The Norwegian Holocaust: changing views and representations¹

1 Sections of this article are based on Bjarte Bruland, ‘Collaboration in the Deportation of Norway's Jews’.

Abstract

Seven-hundred-and-seventy-two Jews were deported from Norway during World War II, and Norway was de facto the only Scandinavian country incorporated in the Nazi Final Solution. Holocaust discourse in Norway has concentrated on only a few, but vital, topics: the awareness of the Final Solution among Norwegian perpetrators, the ‘image’ of the perpetrator, the role of the Norwegian police, and, finally, to what extent the Jews were offered help by the organized resistance.

The views on these topics have changed considerably in the years since 1945, both in public discourse and in academic research. In the public discourse, the topics have regularly re-emerged, from the early 1960s until today. Academic works, however, appeared late; not until the 1980s. From the mid-1990s, the interest in Holocaust-related topics has become far more present, resulting in more academic, as well as public, interest.

Keywords:

• Norway
• Holocaust
• refugees
• resistance
• anti-Semitism

Notes

1 Sections of this article are based on Bjarte Bruland, ‘Collaboration in the Deportation of Norway's Jews’.

2 Bernard Goldberg was also the highest decorated Jewish war veteran in Norway.

3 Article by Bernhard Goldberg, Dagbladet, 12 December 1947.

4 Nora, ‘Between Memory and History’, 8.

5 Ibid.

6 Pryser, Norsk historie 1800–1870, 294−5.

7 Mendelsohn, Jødenes historie i Norge gjennom 300 år. The first volume contains a description of Jewish history in Norway from the earliest times until 1940. The statistics appear in vol. 2.

8 For a thorough account of the discussions about the Administrative Council and Terboven's decision, see Skodvin, Striden om okkupasjonsstyret i Norge.

9 Dahl et al., Norsk krigsleksikon, 417−18. A thorough account of Josef Terboven appears in Nøkleby, Josef Terboven.

10 Dahl et al., Norsk krigsleksikon, 277−8.

11 One year later, the rest of the population had their radios confiscated.

12 Johansen, Oss selv nærmest, 136−8.

13 Norwegian National Archives (RA), Ministry of Church and Education, copy book June 1941; letter from Minister Skancke to the Bishop of Oslo 13 June 1941, ref. 2772 A.

14 Johansen, Oss selv nærmest, 141−3.

15 The letter concerning this matter is found in the National Archives, Ministry of Police, Registration of Jews, 1940−1945, Ref. 1261/01.

16 Norsk Lovtidend, 12 March 1942, Law signed by Quisling, Minister of Justice Riisnæs and Minister of the Party Fuglesang. The Norwegian Parliament had abolished the part of Article 2 concerning the ban on entry of Jews in 1851.

17 All in all, 11 Jews were deported in these isolated actions between 1941 and July 1942, according to Bruland (Database of Holocaust Victims), Victims of the Shoah in Norway.

18 Law signed by Quisling, Minister of the Interior Hagelin and Minister of the Party Fuglesang, 17 November 1942, announced in Norsk Lovtidend, 20 November 1942.

19 This can be established from documents in Friedman, Dokumentensammlung ueber ‘Die Deportierung der Juden aus Norwegen nach Auschwitz’. The collection contains an exchange of telegrams concerning the deportation of 532 Jews on the ship ‘Donau’ (26 November 1942) and 158 Jews on the ship ‘Gotenland’ (25 February 1943), from Oslo to Stettin. The exchange was between the Headquarters (HQ) of the German Security Police in Oslo, the Security Police in Stettin, and the office of Adolf Eichmann, Referat IV B 4 of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) in Berlin. For further discussion on the problem of initiative, see Bruland, ‘Norway's Role in the Holocaust’.

20 Meetings took place between officers of the German Security Police HQ in Oslo and the Norwegian State Police on 23 October and on 24 November 1942. These meetings were between Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm Wagner, head of Office IV B of the German Security Police, and head of the State Police Karl Alfred Marthinsen, as well as other high ranking officers of the Norwegian State Police. During these talks, arrests and deportations were organized. It may be assumed that the initiative for these meetings came from the German Security Police. See the case against Wilhelm Wagner (RA - L-dom 2479/47), written affidavit by Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm Wagner, undated.

21 Straffesak mot Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssoen Quisling (Oslo, 1946), 464.

22 Ibid.

23 Aftenposten, 23 May 2001. The article was written in connection with the infamous Orderud murder case. One of the accused, Lars Grønnerød, was originally sentenced under the same clause as Quisling. The Court of Appeals later changed the verdict in his case.

24 Johansen, På siden av rettsoppgjøret, 47–92.

25 In February 1945, the Military Resistance Movement killed the leader of the Norwegian State Police, Karl Alfred Marthinsen.

26 Ringdal, Mellom barken og veden, 229.

27 Dahl, Vidkun Quisling, 373.

28 Straffesak mot Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonsoen Quisling, 126.

29 The title On Such a Night comes from a poem by national hero Henrik Wergeland (1808–1845). Wergeland, who was responsible for instituting 17 May as a national holiday (Constitution Day) in Norway, fought for the removal of parts of Article 2 of the Norwegian Constitution, stating that Jews were not allowed admission into Norway. This part of the Constitution was finally removed in 1851, six years after the poet's death. Sigval Maartman-Moe directed the movie.

30 Report from Quisling's Ministry of Culture and Propaganda, Norwegian listening service, 12 December 1942. Norwegian National Archives (RA), State Police (STAPO), ‘Action against the Jews’, folder 29, marked ‘Inquiries to Quisling concerning the action against the Jews’.

31 Cartoon by Ragnvald Blix. Blix escaped from Norway to Sweden, where he was hired by Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning, under the pseudonym Stiig Höök. His drawings were published in Norway in 1945 under the title Blix: The Five Years.

32 In reality the vessel did not leave Oslo harbour until 14:55.

33 Copy of a report from the head of the State Police to the head of the Norwegian Security Police, 17 November 1942, entitled ‘Evacuation of Jews’. RA, the case against Wilhelm Wagner, L-dom 2479/47, file marked ‘Dok. 12–50’.

34 The debate is broadly covered by Susanne Maerz in Maerz, Okkupasjonstidens lange skygger, 134–50.

35 The video re-enactment was called ‘Who's Afraid? Contemporary Memory’.

36 Bugge, Victor Linds Monument.

37 Together with Torill Torp-Holte, the authors of this article took part in a debate against Rieber-Mohn concerning acquittal, in the newspaper Dagbladet in April 2007.

38 Tangestuen, ‘Også jødene kom over grensen’, 34.

39 Ulstein, Jødar på flukt, 183–4.

40 An outline of these discussions can be found in Tangestuen, ‘Også jødene kom over grensen’, 77–80.

41 One representative of this negative assessment is author and philosopher Espen Søbye, who recently declared that all attempts to explain the differences between the Norwegian and the Danish rescue efforts only serves as ‘unworthy defences’. Such moral stands can hardly aspire to a broader understanding. Lecture at the seminar ‘Dødens ingeniører’, Norwegian Technical Museum, 3 September 2010.

42 Verdens Gang, 25th, 26th and 29th November 1966.

43 This debate is outlined by Bruland in Hagtvedt, Folkemordets svarte bok, 440–1.

44 Mendelsohn, Jødenes historie i Norge, vol. 1, 329–34.

45 The Feldmanns were beaten to death. Large rocks were attached their bodies with steel wire, and their bodies were sunk in a small lake after their killers had emptied their pockets for valuables.

46 The guides were soon freed, since they already had spent more time in prison than was required. The two pilots continued to help refugees after the killings. One was eventually arrested and ended up in Sachsenhausen, the other one escaped and later served in the Royal Norwegian Air Force in Canada. These circumstances were, of course, taken into account during the trial.

47 Verdens Gang is a politically independent newspaper that was started by members of the resistance movement in the summer of 1945. Oscar Hasselknippe was the editor of the newspaper from 1953 to 1978.

48 Alf T. Pettersen, one of the leaders of Carl Fredriksens Transport (see next endnote), had guided refugees through the same area at the same time, and served as a witness for the prosecution. Mendelsohn, Jødenes historie i Norge, vol. 1, 330.

49 Larsen, ‘Cowards who brag’, (Feige menn som skryter), Rjukan Dagblad, 8 September 1947. Reidar Larsen was one of the leaders of the Carl Fredriksens Transport, an autonomous organization which managed to help around 1,000 people to Sweden by trucks in only six weeks, from late November 1942 to mid January 1943. The organization was, however, initiated by one of the leaders of the military resistance, and partly founded by the civilian branch of the resistance. Larsen's article was also printed in the newspapers Arbeiderbladet and Friheten (Labour and Communist).

50 Senje, Ekko fra Skriktjenn.

51 Directed by Bente Erichsen.

52 Steen, Norges krig 1940–1945.

53 Kjelstadli, Hjemmestyrkene.

54 Skodvin, Striden om okkupasjonsstyret i Norge.

55 Grimnes, Norge under okkupasjonen. The same author covered the Jews in only one half-sentence in the mammoth work Et flyktningesamfunn vokser fram.

56 Ulstein, Svensketrafikken.

57 Ulstein, Jødar på flukt.

58 Johansen, Oss selv nærmest.

59 Mendelsohn, Jødenes historie i Norge. Oscar Mendelsohn fled to Sweden in 1942. Both his parents were deported. He returned to Trondheim in 1945, where he became the leader of the Jewish community for a few years before he left for Oslo in 1948.

60 Samuel Abrahamsen, Norway's Response to the Holocaust. Abrahamsen fled with his family from Trondheim to Sweden in 1941. From there, he and his brothers made their way to Canada. He later settled in New York.

61 The article appeared on 1 May 1995, 8 days before the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II.

62 A government appointed committee was established in 1996 and finished its work in May 1997. Though the establishment of the committee was linked to a general process of restitution of Holocaust era assets in Europe, the committee in Norway had a broader mandate than most (if not all) of such committees in Europe, and its research was not specifically linked to certain avenues, such as art or bank accounts.

63 For more information on the liquidation of Jewish property in Norway, see Reisel and Bruland, The Reisel/Bruland Report on the Confiscation of Jewish Property in Norway.

64 The participants in the discussion disputed whether or not the Norwegian police under Nazi rule could be counted as a Norwegian police force or merely as an instrument of the occupant – that is, if the police officers had a real choice to disobey orders. Ragnar Ulstein argued that ‘It was the enemy's police, not ours, who betrayed the Jews’ (Det var fiendens politi, ikkje vårt, som svikta jødane), Aftenposten, 6 December 2003.

65 For more details concerning new research etc., see Senter for studier av Holocaust og livssynsminoriteter, ‘Jøden som kulturell konstruksjon i norsk offentlighet’.

66 Corell, Krigens ettertid. The three publications Corell examines are: Steen, Norges krig; Skodvin, Norge i Krig; and Dahl et al., Norsk krigsleksikon.

67 There is some tendency of over-interpretation in both Corell's text, and, even more evident, in her photo analysis.

68 Maerz, Okkupasjonstidens lange skygger.

69 Anne Eriksen, Det var noe annet under krigen, 120.

70 Ibid., 122.

71 Political editor Harald Stanghelle responded to this in a comment in the daily Aftenposten, 30 May 2010, titled ‘The War on the War’ (Krigen om krigen). One of his main points was that, in the Norwegian debate on the War, there is a tendency to cover parts of the story as if they were ‘new’, when in fact such debates have flared up many times in the post-war era.