Jews in Norway
Encyclopedia
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
is in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
. A smaller synagogue in Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
(63° 25' N) is often claimed, erroneously, to be the world's northernmost synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
. (Trondheim's is, in fact, fifth on the list; the northernmost synagogue is located in Murmansk, Russia.)
History
Although there likely were Jewish merchants, sailors and others who entered Norway during the middle age, no efforts were made to establish a Jewish community. Ruled by a series of Norwegian, SwedishSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, and Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
kings in combination with either Denmark or Sweden, public policy against non-Christians was in large part dictated by royal edict.
The first known mention of Jews in public documents relates to the admissibility of so-called “Portuguese Jews
Spanish and Portuguese Jews
Spanish and Portuguese Jews are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardim who have their main ethnic origins within the Jewish communities of the Iberian peninsula and who shaped communities mainly in Western Europe and the Americas from the late 16th century on...
” (Sephardim) that had been expelled
Spanish Inquisition
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition , commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition , was a tribunal established in 1480 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms, and to replace the Medieval...
from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
in 1492 and 1497. Some of these were given special dispensation to enter Norway. Christian IV
Christian IV of Denmark
Christian IV was the king of Denmark-Norway from 1588 until his death. With a reign of more than 59 years, he is the longest-reigning monarch of Denmark, and he is frequently remembered as one of the most popular, ambitious and proactive Danish kings, having initiated many reforms and projects...
of Denmark-Norway gave Jews limited rights to travel within the kingdom, and in 1641, Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...
were given equivalent rights.
Christian V
Christian V of Denmark
Christian V , was king of Denmark and Norway from 1670 to 1699, the son of Frederick III of Denmark and Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
rescinded these privileges in 1687, specifically banning Jews from Norway, unless they were given a special dispensation. Jews found in the kingdom were jailed and expelled, and this ban persisted until 1851.
In 1814, Norway formulated its first constitution
Norway in 1814
1814 was a pivotal year in the history of Norway. It started with Norway in a union with the Kingdom of Denmark subject to a naval blockade being ceded to the king of Sweden. In May a constitutional convention declared Norway an independent kingdom. By the end of the year the Norwegian parliament...
that included in the second paragraph a general ban against Jews and Jesuits entering the country. Portuguese Jews were exempt from this ban, but it appears that few applied for a letter of free passage. When Norway entered into the personal union
Personal union
A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states have the same monarch while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It should not be confused with a federation which is internationally considered a single state...
of Sweden-Norway, the ban against Jews was upheld, though Sweden at that point had several Jewish communities.
In 1844 (4 November), the Norwegian Ministry of Justice declared: "... it is assumed that the so-called Portuguese Jews are, regardless of the Constitution’s §2, entitled to dwell in this country, which is also, to [our] knowledge, what has hitherto been assumed."
After tireless efforts by the poet Henrik Wergeland
Henrik Wergeland
Henrik Arnold Thaulow Wergeland was a Norwegian writer, most celebrated for his poetry but also a prolific playwright, polemicist, historian, and linguist...
, politician Peder Jensen Fauchald
Peder Jensen Fauchald
Peder Jensen Fauchald was a Norwegian politician.He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament in 1830, 1833, 1836, 1839, 1842 1845, 1848 and 1851, representing the rural constituency of Christians Amt ....
, school principal Hans Holmboe
Hans Holmboe
-Personal life:He was born in Trondenes as the son of bailiff Jens Holmboe and his wife Anna Margrethe Irgens . He had several brothers and sisters. His brothers Even and Leonhard Christian became involved in politics, so did his nephew Jens Holmboe.In 1825 he married Welgjerd Endriette Løberg,...
and others, the Norwegian parliament lifted the ban against Jews in 1851 and they were awarded religious rights on par with Christian "dissenters."
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
.
The Jewish community grew slowly until World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and bolstered by refugees in the late 1930s, peaked at about 2,100. During the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
rule under the Nazi occupation of Norway, nearly all Jews were either deported to death camps or fled to Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and beyond. The Jews fleeing to Sweden were most often given help by non-Jewish Norwegians, although a number of the border guards only agreed to assist after receiving large payments from the refugees.
The Holocaust
During the war, civilian Norwegian police (politiet) in many cases helped the German occupiers in the apprehension of those Jews who failed to escape in time. Records show that during the Holocaust, 758 Norwegian Jews were murdered by the Nazis—mostly in Auschwitz. Many of the Jews who fled during the war did not return, and in 1946, there were only 559 Jews in Norway.The 1990s World War II restitution
In March 1996, the Norwegian government appointed a Committee whose mandate was "to establish what happened to Jewish property during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
... and to determine to what extent seized assets/property was restored after the war."
In June 1997 the Committee delivered a divided report, split into a majority (see: Summary in English of the majority report) and a minority (see: Summary in English of the minority report) view.
- Majority view of uncovered losses was estimated to be 108 million NOK, (based on the value of the NOK in May 1997), (≈15 mil. USD)
- Minority view of uncovered losses was estimated to be 330 million NOK, (based on the value of the NOK in May 1997),
- On the 15 May 1998, the Prime Minister of NorwayHeads of government of NorwayThis is a list of heads of government of Norway, who held, inter alia, offices and titles such as steward , viceroy , first minister and prime minister ....
, Kjell Magne BondevikKjell Magne BondevikKjell Magne Bondevik is a Norwegian Lutheran minister and politician . He served as Prime Minister of Norway from 1997 to 2000, and from 2001 to 2005, making him Norway's longest serving non-Labour Party Prime Minister since World War II...
, proposed 450 mill. NOK, covering both a "collective" and an "individual" restitution.
On 11 March 1999 the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget) voted to accept the proposition for 450 mill. NOK.
The award was divided into two parts; one collective and one individual. The collective part, totalling NOK 250 million, was subdivided in three:
- Funds to sustain the Jewish community in Norway (NOK 150 million);
- Support for development, outside of Norway, of the traditions and culture which the Nazis wished to exterminate. The money is to be distributed by a foundation, where the executive committee members is to be appointed one each by the Norwegian Government, the Norwegian Parliament, the Jewish community in Norway, and the World Jewish Congress/World Jewish Restitution OrganizationWorld Jewish CongressThe World Jewish Congress was founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in August 1936 as an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations...
. Eli Wiesel was suggested to lead the executive committee. (NOK 60 million). - The formation of a national museum for tolerance, established as Norwegian Center for Studies of Holocaust and Religious MinoritiesNorwegian Center for Studies of Holocaust and Religious MinoritiesThe Center for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities in Norway opened its doors to the public on August 24, 2006 at the former residence of Vidkun Quisling known as Villa Grande, on the peninsula of Bygdøy in Oslo.The center's endowment was donated by the Norwegian government at the behest...
(NOK 40 million);
The individual part was estimated to total not more than NOK 200 million:
- Compensation to individuals and their survivors, a maximum of NOK 200,000 each.
31 November 1999 was the last date to apply for compensation from individuals, and the result was that 980 persons got 200,000 NOK each.
Today
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
. There is a small community and synagogue in Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
, and others living around the country.
In June 2004 Chabad-Lubavitch
Chabad-Lubavitch
Chabad-Lubavitch is a Chasidic movement in Orthodox Judaism. One of the world's larger and best-known Chasidic movements, its official headquarters is in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York...
established a permanent presence in Oslo, serving Jews throughout the country.
There is also a Society for Progressive Judaism
Progressive Judaism
Progressive Judaism , is an umbrella term used by strands of Judaism which affiliate to the World Union for Progressive Judaism. They embrace pluralism, modernity, equality and social justice as core values and believe that such values are consistent with a committed Jewish life...
located in Oslo. The Society for Progressive Judaism in Norway (PJN) arranges monthly Potluck
Potluck
A potluck is a gathering of people where each person or group of people contributes a dish of food prepared by the person or the group of people, to be shared among the group...
Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
celebrations, and weekly parasha studies.
Norwegian Jews are well integrated into Norwegian society. Prominent Norwegian Jews include former president of Stortinget (the parliament), Jo Benkow
Jo Benkow
Jo Benkow is a Norwegian politician and writer, notable for being an important person in the Conservative Party of Norway, and the President of the Parliament 1985-1993....
; Leo Eitinger
Leo Eitinger
Leo Eitinger was a Holocaust survivor and Norwegian Psychiatrist who studied the late-onset psychological trauma experienced by people who went through separation and psychological pain early in life only to show traumatic experience decades later...
and Berthold Grünfeld
Berthold Grünfeld
Berthold Grünfeld was a Norwegian psychiatrist, sexologist, and professor of social medicine at the University of Oslo. He was also a recognized expert in forensic psychiatry, often employed by Norwegian courts to examine insanity defense pleas.-Biography:Grünfeld was born in Bratislava in what...
, who were noted psychiatrists; Robert Levin
Robert Levin (Norwegian pianist)
Robert Levin was a Norwegian classical pianist and composer. Although he was an accomplished solo pianist and composer in his own right, Levin received international acclaim for his work as an accompanist with several of the world's most celebrated vocal and instrumental...
, the musician; theatre critic Mona Levin and Bente Kahan
Bente Kahan
Bente Kahan is a Norwegian solo vocalist best known for her renditions and productions of Yiddish folk music and plays....
, an actress and vocalist.
Antisemitism in Norway
The mainstream Norwegian political environmentPolitics of Norway
Politics in Norway take place in the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic constitutional monarchy. Executive power is exercised by the King's council, the cabinet, led by the Prime Minister of Norway. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Storting, elected...
has strongly adopted a platform that rejects antisemitism. Residual antisemitism has still persevered in private circles. The prevalence and intensity of anti-Israel activism, especially from the radical left, has raised a debate about possible blurring of the lines between anti-Israelism and antisemitism.
Shechita
Shechita
Shechita is the ritual slaughter of mammals and birds according to Jewish dietary laws...
, Jewish ritual slaughter, has been banned in Norway since 1929, which predates the similar ban by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. The ban is justified on the grounds of animal welfare
Animal welfare
Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...
, however critics have pointed out that hunting, including whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
by harpoon
Harpoon
A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument used in fishing to catch fish or large marine mammals such as whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the target animal, allowing the fishermen to use a rope or chain attached to the butt of the projectile to catch the animal...
, are allowed despite animal welfare concerns.
There have been episodes of desecration of the synagogue in Oslo. On 17 September 2006 the synagogue in Oslo was subjected to attack with an automatic weapon, only days after it was made public that the building had been one the planned target for the Algerian terror group GSPC that had been plotting a bombing campaign in the Norwegian capital. The synagogue in Oslo is under continuous surveillance and protected by barriers. On 2 June 2008 Arfan Qadeer Bhatti was convicted on the shooting attack and given an eight year preventive custody sentence for serious vandalism. The Oslo city court judge could not find sufficient evidence that the shots fired at the synagogue amounted to a terrorist act. In July 2006 during the 2006 Lebanon War the congregation issued an advisory warning Jews not to wear kippot
Kippah
A kippah or kipa , also known as a yarmulke , kapele , is a hemispherical or platter-shaped head cover, usually made of cloth, often worn by Orthodox Jewish men to fulfill the customary requirement that their head be covered at all times, and sometimes worn by both men and, less frequently, women...
or other identifying items in public for fear of harassment or assault.
In August 2006 Jostein Gaarder
Jostein Gaarder
Jostein Gaarder /ˈju:staɪn ˈgɔːrdər/ is a Norwegian intellectual and author of several novels, short stories and children's books. Gaarder often writes from the perspective of children, exploring their sense of wonder about the world. He often uses metafiction in his works, writing stories within...
published an op-ed in Aftenposten
Aftenposten
Aftenposten is Norway's largest newspaper. It retook this position in 2010, taking it from the tabloid Verdens Gang which had been the largest newspaper for several decades. It is based in Oslo. The morning edition, which is distributed across all of Norway, had a circulation of 250,179 in 2007...
that stirred controversy
2006 Norwegian Jostein Gaarder controversy
In August 2006, author Jostein Gaarder created a controversy in Norway after publishing an op-ed "God's chosen people" in the Aftenposten, one of the country's major newspapers, in which he compared Israel to Taliban regime in Afghanistan, and declared that Israel has lost its right to exist...
over its content and literary form, with allegations of antisemitism and an intense public debate.
In December 2008, Imre Hercz
Imre Hercz
Imre Hercz was a Jewish Hungarian-Norwegian physician and public debater.He was born in Transilvania and had his childhood years in Nagyvárad, in the Hungarian part of Romania. At the age of 15, he was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp in May 1944, later to Vernichtungslager Kaufbeuren and...
filed a complaint to the Pressens Faglige Utvalg against a comedian who mocked the Holocaust, but fellow comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
s and his TV station have backed the controversial performer. Otto Jespersen
Otto Jespersen (comedian)
Otto Jespersen is a controversial Norwegian comedian, actor and television personality.-Biography:At the age of 19 Jespersen became a Marxist-Leninist, and was for a short period of time a member of the Communist organization Red Youth...
joked on national television in his weekly routine of holding an infamous monologue, that "I would like to take the opportunity to remember all the billions of fleas and lice that lost their lives in German gas chambers, without having done anything wrong other than settling on persons of Jewish background". Jespersen also presented a satirical monologue on anti-Semitism that ended with, "Finally, I would like to wish all Norwegian Jews a Merry Christmas - no, what am I saying! You don't celebrate Christmas, do you!? It was you who crucified Jesus", on December 4. Jespersen has received criticism for several of his attacks on social and ethnic groups as well as royalty, politicians and celebrities, and in defence of the monologue TV2 noted that Jespersen attacks in all directions, and that "if you should take [the monologue] seriously, there are more than just the Jews that should feel offended".
In 2010, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation reported that anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
was common among Norwegian Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s. Teachers at schools with large shares of Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s reported that Muslim students often "praise or admire Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
for his killing of Jews", that "Jew-hate is legitimate within vast groups of Muslim students" and that "Muslims laugh or command [teachers] to stop when trying to educate about the Holocaust". One Jewish father also told how his child, after school, had been taken by a Muslim mob (though he managed to escape), reportedly "to be taken out to the forest and hanged
Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
because he was a Jew".
External links
- The Jewish community in Oslo
- The Jewish community in Trondheim
- Hassafon - Scandinavian portal and resource page for Judaism
- The Society for Progressive Judaism in Norway (PJN)
- "Wergeland's Legacy," in Norway.org
- Mobile exhibition from Norwegian Folk Museum: "Wergeland's Children"
- The three public document relating to the 1997-1999 study/discussion about Jewish assets during the WW II and their restitution."