November marks the 80th anniversary of the largest police action in Norwegian history, when the cargo ship Donau set sail for the German death camps. On Sunday, October 30, a new documentary series about the situation of the Jews in Norway during World War II is ready.
On November 26, 1942, the ship Donau leaves the quay in Oslo. On board are 529 children, the elderly, women and men. This is meticulously recorded in the Port of Oslo's ship's log: Cargo: Jews.
A total of 773 Jews were sent from Norway to the German death camps. Only 38 survived.
Load: Jews is the story of what happened to the Jews of Norway during World War II. It's also a story of heroism, love, resignation and loss.
- There has never before been a comprehensive account for television of what happened to the Jews in Norway during World War II. Today, there are only a few witnesses left who are first-hand sources of what they experienced, what happened to them and their families. It has been important to get these people talking while there is still time," says Marie Sjo, project editor at NRK.
Norwegian authorities and the role of the police
Norway was under German occupation, but what role did the Norwegian authorities and Norwegian police play in the effective action against the Jews in Norway?
And who were the people who helped the Jews escape and what risks did they face?
What happened here, in our country and on our streets?
- Hopefully, the series will contribute to this important part of history being passed on to new and younger generations," says Sjo.
Surviving witnesses tell their stories
We follow the personal stories of those who were present and experienced dramatic years - in hiding, on the run, during deportation and in captivity. Their lives were at stake and they all had to make crucial choices.
Inger-Lise
Inger-Lise from Oslo is only 9 months old when her mother realizes that they must flee Norway. For those organizing the escape, taking such a small baby on a dangerous flight is completely out of the question, it could risk the entire operation. Should Inger-Lise's mother flee without her little baby, or should she stay and expose them all to an uncertain fate?
Gerd
What coincidences lead to 12-year-old Gerd from Grünerløkka in Oslo escaping deportation by a minute's margin? She is then thrown into a dramatic escape with Carl Fredriksen's transport.
Siegmund
Through Nansen Aid, 19 Jewish children from Austria were offered the opportunity to spend three months at a summer camp in Norway. One of these children was 9-year-old Siegmund. Eventually, an orphanage was established for these children in Oslo, until they had to flee in dramatic fashion on November 26, 1942. How will 13-year-old Siegmund escape the clutches of the Nazis for the second time in his young life?
Sonya
Sonja was the youngest of the only Jewish family in Telemark. There were many Nazis in Skien, and the local leaders of the Home Front didn't want to help the little family escape either. But with the help of several good rescuers and transportation by boat to Sweden, they were saved after a dramatic escape.
Life
When the male Jews in Trondheim are arrested, Liv's father is not on the list. They get out of Trondheim at the last minute and make a dramatic escape over the mountains to Sweden.
Ivar
Ivar from Oslo fled to Sweden with his mother after a few weeks in hiding in November 1942. It was not unusual to drug children who were to be transported across the border, but the border pilot made a deal with 4-year-old Ivar: He would sit in the pilot's sack and whisper in his ear if he heard birds.
Anne-Lise
Anne-Lise's father Hertze Caplan was an important young man in the Jewish community in Tromsø. He married the non-Jewish girl Ingeborg from Tromsø and had their daughter Anne-Lise in 1940. Hertze, along with the other Jewish men in Northern Norway, was arrested and placed in the Sydspissen prison camp in the summer of 1941. Hertze was never released and died in Auschwitz on March 3, 1943. After the war, there was never a Jewish community in Tromsø.
Contributors who are not alive today
Alongside the stories of the surviving witnesses, in the series we also meet Herman and the rest of the Sachnowitz families from Larvik. Herman lost his father, three sisters and four brothers in Auschwitz. He himself survived and died in 1978. He wrote the book «It concerns you too» about his experiences.
We meet Ruth Maier from Vienna, who was the poet Gunvor Hofmoe's girlfriend. We meet our own «Anne Frank» Betzy Rosenberg from Trondheim and Alf Pettersen, police and resistance fighter from Østfold.
The story of the siblings Tibor and Vera Taglicht, who came as a refugee child to Nesjestranda, is told by foster brother Alf Richard Kragset.
The documentary series is produced by Monster for NRK.
