WE ARE GOING TO PICK POTATOES - THE STORY OF NORWAY AND THE HOLOCAUST
The publication of this book in Norwegian is aimed at educating the younger generation in Norway
about the events of the Holocaust during World War II, and to chronicle the post war resettlement of the
surviving Norwegian Jews. The purpose of publishing the book in English is to educate
the vast number of Americans who know nothing or very little about Norway and the Holocaust, and
the tragic fate of approximately half of the fifteen hundred Norwegian Jews who perished in Auschwitz. The
project is sponsored by Norway's Resistance Museum and will be published by the Orion Publishing Company.
The book is written as a memoir by Irene Levin Berman. Ms. Berman is a native
Norwegian Jew who as a very young child was among the fortunate to escape to Sweden in 1942 with her immediate family. She
will describe the early settlement of Jews in Norway at the end of the nineteenth century after the law in the Norwegian Constitution
denying Jewish immigration was repealed through the efforts of the poet Henrik Wergeland. The book will subsequently focus
on the invasion by Germany in 1940, the political climate in Norway at the beginning of the war, the deportation of the Jews
to Auschwitz in 1942, and for some the escape to Sweden.
A
portion of the book will deal specifically with the refugee experience in neutral Sweden during the war years, focusing on
the family’s escape. Those who were not able to reach neutral Sweden perished.
One family member and her husband and children lived in Aalesund, a city in northwest Norway and were the only Jewish
family in that city. Ms. Berman has done extensive research on the history of that family and has recreated
the story of their life for the year 1942-43 in detail ending with their deportation to Auschwitz in 1943, never to return.
The book will include a description of the return from Sweden to Norway after the liberation and the resettlement
and rebuilding of the Jewish community during the post/war years.
A significant chapter of the book will be
devoted to the work of Ms. Berman’s father, Marcus Levin, who was involved
in refugee work before and during the war, as well as after his return to Norway. He worked as a voluntary
representative for the American Joint Distribution Committee which was instrumental in providing
funds through the Claims Conference and other sources to resettle refugees who had survived the Holocaust
and resettled in Norway. In addition the story will be told how Norway became the first country in the world
to accept the so called “minus” refugees. Marcus Levin was honored with King Olav’s
Gold Medal of Honor for his work in 1959, three years before his death. The story of Marcus Levin will be written
by Bjarte Bruland, historian and curator of the soon to be opened Jewish Museum in Oslo.
Mr. Bruland was also one of two persons responsible for the restitution of funds to the Norwegian Jewish citizens
in 1996.
Ms. Berman is hoping to gain support in marketing the English version of the book. The
Norwegian version is expected to be launched in Oslo in September 2008. Ms. Berman has lived in the US for
a number of years, but keeps very close contact with Norway.
