens 2 of the Constitution that restricted Jews from en- of Scandinavian educators and students are tering the country. It was Henrik Wergeland chosen to receive grants that enable them to (1808–1845), one of Norway’s most famous nation- study in the United States, Israel, and Europe. al poets and a longstanding advocate of social jus- Such is the enduring message of courage and tice and religious freedom, who led the way in the humanity that our generation and every genera- long and arduous struggle to repeal the ban tion to come should hold dear to their hearts. against Jews in Norway. Wergeland died without seeing the success of his endeavours, but his ef- Laurie Netter Sprayregen, President forts gained him the everlasting respect and admi- For more information, contact: ration of Jews throughout Scandinavia and all of Henrik Wergeland those who believe in tolerance and equal rights. Rebecca Neuwirth, Executive Director Thanks To Scandinavia The Norwegian 165 East 56th Street resistance movement New York, NY 10022 The sudden invasion of Norway in 1940 made it dif- Tel (212) 891-1403 ficult for the resistance to organize itself. Howev- Fax (212) 891-1415 er, a number of anti-Nazi military units and civil [email protected] groups rose to the occasion by improvising and www.ThanksToScandinavia.org later organizing the rescue of approximately half Thanks To Scandinavia is an institute of AJC of the small Norwegian Jewish population and (www.ajc.org). other targets of Nazi wrath over the Swedish bor- der and by boat to Shetland. They also executed military strikes and sabotaged the German occu- pying forces’ supplies. Forty-one members of the Norwegian resistance have been recognized individually by Yad Vashem as Righteous among the Nations. (Norsk Folkemuseum) The Oslo Holocaust Memorial designed by Anthony Gormley overlooks the site where Jews were loaded into ships and deported and attempts to reflect the idea of “absence.” Thanks To Scandinavia An Institute of AJC Finland Finland, though a cobelligerent of Germany, refused to 1933 The Destruction of Norway’s Jews deliver the Finnish Jewish 1945 Norway community for Hitler and his Nazi party came Nazi domination vidual antisemitic actions and initiatives country. A law to that effect was signed Norway’s resistance Hitler’s “Final not necessarily part of a systematic anti- by Quisling in March 1942. movement coura- Solution.” to power in Germany in 1933 of Norway Jewish policy. geously defied the When Germany's armed forces attacked At the same time, the German Security and remained until 1945— German occupation Norway in April 1940, there were some * A short middle phase from January Police ordered all Jews to have their only twelve years in total. And and the Quisling 2,100 Jews in the country, less than 0.1% 1942 to October 1942 when signs of a far identification papers marked according- government and yet, by the end of Hitler’s of the population. Around 1,700 were more destructive goal were visible. ly. The announcement was hardly com- was able to rescue regime, the world had been members of the two organized Jewish * The destruction phase from October mented on in the press, and there was half of its Jewish communities in Oslo and Trondheim. no opposition. All in all, the police regis- population. plunged into global world war, 1942 to February 1943 when the Jews There had been a Jewish presence in were deported and systematic measures tered 1,536 Jews. Europe was in shambles, and Norway since the 1850s, when the Nor- were taken to confiscate their posses- In September 1942, the German Security nearly 30 million people had wegian parliament finally annulled the sions. police confiscated homes belonging to part of the Constitution of 1814 that died. Among the dead were Soon after the invasion of Norway, the Jews in Oslo. Due to a leak that seems banned Jews from the country. to have originated from the German six million Jews—men, Nazi occupants started imposing race- The Nazis did not want to disturb Nor- based exclusionary laws. In May 1940, army, warning got out to some Jews to women, and children—who way’s economic integrity and hoped that radios belonging to Jews were confis- get to safety as soon as possible. Nev- were systematically slaugh- the country would accept the Nazi pres- cated by order of the German Security ertheless, most male Jews above the ence with little resistance. However, after age of 15 in Trondheim were arrested in Sweden tered because of the Nazis’ Police in Oslo. At the same time, impa- Risking Nazi retaliation, neutral some initial hesitation, the government late October. tient German officials made sure that Sweden later in the war provid- racist ideology. decided to oppose the Nazi domination. Jewish shops and offices were publically As the end of October approached, a ed sanctuary for Jews escaping This changed the political situation. Hitler identified in several cities. Local branch- "border pilot" – a person in the Norwe- from Denmark, Norway, and Some Jews were rescued appointed a Reichskommissar to Norway, es of the German Security Police also gian underground illegally guiding Jew- other European countries. throughout the Scandinavian the Gauleiter Josef Terboven. By Septem- closed Jewish shops here and there and ish refugees to safety in neutral Swe- ber 1940, all discussions between Ter- countries and in other Euro- occasionally arrested Jews on trumped- den – shot a border policeman. This in- boven and the remaining Norwegian po- up charges. cident was used as propaganda by the pean countries by heroic ac- litical establishment had ended. One of In 1941, the Norwegian Nazi party government to attack the Jews in un- Denmark the obstacles to an agreement was the tions of individuals and com- stepped up its anti-Jewish propaganda. usually ferocious language. It was the Although occupied by the establishment’s refusal to give Norway's Germans, Denmark saved munities. In February, March and July the party’s pretext the German occupation and miniscule Norwegian Nazi party (Nasjon- nearly all of its Jewish army carried out violent actions against Quisling regime needed, and the bu- al Samling) and its leader Vidkun Quisling population from the Nazis. Jewish shops and offices and against reaucracy moved with renewed energy The following story focuses on any power in a new government. cultural venues where Jewish artists toward its goal of killing Norway’s Jew- the fate of the small Norwe- By September 21, 1940, Nazi plans were performed. These actions backfired, ish population. gian Jewish community. completed for a cabinet of new ministers causing increased public sympathy to On October 23, Hauptsturmführer Wil- The Holocaust responsible to Reichskommissar Ter- Jews. helm Wagner met with the Chief of the boven alone. Most of them were mem- In June 1941, a law was proposed pro- Norwegian State Police Karl Alfred bers of the Norwegian Nazi party, and hibiting the marriage of persons of “Nor- Marthinsen and the top echelon of the ask for the release of individual Jews. A direct or indirect result of anti-Jewish Quisling was appointed political head of wegian blood” with Jews and people State Police to plan the arrest of all blitz operation was prepared. Rather actions in Norway. This brings the num- the cabinet. The political power stayed from Lapland, who were also subject to male Jews over the age of 15. All in all, than concentrating the women and chil- ber of victims to 765, close to half of the with Terboven. In February 1942, Quisling Germany’s racist policy. This law was some 340 Jewish men were arrested dren in a transit camp before departure, 1,536 Jews registered by the Norwegian was allowed to form his own pro forma never passed due to protests from the and imprisoned in a makeshift concen- the victims were to be brought directly Police in early 1942. In Western Europe “national government” and appointed bishop of Oslo, Eivind Berggrav. tration camp outside the town of Tøns- to a ship in Oslo harbour. The operation only the Netherlands and Germany had a himself leader. He held this position until berg. In a move that was not coordinat- took place on November 26, 1942. At 2:45 higher percentage of murdered victims. The Reichskommissariat in Norway the end of the Nazi occupation in 1945. ed with the Germans, the Quisling pm, the “DS Donau” left the Oslo har- showed no willingness to take the lead in Over 1,000 of Norway’s Jews were res- regime prepared a law to confiscate all bour with 532 Jews on board. Another Anti-Jewish policies anti-Jewish measures, as evidenced by a cued by members of the resistance Jewish property, taking control of it be- transport left Oslo on February 25, 1943. memo between the different branches of movement, who evacuated them over Anti-Jewish policy in Norway can be di- fore the Germans could. In all, 772 Jews were deported from the border or by boat at the risk of their vided into three different phases: the Reichskommissariat in January 1942. Synagogue Choir of the Israelite Congregation Oslo, Instead, it expected the Quisling-regime The pressure rose: organizations and Norway, most of them to Auschwitz.