Norway’s humanitarian image blown for good.

The more we publish about Norway, the more good people with a conscience help to fill in the blanks on Norwegian society. The stories keep coming one after the other, telling us what exactly is happening there. A floodgate has been opened, people are beginning to open their eyes and speak the truth.

Ever more Norwegian Jews choose to hide their Jewish identity; as many did in WW2, saving their lives.

This says something about today’s community, Linda Helen Haukland writes.

Anti-Semitic currents in the community are by now so strong, many Norwegian Jews choose to hide their identity. In WW2, the only opportunity to avoid Hitler’s death camps was to refuse one’s Jewish ancestry.

Having in mind the fact some 90 percent of Norway’s Jewish community is directly influenced by the Holocaust, it is concerning to observe the need over hiding the fact they are Jewish.

Then came Hitler.

Some time ago I was educating a first class at high school on the Holocaust.

I told of the two Jewish brothers, Georg and Leiser Landau from Bodø, who survived through changing their last names, before the Nazi decision to register all Norwegian Jews with a “J” in their passports.

As I finished this lesson, I had the feeling I had presented a historic theme in a classic narrative fashion: All was well, then came Hitler- and by now everything is all right.

But it is not like this. In my work with the local history of the war; I have entered in contact with several persons having Jewish parents who survived the war. Their common theme is the same: Formerly, they have published their stories; they have spoken openly of their Jewish heritage, until a couple of decades ago. But today, they will not present themselves openly, due to what they perceive as an increasing Norwegian anti-Semitism.
It costs too much because they have to face the responsibility over what the state of Israel does. They know the couplings between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism- having felt that on their bodies.

Quisling’s signature.

These talks give me a tasteless reminder about how much George and Leiser had to endure the anti-Semitism of their day; they no more were named Landau, but Lande, receiving the right to live in Norway as Norwegians. Another example were the brothers Abram and Benno Ramson. Benno perished in Auschwitz, his brother Abram received Quisling’s signature over not being a Jew.

His blue eyes, blonde hair, Norwegian wife, conversion to Christianity and his friend in the Nazi hierarchy made this cover operation possible.

He was the son of the leader of the Mosaic congregation in Oslo, the rest of his life he struggled over to have had to sign a document about not working against the regime which exterminated and persecuted his Jewish family and friends.

A Polish Jew in Lofoten denied his ancestry; his family having emigrated, the Germans found no documents in Warsaw confirming him being a Jew. This man lived next door to the Germans, local Nazis and the Norwegian civil population throughout the rest of the war, having been released.

A paradox.

Having to hide something one is born to is among the most offending issues one may be subjected to. These problems still being extant is a paradox.

The Holocaust took part here, close to where we live, to those living in the neighborhood. It is not only today anti-Semitism is flourishing among peripheral Fascist groupings. 53 percent of junior high school students in Oslo tell about having heard the word “Jew” being used as a negative epithet. 33 percent of Jewish students report about negative feedback connected to their religion two or three times a month; while 5 percent of Muslim students face the same experience.

Jewish institutions and the Jewish population are in need of extra security measures.

Some time ago, I discovered a website under the auspices of eight provincial educational agencies in Nordland, for the purpose of recruiting students for professional training in high schools. Here, a comedian named Stig Frode Henriksen taught students to make a “Jew-smoothie”. “Don’t let the name of smoothie destroy your appetite! The components can do that”, the website’s editors wrote. It took nearly a year for someone to react, most likely due to a lack of historical knowledge. Recently, junior high school students in Bodø used school hours to create cartoons of Jews; having red eyes, monobrows, horns and the moniker “beer hoe”. The student’s assistant teacher found reason to laugh at this.

Having in mind the fact some 90 percent of Norway’s Jews were directly affected by the Holocaust; humor over this is difficult to trivialize. Anti-Semitism is living vigorously among us, though it dresses itself up in new shapes. The dilemmas facing a Jewish minority- and other minorities, when meeting with a Norwegian majority is of concern to all of us. Observing many today choosing to hide their Jewish backgrounds tells something about the community they lives in; and the actual acceptance in our community over being different. Some weeks ago I received a letter by a Jewish man, addressed to my office, containing an article formerly published, in which he had told of his father’s denial of his Jewish identity during the war.

“Linda, don’t let this be public. Anti-Semitism is on the increase”, a yellow note attached to the article told me.

As an example of how far anti-Semitism might go, the stories of Jews being forced to change their identity is very illustrative. Unfortunately, they still have to be conveyed to coming generations, in order to portray Norwegian anti-Semitism as a chapter that yet has to come to an end.

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  1. mean to tell me we haven’t learned from history? Or is it the influx of muslims creating trouble.

    Below states that Jews in Norway take the brunt of what is happening in Israel. If that is true, then let all of Islam take the brunt and blame for what muslims do around the world. -BBJ
    Good job KG. Keep up the good work!

    • KGS says:

      Thanks ITF! we have to be watchful that history will not repeat itself.

    • Dashka says:

      If Jews in Europe take the brunt for Israel, so according to this logic, Israelis should be lynching German tourists and not fill them with beer in Tel-Aviv.

  2. Cloudberry says:

    Why can’t all righteous Norwegians have a coalition with their Jewish community and proudly wear a yarmulke in public 100% of the time? Monsters are not so brave when they realize they are out numbered.

  3. Seth says:

    I thought things were bad enough in the UK but I really believe Norway has lost the plot,
    Good idea from Cloudberry, if I was in Norway I would wear a yarmulke as a sign of support for the Jewish population all the time.

  4. Pingback: Tegenwoordig verbergen de Joden in Noorwegen hun identiteit, net zoals zij dat gedurende de nazi-bezetting deden….. | E.J. Bron

  5. Thomasson says:

    By reading the article, I am asking myself: What kind of people are the Norwegians? Why do they put white European looking minority under harassment in favour of second grade, inferior, imported third world people? People who came to Norway by false means in order to live on costs of the locals, busy themselves in criminal activities and mass raping it’s women as a hobby? ( ). If the Norwegians do not take interest in history- let it be!. Not studying the background of the people they are importing into the country, is a severe crime conducted by the Norwegian decision makers. Norway gives today the impression it’s led by morbid political movements. Politicians who are a) accepting crimes against minorities (Jews), b) gender crimes against women (rape of own wives, girl friends, sisters, mothers and daughters) and c) not willing to defend the country against the enemies they had imported. Accepting the fact the imported enemies are framing, in due course, the take over the country and enslave its inhabitants makes today regime in Norway as bad as the regime of Vidkun Quisling during WWII

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