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JEWISH HERITAGE EUROPE
An Online Resource Centre
NORWAY HOME PAGE
Oslo
Tromso
Trondheim
As in most of Scandinavia, Jewish settlement came late to Norway, with significant permanent communities forming only in the 19th century. The first mention of Jews in connection with Norway, however, comes in the late 16th century. Some Sephardi Jews, who had settled in Holland and Germany, were then given special permission to enter the country.
King Christian IV, king of both Denmark and Norway (ruled 1588-1648), believed that Jews could help his country, but faced opposition from his clergy, limiting Jewish access. In spite of this, from 1620 Jews were allowed to settle in the Danish duchies of Schleswig and Holstein (lost to Germany in 1848-9). Christian IV then granted freedom of religion throughout both Denmark and Norway, and in 1630 permission for Jews to travel and trade throughout his kingdom. Jews were not, as in many other countries, forced to live in ghettos or in special Jewish streets, or to wear clothes that would distinguish them. In 1641, the king extended this 'protection' to include Ashkenazi Jews.
Under King Christian IV's successor, King Fredrik III (ruled 1648-70), Jews lived under stricter conditions. They were not allowed to be in the Danish-Norwegian kingdom without a letter of safe conduct; the policy was later enshrined in the Norwegian Legal Code promulgated by King Christian V (ruled 1670-99) in 1687. As a result, Jewish presence in Norway throughout the 17th and 18th centuries was of a sporadic, temporary nature.
In 1814, Norway gained its independence from Denmark and drew up its first constitution. This document was relatively liberal, but it stated that the official religion was Lutheran Protestantism and that both Jews and Jesuits were forbidden from entering the kingdom. The writer Henrik Wergeland (1808-45) led a campaign to change this, and in 1851, six years after his death, the ban was reversed.
Jews arrived in small numbers, mostly from Poland and Lithuania. In 1875 only 25 Jews had permanent residence in the country. In June 1892, the first Jewish community was established in Christiania (now Oslo). The community was first given the name 'Det Jødiske Samfund i Christiania' ('The Jewish Community in Christiania'), but a year later this was changed to 'Det Mosaiske Trossamfund' ('The Mosaic Community'). At this time there were 214 Jews in Norway, 136 of them living in Christiania. When the community was established, its approximately 100 members decided to maintain Orthodox practice, though most were not strictly observant of Jewish law. A Jew from Lithuania was employed as teacher, cantor, shochet (ritual slaughterer for kosher meat) and mohel (performer of ritual circumcision). Fixed times were set for prayers and a space was rented for use as a synagogue. In 1893, the community employed a rabbi, Dr Meyer Ashkanaze, and as the number of members increased, the synagogue moved from place to place. During the next 30 years, due to oppression in Eastern Europe and the difficulties of the First World War, the number of Jews in Norway rose from 642 persons (343 in Christiania) to 1457 (852 in Christiania).
Between 1900 and 1910 four small Jewish congregations co-existed (or competed) in Christiania. These minyanim had only small differences in ideology and by 1910 they had merged into one, 'Det Mosaiske Trossamfund'. In 1917, another breakaway congregation was established, but by 1939 'Det Mosaiske Trossamfund' was again the sole congregation in the capital city. This remains the situation today. By the end of the 1930s about three-quarters of the approximately 2,000 Norwegian Jews were affiliated with the congregation in Oslo or else with a smaller congregation in Trondheim. The Jewish population in Norway has never exceeded this size.
Between 1915 and 1940, cultural and academic organisations were established. In 1910 the Jewish Youth Association was founded: it soon became the most active organisation within the Jewish community. Between 1935 and 1940, a number of study circles were held, led by the community's rabbi, Isak Julius Samuel. In 1942 this rabbi was deported and killed by the Nazis.
The Germans occupied Norway in 1940. The media became filled with anti-Semitic propaganda; the government was taken over by Nazi collaborators. In 1942, 750 Jews were deported to Auschwitz, of whom only 25 survived. The remainder of the Norwegian Jewry escaped to Sweden, where they lived as refugees until the end of the war. Over 100 Jews served in the Free Norwegian Forces, mostly stationed in Britain.
After the end of the war, the Jewish community in Oslo was re-established by returning refugees. Amazingly, they found the synagogue in Oslo unharmed. It had been used as a storage place for Nazi literature and confiscated Jewish belongings. Even the Torah scrolls were undamaged. The synagogue was soon in use again, led by Rabbi Zalman Aronzon. But the community was much diminished; there were long periods without a rabbi and little spiritual leadership. In 1947 the Norwegian government permitted the immigration of several hundred Jewish refugees, mostly from Hungary. In 1960, a community centre was built next to the synagogue.
In the late 1970s a serious revival of the community began, with the appointment of a new, young rabbi, Michael Melchior and a new leadership. Many institutions have been established: kindergarten, well-attended synagogue services, cheder (Hebrew classes) for all schoolchildren, an old people's home, a constant supply of kosher food imported from Israel and America, and a range of cultural and religious activities. Many Jewish organisations flourish. Yitzhak Rapoport has been Rabbi since October 2002. With about 950 members, the Jewish community in Oslo remains very active.
Three attached buildings - a senior citizens' home, a synagogue, and a community centre - make up the Jewish community complex.
The synagogue was founded in 1892 and the present structure, which architectural historian Carol Herselle Krinsky has described as looking 'like a simple and charming country chapel', was built in 1920. After the Second World War, King Olav V, then Crown Prince, attended the reconstruction ceremony. The building had escaped destruction during the war and its centenary was celebrated in 1992. It is noteworthy for its high-arched ceiling bordered by a design like a tallit or prayer shawl, which bears the inscription, 'How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, thy dwelling places, O Israel'. The bimah stands within the arch; the floor is covered with Oriental carpets. Stained-glass windows feature a Magen David design, which on bright days is cast on the walls.
The Oslo synagogue is used for services every weekday morning, as well as on Shabbat and on holidays. 150-200 men, women and children usually attend Shabbat services, which are in the Orthodox tradition and considered to be the religious and social 'event' of the week.
Address
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The Oslo Municipal Cemetery opened 1875. An area is reserved for Jewish burials. The older gravestones are inscribed with Hebrew epitaphs.
Address
Tvetenveien 7/Stroensveien 105
A Holocaust memorial was erected at the cemetery in 1948. It consists of a broken monolithic stele, inscribed with the Menorah candelabrum, set within low walls forming a six-pointed star.
(Former synagogue)
The Jewish Museum in Oslo (JMO) was established in March 2004 in collaboration with the Oslo City Museum. It began as an exhibition organised in 1992 at the Oslo City Museum, celebrating the centenary of Det Mosaiske Trossamfund (The Mosaic Community of Norway).
The Jewish Community and the Oslo City Museum received NOK 900,000 (113,000 Euro) from the Norwegian Arts Council to establish this museum. The museum aims to collect and preserve objects and memories that illuminate Jewish history and culture in Norway, with an emphasis on immigration and integration from 1851 to the present. Plans include the renovation of the historic Calmeyer's Gate synagogue, which was mostly destroyed by the Nazis during World War II, so as to use it as a frame for the new building. The building is in the area where many of the first Jewish immigrants to Oslo settled in the late 19th century. It not only served the religious needs of the community, but also included a cheder (Hebrew classes) and apartments for staff.
The museum foundation is currently run by a board of five members, four of whom are appointed by the Jewish community in Oslo, led by a further appointee of the Oslo City Museum.
Address
Postal Address
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This castle, stone fortress of the medieval king Harkon, is the home of a museum dedicated to Norwegian resistance against the German occupation of 1940-5. The museum is close to the war memorial. It was opened to the public by the then Crown Prince, now King Harald, on 8 May 1970, 25 years to the day after the end of the war in Europe.
(opened August 2006)
The former house of the Norwegian collaborator and dictator, Vidkun Quisling, has now become the Norwegian Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. It opened on 22 August 2006. Sited on the Oslo Fjord, it has views of the harbour where Norwegian Jews were shipped to Stettin and Auschwitz. It will include an exhibition space, a library, a research institute, an auditorium, and other facilities. Funding for the project came from the Norwegian government and from Holocaust restitution funds: see
Holocaust Memorial in Norway.
An active Russian Jewry Committee has existed in Oslo since 1990. The group was established by eight Christian, secular, and Jewish organisations.
Address
Colletsgate 43
0456, Oslo
This monument by the British artist Anthony Gormley was jointly commissioned by the Oslo Jewish Community and the Norwegian Parliament. It stands on the south side of Oslo Fjord, below the old fort, near where ships departed for Stettin and then Auschwitz carrying 767 of Norway's Jews. The monument takes the form of eight empty, seatless cast iron chairs: its theme is 'absence'. A nearby plaque bears the following inscription:
'On 26 November 1942, 532 Norwegian Jews were deported from this area on the cargo vessel Donau. This was the first step on the journey to the death camp at Auschwitz. On 25 February 1943, a further 158 Jews were deported from this area on the Gotenland. Altogether the total number of Jews deported from Norway was 767. Of these 30 survived. Two hundred and thirty families were completely exterminated. This monument has been erected in commemoration of the Norwegian Jews who were deported and killed in this dark chapter of our history'.
On the same day the Jews were also deported on three other ships, the Bredtveit, the Donau and the Monte Rosa. The site is an official meeting point on International Holocaust Day.
Lists of names of the deportees can be found at:
www.jewishgen.org/databases/Holocaust/0009_NorwegianCollection.htm
For photos of the memorial see: holocaust memorial in norway.
The memorial is located in the Jewish cemetery, which is part of the municipal cemetery. A large Magen David is engraved on the memorial, which includes the names of 620 Norwegian Jewish men and women killed in the Holocaust. From the centre of the star a column rises in the shape of a truncated tree trunk, to which is fixed a memorial plaque. King Olav V and the Norwegian Royal Family attended the unveiling ceremony.
Address
Tvetenveien 7/Stroensveien 105
A planeload of Tunisian Jewish children crashed on this spot in 1949. The park was created in their memory. The Norwegian public also contributed NOK one million (USD 150,000) towards the establishment of Yanuv, a village in Israel, in their memory.
Address
Suburb of Hurum, on the Kjerrlgrav Hill, overlooking the Oslo Fjord
This monument in Var Frilser's Cemetery honours Henrik Wergeland (1808-45), the national poet, who championed the legal settlement of Jews in modern Norway. Each year on Norway's Constitution Day (17 May) Jews - especially young Jews - gather here to lay bouquets of red and white carnations. Wergeland was instrumental in creating a welcome climate for Jews, through his book Jodinden (The Jewess) and various pamphlets and articles. Donated by Swedish Jews, the inscription reads: 'To the indefatigable fighter for freedom and the rights of humanity and all citizens', and 'Grateful Jews from outside the borders of Norway erected this monument to him'. Another monument to Wergeland is situated in Studenterluden, a park on Karl Johansgate, which is the main pedestrian avenue of the city.
17 Jews from Tromso - above the Artic Circle, but within the reach of the Nazis and the Quisling regime - were deported to Auschwitz in 1942. A memorial to them is found in the central square, about 100 feet off the main coastal shipping dock, near a statue of the explorer Roald Amundsen. See holocaust memorial in norway.
When the Jewish community of Trondheim was founded in 1905 it bought a building located at Jørgensveita 7, which served as a synagogue, cheder, and residence for the community's religious leader. In the early 1920s more space was needed and the community purchased a former railway station from the city and remodelled it.
The synagogue was consecrated in 1925, and boasts that it is the northernmost synagogue in the world. This imposing Romanesque Revival (or Rundbogenstil) building was used by the Nazis as a warehouse and barracks and badly damaged. It was restored and re-consecrated in 1947. Though the interior had been destroyed, some of the ritual objects were saved by the local Methodist church and kept in secret storage throughout the war. In 1955 a Jewish community centre, including a Hebrew school, was added. More than 100 Jews live in the city today. The sanctuary can seat 150; it includes a women's gallery. On the ground floor there is a large meeting room, a kitchen, apartments for a teacher and a caretaker, and a smaller synagogue, with room for about 20 worshippers. This little synagogue doubles as a cheder. There is a mikveh in the basement that was used until the German occupation.
Address
Arkitekt Christiesgate 1B (near Nidaros Cathedral)
The Jewish Museum in Trondheim opened on 12 May, 1997 and displays a small collection illustrating Jewish life in the city. The idea of founding the museum came from Jacob Komissar, former leader of the Trondheim Jewish Community. Its existence was made possible through grants from the Adolf Øiens Foundation Statoil, Trondheim Council and South Trøndelag County.
Located in the Jewish cemetery, which the Germans had planned to obliterate, the monument consists of three granite slabs on which are inscribed the names of the 60 Trondheim Jews murdered by the Nazis. It was erected in October 1947.
The Mosaic Religious Community of Norway:
Rabbi can be contacted at:
Telephone
Fax
+47 23 20 57 55
+47 23 20 57 81
Norway Tourist Board:
www.visitnorway.com
www.visitoslo.com
Bruland, Bjarte. 'The Restitution of Jewish Property in Norway', Research paper posted at:
http://yad-vashem.org.il/about_yad/departments/institute/pdf/3.pdf
[9 August 2006]
Encyclopaedia Judaica, Jerusalem, 1972, 12, 1222-1226.
Frank, Ben G. A Travel Guide to Jewish Europe: Second Edition. Gretna: Pelican, 1996.
Freedman, Warren. World Guide for the Jewish Traveler. New York: E.P. Dutton Inc, 1984.
Holocaust Memorial in Norway:
Holocaust Memorial in Norway website.
International Jewish Cemetery Project:
www.jewishgen.org/cemetery/w-europe/norway.html
JewishGen Scandinavia:
www.jewishgen.org/Scandinavia/norway.htm
Krinsky, Carol Herselle. Synagogues of Europe, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT, 1985, 403.
Mendelsohn, Oskar. The Persecution of the Norwegian Jews in WWII, Oslo;
Norges Hjemmefrontmuseum, 1991.
The Mosaic Religious Community:
www.dmt.oslo.no/english/
Muller, Ingrid. 'Norway' Virtual Jewish History Tour:
www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Norway.html
Tigay, Alan M. The Jewish Traveler. Northvale: Jason Aronson, Inc., 1994.
(22 August 2006)
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