By Jo Benkow

Norway has throughout its history rightly been regarded as a country on the periphery of Europe. Telling evidence is the total physical absence of Jewish people on Norwegian soil until well into the Middle Ages. There were no Jews living in Denmark or Sweden either at the time, although Jewish communities existed in most other European countries at the end of the Middle Ages.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, during the period when Norway and Denmark were united, the odd Jew had come to Norway bearing a letter of safe conduct. Jews had no general right of entry to Norway, although for a time exceptions were made for Sephardic Jews. Extant sources from the pre-1814 period tell of only a handful of examples of Jews who settled down in Norway, some of whom returned to Sweden or Germany from where they had come.

Between the end of the 13th century and 1814 Norway was ruled by Denmark. In 1814 the European great powers decided that Norway should enter a personal union with Sweden under the Swedish King, thereby delaying its independence until 1905. But in 1814 a wave of patriotism swept the country. Although the bid for independence was unsuccessful on that occasion, a basic law or constitution was passed in 1814 which in very many respects has remained unchanged right up to the present. This constitution has ever since been regarded as the Nation's letter of freedom, with one disastrous exception concerning the Jews.

Of the numerous constitutional drafts drawn up before the constituent assembly only a couple prohibited Jews from entering the country. The cleric Nicolai Wergeland's hostility to Jews was the most sharply worded: "No person of the Jewish creed may enter Norway, far less settle down there".

The debate on the so-called "Jewish clause" was long and heated. At length, the ban on Jews entering Norway was passed and was not to be lifted until 1851, when the "Jewish clause" was removed, mainly thanks to the persistent and enduring struggle of the poet and freedom fighter, Henrik Wergeland (Nicolai's son), and the attitude of well-educated members of the constituent assembly who opposed the "Jewish clause" based on their respect for human worth.

The arguments advanced in the parliament by the spokesmen for the ban were not rooted primarily in religious considerations, but in political perceptions and in a negative view of Jews, their nature, conduct and alleged inability to adapt to the society at large.
In contrast to Norway, which closed its door on the Jews, Sweden and Denmark adopted quite the opposite stance.

The ban on Jews entering Norway was now total, with no lawful opportunities for exemption based for example on a letter of safe conduct or on special conditions granted to those who had previously come under the category of Sephardic Jews. There were, however, instances where Jews' temporary presence was required, for example to facilitate loan negotiations with Jewish financiers or Nordic meetings held in Norway for organisations with Jewish members. Subsequently, when letters of safe conduct were granted in exceptional cases (and which the law of 1687 had opened the way for), some Jews refused to enter Norway on the basis of such a humiliating arrangement.

Quite a few Jews who arrived in Norway unaware that the ban applied on a general basis were incarcerated, fined and expelled. There are a number of such examples from the 1820s and 1830s.

At the start of the 1840s, however, some Sephardic Jews were issued with letters of safe conduct, and in 1844 the ministry agreed to exempt this particular group from the prohibition.

During the debate in the Parliament ahead of the decision to drop the constitutional ban on Jews entering Norway, fears were expressed in several quarters that lifting the ban would immediately result in a heavy inrush of Jews into the country. Such fears reflected a bizarre lack of self-understanding. What possible attractions could Norway hold-a country so poor and impoverished that people emigrated to the United States to escape deprivation; a cold, thinly populated country whose people spoke a language only they themselves understood. Fears of an enormous influx of Jews were entirely unjustified. More that a year was to pass after the ban was lifted before the first Jew decided to settle down in Norway.

In about 1860 two or three Jews came to Norway. Most of the early arrivals were from Germany. From the start of the 1880s onwards the element of Eastern European Jewry expanded. Many had fled from insecure, indeed downright dangerous, conditions in Russia, Poland and the Baltic states where they had to contend with war and revolution, but, worst of all, with constant violent pogroms and life-threatening repression. The pogroms initiated after the murder of the Tsar when the Jews were as usual made the scapegoat, gave added impetus to the emigration.

However, the mass emigration that followed never affected Norway. Only the exceptions ended up in Norway, in most cases probably because they were unable to get to the United States.

According to the official census, the Jewish community in Norway expanded very modestly from 25 persons in 1866 to 34 in 1875. But, as I have mentioned, the expansion gained momentum in the 1880s. In 1890, 214 Jews were resident in Norway, while the census held at the turn of the century, recorded 642 Jewish residents in a population totalling just over 2 million.

Although only 136 Jews were living in the Oslo area in 1890, there was a keenly felt need to organise a Jewish congregation to attend to all specifically Jewish interests. A plot for a cemetery had already been purchased in 1869. This is in fact where my maternal grandmother lies buried. There was also a need for regular services on the Sabbath and other holidays, and a desire to provide for children's religious education and for confirmation preparations. Moreover, the needs of the Jewish household with its special dietary customs and practices could be met only by a congregation able to import unleavened bread for the Passover celebration and ritually slaughtered meat. This situation led to the founding of The Jewish Community of Oslo on 5 June 1892. At about the same time a religious community was established in Trondheim where the second Jewish center in Norway was developing.

But let us now take a big leap forward in time. In 1941-1942 the Jewish population of Norway numbered roughly 1,000 households and approximately 2,200 individuals. The Jewish minority was primarily involved in the business sector. Norwegian Jews owned about 400 enterprises. About 40 were professionals (doctors, dentists and lawyers), the remainder craftsmen and artists. Few were employed in the public sector or as farmers or fishermen. There were two main communities, in Oslo and Trondheim. In both cities the Jewish population enjoyed a lively cultural life, and the Jewish communities operated numerous religious institutions and cultural organisations that ran various educational and welfare programs.

The anti-Semitic propaganda spread by Nasjonal Samling (Quisling's Norwegian Nazi party), the party in power during the occupation of Norway, was designed to prepare the ground for more systematic measures targeted at the Jews. The first concrete measures were taken as early as May 10, 1940, when the German security police asked the Norwegian police in Oslo to confiscate all radio sets belonging to Jews.

Shortly afterwards, the two Jewish communities in Norway were told to deliver their membership lists to the police. This frightened a lot of people, and proved to be an omen of what was to come.

Nazi organizations and German agents had already started extensive registration of Jews in Norway before the war, regardless of whether the people they registered were practising or professing Jews. Some were not even members of the Jewish congregations, some concealed their Jewish origin for reasons of expedience and some had converted to Christianity. But the Germans registered all and sundry.

Fortunately for the Jews in Norway, they were few in number and in that respect did not arouse indignation.

In 1940, when Norway was occupied by the Germans, the Jews were a small and, compared with the overall community, tiny minority that had attracted little notice in public life or in other areas of society. They took care not to challenge public opinion. They kept a low profile, had learned Norwegian, were law-abiding and diligent.

A number of moves against the Jews were nevertheless made both in 1940 and in 1941.

The fate of the Jews in Norway was sealed in 1942. As early as January 10, a circular had been sent to all police stations in the country, instructing the police to stamp a "J" in the identity cards of all Jews. This would enable the Nazi authorities to identify, systematically, members of the Jewish minority. The Police Department also required all Jews to complete a questionnaire. This included questions on financial matters and was intended, as the Nazi authorities put it, to document the extent of Jewish economic influence in Norway, which in fact was next to nothing. Later in 1942 the "J" stamp and the questionnaire served as a basis for arrests and for compiling confiscation lists pursuant to the legislation authorizing the authorities to confiscate Jewish property.

These measures signalled a stepping-up of the process of destruction of Jewry in Norway. The final phase started in Trondheim on October 6, 1942 with the mass arrest of Jewish men. Women and children were then gathered into two flats belonging to Jewish families. In Trondheim the arrests were carried out by ordinary Norwegian uniformed police on orders from the German authorities. In my view some of them were a little bit too helpful and appeared to have no scruples about taking part in an action against Jewish Norwegians. Later that month all Jewish men over the age of 15 in the rest of the country were arrested.

Now the scene was set to fulfill the deportation of Norwegian Jews. The Holocaust was put into effect in Norway. The first shipload, numbering 532 people, left Oslo harbor on November 26, 1942.

Fortunately more than half of the Jews living in Norway at the time managed to reach safety on the other side of the border with Sweden before the Germans got hold of them. A large number saved their lives because circles in Norwegian resistance movement got wind of what was in the offing, and immediately set about organizing escapes.

Although it did not prove possible to take the lives of all Norwegian Jews, the economic liquidation of the Jewish community in Norway during World War II was absolutely total. They were deprived of all ownership rights and any kind of business base. This led to economic losses in the broadest sense of the term since an entire religious, cultural, economic and social community was destroyed.

But the few hundred Norwegian Jews who returned home after the end of World War II, nevertheless started all over again Today there are some 1,500 Jews in Norway enjoying all kinds of Jewish activities organized by the communities in Oslo and Trondheim, being able to live a full and good life both as Norwegians and as Jews.