Jewish deportees from Norway during World War II

Prior to the deporation of individuals of Jewish background to the concentration camps there were at least 2,173 Jews in Norway. During the Nazi occupation of Norway 772 of these were arrested, detained, and/or deported, most of them sent to Auschwitz. 742 were murdered in the camps, 23 died as a result of extrajudicial execution, murder, and suicide during the war. Between 28 and 34 of those deported survived their continued imprisonment (following their deportation). The Norwegian police and German authorities kept records of these victims, and so, researchers were able to compile information about the deportees.

Before deportation
The deportation followed a series of steps to discriminate, persecute, and disenfranchise Jews in Norway. Jewish individuals were at first arrested, Jewish property was confiscated, Jews were ordered to report to local police stations and have their identification cards stamped with a "J" and fill in a lengthy form about their profession, holdings, and family. Based on the lists the police compiled, most Jewish adult men were arrested and detained in October 1942, and by November 26, women and children were also arrested for deportation. This is the only time in Norwegian history that Norwegian police had been ordered to arrest children.

The deportation from Norway to concentration camps followed a planned staging of events involving both Norwegian police authorities and German Gestapo, Sicherheitsdienst, and SS staff, though the front for the campaign was through Statspolitiet under the command of Karl Marthinsen:


 * As of part of an overall effort to register and disenfranchise Jews from Norwegian economic and political life, some individuals were arrested, detained and deported immediately for various reasons. Some were citizens of countries not under German control or with puppet regimes (e.g., France and Romania); others were arrested as political prisoners early in the process, and treated individually.
 * Smaller groups were typically transported with the transport MS Monte Rosa (1930), which was used for regular troop and prisoner transports between Oslo and Århus in Denmark.
 * Detentions and deportation took on scale when all Jewish men were ordered arrested on October 26, 1942 and sent to camps in Norway, notable Berg, Grini, and Falstad, where they were held under harsh conditions until the deportation, targeted for November 26 on the SS Donau (1929).
 * Women and children were arrested on or just before November 26 with the goal of deporting them the same day.
 * Under the command of Knut Rød, women and children in Oslo and Aker were joined with male members of the family at the pier at Akershuskaia where they were forcibly boarded on the SS Donau.
 * On the same day, the Monte Rosa also left Akershuskaia with a smaller number of Jewish prisoners, primarily from Grini
 * However, delays in transit from camps outside of Oslo caused the Donau to leave several intended deportees in Norway for a later departure. These were imprisoned at the Bredtveit concentration camp, where they were subjected to mistreatment and neglect. The transport ship Gotenland left in February with remaining prisoners.

Deportation
The deportation schedule for the major transports was:

Most of those deported were Norwegian citizens. Some were stateless refugees, and a few were citizens of other countries.

In addition to those Jews from Norway which were killed by the Nazis in death camps (Vernichtungslager), at least 22 more Jews died in Norway as a result of murder, extrajudicial executions and suicide.

Distribution of deportees by county arrested and transport
Jewish individuals who were deported included those with Norwegian citizenship, foreign citizens, and stateless refugees that were arrested and deported. The site where they were arrested was not always their place of residence; many had relocated to rural areas to avoid detection. The majority of those deported were immediately murdered in the gas chambers at Auschwitz; some were put to slave labor but perished soon after. A very small number ultimately survived.

Liberation and return
Thousands of Norwegians were deported to camps in Germany and German-occupied territories during World War II. Most of those who survived were rescued by the White Buses campaign undertaken by the Norwegian government in exile, the Swedish government, the Danish government, with the Swedish Red Cross implementing the rescue with its good offices. This followed intensive efforts by Norwegian and other Scandinavians to track and maintain contact with Norwegian citizens in camps.

By comparison, there was no organized effort to maintain contact with and establish the fate of Jews that had been deported from Norway. Four Norwegian Jews were rescued by the White Buses: Eugen Keil, Josef Berg, Harry Meyer, and Leif Wolfberg.

Of the 28 who survived, at least 21 returned to Norway soon after the war. The rest found homes in other countries.

Upon liberation, the few survivors were scattered across the camps:


 * Benno Asberg was refused admission to the White Buses while in Ravensbrück, escaped, and was rescued by advancing Soviet forces.
 * Josef Berg happened to be in Sachsenhausen when the White Buses arrived. Thanks to non-Jewish Norwegian prisoners, he was accepted on board the bus, one of only four Jews from Norway to be rescued by the operation
 * Paul Ludwig Cohn, was ill in Auschwitz when it was liberated by Soviet forces and, like Kai Feinberg, narrowly escaped.
 * Friedrich and Grete Dollar were among the last Norwegian sent to Norway. It is unclear how they returned to Kristiansand
 * Otto Eisler, a noted Czech architect, returned to his home city of Brno after the war and continued his architectural career
 * Having survived a death march from Auschwitz to Buchenwald, Leo Eitinger, Pelle Hirsch, Assor Hirsch, Julius Paltiel, and Samuel Steinmann were liberated there on April 11. On March 1, fellow Norwegian but non-Jewish students had been sent by train from Buchenwald to Neuengamme as part of the White Buses operation, but these five were not allowed to leave on account of being Jewish. Following the liberation, the five had to find their own way home with the help of American and Danish individuals and officials. They arrived by boat in Oslo. Authorities were unable to provide them with any help, not even housing, and they relied on friends to get situated again.
 * Berthold Epstein, a noted professor in pediatrics, returned to Prague after the war to continue his medical and academic career
 * Kai Feinberg was liberated from Auschwitz and worked for some time in Eastern Europe before he returned to Norway on his own
 * Pavel Fraenkl was liberated from Theresienstadt and returned to Norway by unknown means, where he had a distinguished career as a literary professor
 * Moritz Kahan returned to Norway via unknown means
 * Eugen Keil returned to Norway from Sachsenhausen via the White Buses
 * The twins Fritz and Hans Lustig returned to their home town of Brno after the war but emigrated years later, settling in Norway
 * Harry Meyer was in Sachsenhausen at the end of the war and was one of four Norwegian Jews rescued by the White Buses
 * Moritz Nachtstern was kept in Block 19 at Sachsenhausen as part of Nazi Germany's efforts to counterfeit Allied currency. He found his own way home after liberation
 * Georg Rechenberg and Robert Savosnick were liberated from Sachsenhausen without the benefit of the White Buses. Thanks to the help of Norwegian officer Helmer Bonnevie, they returned on their own to Norway
 * Fritz Georg Ruzicka did not return to Norway but settled in Denmark to a successful career as an entertainer
 * Herman Sachnowitz was liberated from Bergen Belsen, put under the care of British troops and returned to Norway on his own
 * Leopold and Lisa Segal settled in Great Britain after the war
 * Jacques Stanning was liberated by Soviet forces in Auschwitz. He returned to Norway in August 1945.
 * Leif Wolfberg was rescued by the White Buses when his fellow non-Jewish Norwegian prisoners forged his papers to have him renamed Rolf Berg.

As of December 2012 Samuel Steinman is the only remaining survivor of those deported from Norway.

Reactions
In trials in 1946 and 1948 regarding Knut Rød's role in the deportations, he was found not guilty. An Aftenposten article in 2014 said that the not guilty verdict has been called "the point of absolute zero in Norway's judicial history".

Legacy
Individual deportees have been commemorated with stolpersteins on a number of sidewalks in Oslo.

Notable deportees

 * Otto Eisler
 * Leo Eitinger
 * Berthold Epstein
 * Cissi Klein
 * Ruth Maier
 * Julius Paltiel
 * Moritz Rabinowitz

Photos

 * Stolpersteins in Oslo