JTA REPORTS 1949 ​

• July 18, 1949: 24 Jewish Orphans Arrive in Norway; Will Spend Summer Vacation with Jewish Families. A group of 24 Jewish orphans whose parents were murdered in Nazi concentration camps arrived here from Paris today to spend the summer as guests of Jewish families in this city and in Trondheim.

• August 7, 1949 Former German Concentration Camp in Norway Turned into Sanatorium for Jewish Children A former German concentration camp in Norway has been converted into a “children’s city” for Jewish children threatened by tuberculosis, the Norwegian Information Service revealed. The children will be accommodated at the camp at Holmestrand for about eight months, after which they will proceed to Israel if their health permits. The “city” will accommodate 200 children at a time and it is expected that a total of 600 will be treated there.

• November 6, 1949 Aliyah Chief Lauds People of Norway and France for Aid to Orphaned Jewish Children, Moshe Kol, director of the Youth Aliyah department of the Jewish Agency, paid tribute yesterday to the “Christian humanity of the people of Norway and France for their rescue of orphaned Jewish children.” Addressing a news conference, Mr. Kol declared that “hundreds of devout Christians in Norway have taken in waifs from North Africa and European DP camps, no matter what their physical condition.” The cost to the Norwegians in preparing shelters for the youngsters has already reached $250,000 while the maintenance costs are $150,000 annually, he added.

• November 22, 1949 Hope for 30 Jewish Children on Missing Norway-bound Plane Given Up by Youth Aliyah The European headquarters of the Youth Aliyah movement today gave up hope for the survival of some 30 Jewish DP children aboard a long-overdue Oslo-bound plane which was believed to have crashed and burned in Norway yesterday. (At The Hague, officials of Aero Holland, which owns the missing Dutch DC-3, confirmed that there was no hope of the plans having survived. The airline officials said that there were 29 children, two nurses and four crew members aboard.) Fritz Lichtenstein, head of the Youth Aliyah office here, flew today to Oslo in connection with the disaster. He said that one of the nurses aboard was probably an official of the Norwegian Relief for Europe organization. Reports from Oslo said that troops, police and civilians were continuing the search for the missing plane today. They have been joined by Swedish, Danish and Dutch planes. The children were proceeding from Morocco to Norway where they were scheduled to spend eight months receiving medical care and instruction before going to Israel. A second plane, with a similar number of children aboard, landed at the Oslo airport safely last night. The last point at which the planes touched down before the hop to Oslo was Brussels.​

• November 23, 1949 One Jewish child, Isaac Allal, was today found alive in the wreckage of a Dutch DC-3 transport plane which crashed some 30 miles west of this city Sunday, it was announced here. The child was immediately rushed to a hospital for treatment. Twenty-six persons are known to have been killed and the fate of sight is still in doubt. The plane carried 29 children, two nurses and a crew of four. The children were coming from Morocco for eight months of medical treatment and instruction prior to their eventual immigration to Israel.

Isaac Allal found alive in wreckage as only survivor, November 14, 1949

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The project, of which they were one part, is maintained by the Youth Aliyah movement. The plane, chartered by the Joint Distribution Committee, crashed in a rugged forest area and the explosion which resulted was heard some distance away. It is for this reason that the major search effort was concentrated in this sector. 

In all some 2,200 soldiers, policemen, airmen and civilians were engaged in the two-day hunt. Planes from the air forces of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Holland participated. (Members of the executive committee of the J.D.C. today offered a prayer for the children who perished in the wreck and appealed for continued aid to be made available to “tens of thousands of needy Jewish children still in North African slums, in distressed areas of Europe and in Israel.” Rabbi Jonah B. Wise, J.D.C. vice-chairman, led the prayer at a meeting of the executive committee this afternoon at the Hotel Commodore. ​ 

• December 15, 1949 Norwegian Labor Party to Establish Settlement in Israel in Memory of Victims of Crash “Arbeiderbladet,” the official newspaper of the Norwegian Labor Party, has launched a drive to raise money for a new settlement in Israel to commemorate the 28 Jewish children and six adults who were killed in an air crash near here last month. The settlement will consist of 40 houses.​

• April 19, 1950 Jewish Refugee Children Arrive in Oslo; 200 Foundsters sent from Norway to Israel. The Norwegian Embassy reported today that 77 Jewish refugee children arrived in Oslo last week. The 200 children who arrived in Norway eleven months ago for hospitalization and care have all been sent to Israel, it was announced.