Julius Paltiel was one of the 26 Norwegian Jews who returned from Auschwitz.

During WWII

During the Second World War, Paltiel's family ran a textile company 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...

. On 6 October 1942, he and his family were arrested and sent to Falstad concentration camp

Falstad concentration camp

Falstad concentration camp was a prison camp in the village of Ekne in what was the municipality of Skogn in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway...

, where they stayed until they were deported to Auschwitz on 24 February 1943. When the Russians advanced to Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 in January 1945, the Germans evacuated 66,000 Jewish prisoners, and sent them to Buchenwald. At the time of his arrival there, Paltiel's weight was 39 kg.

One day, the prisoners got the message that the Scandinavians were going to be released and sent back to their home countries, but to Paltiel's misfortune, Quisling

Vidkun Quisling

Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling was a Norwegian politician. On 9 April 1940, with the German invasion of Norway in progress, he seized power in a Nazi-backed coup d'etat that garnered him international infamy. From 1942 to 1945 he served as Minister-President, working with the occupying...

 had removed the Norwegian Jews' citizenship, which meant that they would not be sent back. On 11 April 1945, Paltiel and four other Norwegian Jews were saved by the Americans, after taking numbered clothing from dead non-Jews.

Death

Paltiel died at the age of 83 and was buried in Trondheim, the city where he was born. He was given a state funeral

State funeral

A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honor heads of state or other important people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements of military tradition...

. The funeral was attended by King Harald V of Norway

Harald V of Norway

Harald V is the king of Norway. He succeeded to the throne of Norway upon the death of his father Olav V on 17 January 1991...

, Minister of Culture Trond Giske

Trond Giske

Trond Giske is a Norwegian politician and the current Minister of Trade and Industry representing the Norwegian Labour Party in the government headed by Jens Stoltenberg....

 and Evangelical-Lutheran Bishop of Nidaros

Diocese of Nidaros

Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag counties and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. The diocese is divided into 12 deaneries . Finn Wagle was the bishop from 1991 to 2008...

 Finn Wagle

Finn Wagle

Finn Wagle is a theologian and a former bishop of Nidaros in the Church of Norway. He was also the Preses and thus presided over the Bishop's Conference in the Church of Norway from 2002 until 2006.-Career:Wagle enrolled as a student at MF Norwegian School of Theology in 1962, and graduated in...

 among others. He was survived by his wife, the Danish-born author Vera Komissar, and two adult children.

Further reading

• Komissar, Vera: På tross av alt: Julius Paltiel - norsk jøde i Auschwitz, Aschehoug 1995, ISBN 9788292400104 (in Norwegian)