Interview with Elisabeth Åsbrink, author of the book “And in Wienerwald the trees are still standing”

And the trees in Wienerwald are still standing, Swedish writer and journalist Elizabeth Åsbrink’s third book, is a true story based on over 500 letters sent to Otto Ullman, an young Austrian boy who was sent to Sweden to escape Nazi persecution. The book was published in August 2011. See YouTube link for introduction.

How did the idea of this book come to you?

It so happened that I met a woman named Eva Ullmann. She was the wife of a friend of my husband. It turns out we had somewhat similar Jewish backgrounds. The Ullmanns were very ambivalent about their own past.  Eva told me that she had been thinking about some letters that her father Otto had left her when he passed away. 

She had kept these letters in an IKEA box and had been living with the knowledge that these letters existed, but she never read them. She neither read nor spoke German, and since no one had read these letters, she had no sense of what they were about. 

She knew they had been a source of great pain, and she did not want this pain to be passed on to the next generation, to her children. Yet, she wanted something to happen to the letters that could somehow solve the mystery of this pain. She felt that her father had carried all his life a sense of having been wronged by the Swedish government. She wanted somehow to explore this further. As it happened, she had read a book I wrote 3 years earlier about a famous Swedish playwright, Lars Norén, and his association with long-term criminals. It was a play with three lead characters, two of them were Nazis. One of the Nazi had brutally murdered two policemen. This was a story that no one had covered before. The play provoked a major controversy and prompted a general debate on the issue of Jewish identity. In the book, I had included some discussions that addressed the issue of Jewish identity.

After reading my book, Eva contacted me and told me:  “I have over 500 letters fromVienna. They are written in German. Would you like to take a look at them? Is there anything you can do?”

I was afraid of the content of the letters. At first I refused. It scared me because it would be a huge responsibility to accept. I did not know what I would find. One of my concerns was that what I found might taint their family history. The Ullmann family was very supportive and told me to make public whatever I found. The Shoah, (I don’t like the word Holocaust) is part of my history also. I was afraid of going into that pain. I was also very concerned that after all that had been written and said about the topic, I could not possibly add anything new. People were asking me: Why do we need another book about the Shoah?

Otto Ullman - Youth

It turned out that I actually did find something that had not been told before. During the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938, the so-called “Anschluss”, Otto Ullmann, Eva’s father who was a young boy at the time, lived with his father in central Vienna. His father was a sports journalist and an opera critic. He loved sports and loved being outdoors. The family ate pork, celebrated Christmas and was assimilated, urban and modern. 

After the Anschluss, they were doomed because of their Jewishness. And they, of course, suffered the fate of so many Austrian Jews.Otto’s parents had sent their son to Sweden and were planning on leaving Austria as soon as possible to join their son in Sweden. Very sadly they were arrested and sent to the concentration camp of Theresienstadt.

I chose as title of the book And The Trees in Wienerwald Are Still Standing because the Wienerwald, a beautiful wooden, recreational area around Vienna, was where the Ullmann family spent their Sunday picnics, played soccer and enjoyed each others’ company. The title of my book refers to the fact that the trees are still there but the people who sat in their shadow are gone, leaving a void empty space.

The book begins with Otto’s parents’ daily letters to their son, telling him of their detailed departure plans. Otto was 13 years old when he was sent to an orphanage in Sweden called Henhult. This had been organized by a Swedish Christian organization that worked in Austria. This was to be his home for a short while – it was meant to be a temporary solution until his parents managed to leave Austria (then part of Nazi Germany) to join him. They had realized early on that the situation in Vienna had become very dangerous, even critical for them.

The orphanage soon became overcrowded and could no longer accommodate that many children.  Therefore, some of the children in the orphanage had to move out. A devout Christian woman made her house available for some of these children and welcomed Otto along with 22 other children. The placement of Jewish orphans into residents’ homes was organized by the Swedish government. It was later discovered that the real objective of many of the Christian families who took in Jewish children was to convert them to Christianity.

When Otto was 14 years of age, he became a manual laborer, working at various farms in southern Sweden. He described some of these years as quite good. He was very fond of the people he worked with. He was not in a financial position to get a higher education. This was a great loss for him.

He was deeply traumatized when he heard the news of the murder of his parents. That trauma stayed with him for the rest of his life. Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA’s founder, entered into the picture of this story very early. (IKEA stands for I: Ingvar; K: Kampf; E: the town where he grew up; A: the village nearby).  When Otto was 18 years old, he went to Kamprad’s estate, applied for work there and was hired.

While researching secret police files, I found significant evidence that Ingvar Kamprad was a registered member of the Swedish Nazi party in 1943. His membership number was 4014. Kamprad was only 17 years old at the time. Although he was still a young man, it is evident that the Swedish Nazi Party SSS had their eyes on him, which is amazing. Maybe the fact that Ingvar’s grandmother had been a German immigrant played a role in his joining the party. 

He clearly admitted that he had been a member of the Swedish Nazi Party, a hardcore anti-Semitic and aggressive party. He also declared that he had already recruited members to the movement and that he had intended to devote all his time to work for the movement. When the issue of Kamprad’s fascist involvement became public in the 1990s he pleaded for forgiveness, saying it had been an error of youth. “I was only a boy!” It is true that he was only 17 but it was a quite a conscious decision. It is not an error of youth in my view.

Kamprad’s political involvement in the Nazi Party was one of the few pieces of information I had when I started writing this book. I knew that Otto and Ingvar had become friends as young men. I needed to know what that relationship meant. How was it possible that Ingvar became friends with the Jewish boy Otto while he at the same time was involved with the Nazi Youth movement? When Ingvar and Otto met, Otto’s parents had already died in Theresiendtadt. From the beginning I wanted this relationship to be the focus of the book.

What was the role of the Swedish Church?

The Swedish Church at the time had some strong humanist views. Priests offered assistance to the refugees and pleaded in their favor during their Sunday sermons. There were also priests who believed in the Nazism. It is therefore difficult to define where the Church stood at the time.

For instance, the Swedish Archbishop Erling Eidem was a great lover of German culture and of the German language. He was also a Pietist, a movement within Lutheranism, which believed that faith should be separated from the rest of the world. He had no interest in taking part in politics. As early as in 1942, he was probably one of the first to learn of what happened in the death camps in Germany. He received detailed information and yet never passed it on. He simply never took a stand.

Some priests within the Swedish Church were missionaries to the Jewish people. They had a very particular point of view. The mission was based on their belief that Jews had made a terrible mistake by not recognizing Jesus as Messiah and that everything that had happened to them was actually God’s judgment. They believed that as true Christians they had to show Jews the way to Christianity. Very surprisingly it was later revealed that the Archbishop was very close to this movement. He too may have felt that these children refugees had to be “saved.”

How do you see Sweden’s role during WWII?

Sweden and Germany were very close ideologically. It was a symbiotic relationship. Those of the upper classes who studied at universities would also be studying the German language, poetry, music, wrote in German and were in tune with German ideas. This was true for the upper classes. These were also the people who believed in Hitler, and were most afraid of Soviet power. They believed that only Germany could stop the communists. Sweden had always been afraid of Russia and then of Soviets. This explains in part the solidarity that existed between Sweden and the Nazi regime.

We also have a long tradition of not liking foreigners, and that included gypsies and also Jews, particularly Jew from the East. German Jews were easily accepted but Jews from the East had difficulty entering the country. This was the case ever since the 19^th century.

When I studied the Foreign Ministry’s archives concerning Austria and the Anschluss period, it became apparent that the Foreign Ministry was afraid of a Jewish invasion or a Jewish “import”. The authorities feared that German intellectuals, physicians and students would come and take over their jobs. It was a combination of economic worries and a certain fear of foreigners. Sweden, comparatively was actually very restrictive in its immigration policies, more so than other neighboring countries.

In November of 1942, the Nazis invaded Norway and started the deportation of the Norwegian Jews. This was a complete shock to Sweden. Somehow the Norwegian Jews one could identify with much easier than with the German or Polish Jews. The Norwegian Jews were ‘almost’ Norwegian. This is evident when we read the press clips and the debate going on at that time. I believe that 524 Norwegian Jews were deported and most of them were murdered in 1942. This was alarming according Swedish newspapers. This was a wake-up call for Sweden.

For instance, when the public was asked in a survey published by one of our largest newspaper on New Years Eve as to what was the most significant event of 1942 the unanimous answer was: The deportation of the Norwegian Jews.  Someone says for instance: “I saw the Jewish deportation with my own eyes; I never want to see something similar. I am no friend of Jews, but these things should not happen.”

A year after Danish Jews had been deported from Denmark, Sweden, knowing what was happening opened its borders. Because of these past events, the Swedish people were better prepared to receive Jewish refugees. Some historians say that when Hitler began to lose power in 1943 (he had won every major battles until then) people in Sweden came to think that maybe he wouldn’t win the war after all.

Were you always aware of your Jewish roots?

I think I must always have been. I grew up with a mother who said hush-hush to me, don’t tell anyone, and don’t let anyone know that you are of Jewish heritage. My father is Jewish Hungarian, born in Budapest. When he was 5 years old, someone had shouted ‘bloody Jew’ at him. He went to his mother and asked: “What is a Jew?” Shortly after, the Hungarian Nazis took power and my grandfather was sent to labor camp and was murdered with several other relatives. His family had been assimilated, just like Otto and his parents. 

They shared a similar background. They were condemned to their Jewishness and therefore condemned to death. My father has never said that I should hide my Jewish heritage, but he has said that he would be happy with a non-Jewish son-in-law because that makes the Jewish blood disappear from our lineage. I grew up with this sort of shame and denial. This book has been a sort of coming out for me.

How long did it take you to write this book?

I worked 6 days, sometimes 7 days a week for one year. I was never available to do simple things like taking a walk. My husband objected to my obsessive behavior or relentless efforts in getting the book competed.

Knowing what you knew about Kamprad, was it difficult for you to interview him?

The meeting wasn’t difficult. We met at IKEAs headquarters in Sweden. When I asked him about Otto, he immediately replied: “Of course I want to talk about Otto!” He really loved Otto. However, I don’t think he was prepared for my question about his Nazi background. He did his best to answer my other questions, but when it came to that subject, he suddenly did not remember much. 

It was after I kept pushing him about his Nazi past that he said he still maintained the view that the Fascist leader Per Engdahl was a great human being. In view of the available information about him, this is quite a shocking statement. Engdahl was first of all a fascist leader during the war leading a party which was small, but active. It was anti-Bolshevik, anti-democratic and anti-Semitic. These three ideas were very strong within his party. Engdahl’s biggest achievement came after the war. Immediately after the war, he helped Nazi prisoners who had been captured to escape to South America to avoid being held accountable.

Engdahl and Kamprad were at this point close friends. I don’t know what Kamprad knew about Engdahl. No one can give me the answer to that question.  Kamprad was also close to other people in Engdal‘s movement. Kamprad wrote Engdal a letter in which he wrote that he was proud to be a part of the movement. 

When Kamprad , in 2010, said that Engdahl he was a great human being, one has to remember that Engdahl at that time was at his greatest politically, working for the European fascist and Nazi revival. I can’t claim that Kemprad knew, about but he definitely did not distance himself from him.

What happened to Otto after the war? 

According to his children, Otto got tired of living in the countryside and decided in 1949 to move toIsrael. He decided years later to return to Sweden, where he eventually reunited with Kamprad. He settled in Stockholm and proceeded to make a living. He married a girl who he met at the Kamprad’s estate and they had 3 children. He owned and managed a restaurant. He was never a failure, nor a huge success.

When I first portrayed Otto, I let his children read the text. “You have made Otto too nice, too humble, too kind” was their response. “Otto was an angry man.” Their conclusion was that he had been traumatized and that this trauma had made him such an angry man. He was not an easy person to live with, nor was he a happy person.

More information about And the trees in Wienerwald are still standing and Elizabeth Åsbrink, click here.


Images used with permission from Elizabeth Åsbrink.

Jødiske innbyggere til Oslo

1905-tellinga

En gruppe som trer fram i folketellingene er jødene av forskjellig nasjonalitet. Med 1905-tellinga kommer personlistene - en for hver husstand. Rubrikkene har opplysninger om fødselsår, og dato, om man er fast bosatt på adressen, og i fall ikke: hvor man har ”sedvanligt bosted”. Videre spør man etter statsborgerskap og bopel ved forrige telling. Jøder er ikke avmerket i disse års tellinger, men navn og opprinnelsesland gir en pekepinn. Men jøder som var medlem av et jødisk trossamfunn ble registrert som dissentere, religiøse samfunn utenfor statskirken, og beretning sendt inn til Magistraten.  De fleste var sysselsatt i handel, særlig omførselshandel, og en del i håndverk og industri (Salomons skofabrikk, Glotts cigar- og cigaretfabrikk, Conrad Langaard).

I fjerde etasje i Brogata 7 finner vi rabbiner Dr. Mayer Aschkanaze, som Selma fra Värmland tjente hos ei kort tid, med fødested Stanislau i Østerrike. Han var kommet hit i 1898 og gift med Fanny født Landau fra Østerrike, som kom i 1902

Adresseboka for 1905 viser at de utgjorde minst elleve av 102 frukthandlere, fem av 196 tobakkshandlere, elleve av 254 manufakturer og tre av 58 urmakerforretninger. Jødene bodde først og fremst på Grünerløkka og i området rundt Hausmanns gate – nær synagogene og egne butikker. Fram til 1910 bodde mellom 35 og 39 prosent av jødiske innvandrere i dette området i det såkalte Jakob sogn – rundt 1900 bodde hele 16 prosent i ei gate: Osterhaus’ gate!

 

I fjerde etasje i Brogata 7 finner vi rabbiner Dr. Mayer Aschkanaze, som Selma fra Värmland tjente hos ei kort tid, med fødested Stanislau i Østerrike. Han var kommet hit i 1898 og gift med Fanny født Landau fra Østerrike, som kom i 1902. Vi finner deres vielse 13.7. 1902 i innberetninger fra dissentermenighetene til Magistraten. Her er anmerket at begges fedre var rabbinere og at samtlige er ”Israeliter”. Brudgommen var enkemann og lovlig skifte var  avholdt i Tyskland. Datteren Esther Debora var født her i 1904. De bodde sammen med barnepike Birgitte Eriksen fra Trondheim og tjenestejente Anna Krohl fra Skiptvedt. I samme gård holdt to svenske damer til i hver sin leilighet, skreddersyerske Emma Sofie Andersson som kom fra Sverige i 1893 og Anna Wendén, gift syerske som bodde alene og var kommet i 1902 fra Vesternorrlands län.

 

I Ebbells gade 3 finner vi ullvarehandler Menace Aronstam med kone Rebekka begge født i Russland og innflyttet i 1897, datter Rachel og sønn Salomon. Foreldrene var født i henholdsvis Latvia og Litauen i følge ”Våre falne”. Begge, samt deres datter Sofie f. 1915, ble deportert i 1942 og omkom i tysk fangenskap. I samme gård finner vi også kjøpmann Magnus Kaup som var født i Russland. Han var uten statsborgerskap, kom til byen i 1900 og var sjømann ett år tidligere. Vi finner fabrikkbestyrer Wiktor Julius Boman  fra Stockholm med hustru Bertha født i Vestre Gausdal og de fem barna. Her finner vi også en svensk familie. Murersvenn Elof Adolf Bergquist fra Sillerud og Marie fra Glava var kommet hit i henholdsvis 1891 og 1888. Deres fem barn var alle født i Kristiania. De hadde seks losjerende, en av disse kom også fra Glava.  

  
Da som nå var Oslo en by som var avhengig av innvandret arbeidskraft, alt fra spesialister i håndverksfag til håndlangere, musikere og artister. Samtidig var det vanskelig å skaffe seg arbeid i tida etter Kristiania-krakket, så mange nordmenn utvandret. Både jøder, svensker og tyskere dannet menigheter her og organiserte seg i foreninger som tok seg av samvær og hjelpebehov - ikke ulikt mange av dagens innvandrere. Antakelig var den jødiske minoriteten noe av det mest synlige i bybildet med synagoger, sabbat, egen mat, butikker og møteplass i parken på Olaf Ryes plass. De fleste andre kom fra kulturer så lik majoritetens at det først og fremst var språket som ga dem et særegent preg. Særlig svenskene kunne få et og annet ukvemsord etter seg. Andre som syntes godt var selvsagt de omreisende lirekassespillerne. Omreisende musikere ble sett på med stor skepsis og søkt utvist av justismyndighetene.

 

Mange aspekter ved dette er slående lik situasjonen hundre år seinere. For oss er det også tydelig at det er lite kilder som sier noe om innvandrerne sett fra deres eget ståsted. Det blir fort den ekstraordinære situasjonen som nedfelles i myndighetenes arkiver, som den hjelpeløse på fattigvesenets kontor. Men på tross av den norske funksjonærens blikk, sier slike hjemstavnsforhør oss likevel ganske mye om livsvilkår og menneskeskjebner den gang. Vi får håpe dagens innvandrere får satt flere egne spor etter seg, også i form av arkiver som framtidige generasjoner kan studere, slik vi oppfordrer til i prosjektet Oslos multikulturelle arkiver.

Av Ellen Røsjø
Byarkivet Oslo

Overlege Koritzinsky nr. 2 fra høyre. Foto: Erik Koritzinsky

EFRAIM WOLFF KORITZINSKY

(1883 - 1942)

ble født i Karlstad den 20 juni ,1883 som nest eldste sønn av Abraham Josef Koritzinsky (1858 - 1928) og Paulina Abrahamson (1858- 1908).

I 1885 flyttet familien til Christiania. Efraim gikk på jødisk skole i Hamburg i 4 år sammen med sine 2 brødre Moses Leopold og Theodor fra 1894 til 1898 og tok norsk artium i 1901 og norsk medisinsk embedseksamen i 1909.

I studietiden tok han også underoffisers-utdannelse som første jøde i Norge og var grensevakt som sanitetsoffiser i 1905 i “den krigen mot svenskene som det ikke ble noe av.”

Grensevakt på Storlien 1905. Efraim Wolff Koritzinsky (nr. 3 fra venstre i bakre rekke) var sanitetskaptein. Antakelig den første norske jøde med utdannelse fra Krigsskolen. Fotograf: ukjent

  

Fra 1912 til 1915 var han legevikar, først ved Kristiansund Sykehus, senere ved Nordlands Amtssykehus. 

Deretter arbeidet han to år som lege i Tyskland, først som assistent ved Universitetets patologisk-anatomiske institutt i Mûnchen.

Fra 1.juli 1916 ble han assistent ved den kirurgiske universitetsklinikken i Bonn. Dette var midt under den første verdenskrigen slik at arbeidet bestod i å operere sårede tyske soldater. For sitt arbeide som kirurg ble Efraim Wolff tildelt Jernkorset av Keiser Wilhelm II.

Fra 1917 til 1919 arbeidet han ved Ullevål Kirurgiske avdeling før han ble ansatt som overlege i Kristiansund i 1920. Det ble den byen han tydelig må ha trivdes i – ikke bare som humanist og dyktig lege, men også som aktiv deltaker med kulturelle interesser innenfor musikk og malerkunst. Han holdt mange foredrag og var bl.a. formann i Kristiansund Røde Kors fra 1923. 

Hans generøsitet var velkjent - hvis de som oppsøkte hans privatpraksis ikke hadde penger, skulle de ikke purres for oppgjør. Var det sirkus i byen og småbarn ikke hadde penger, kjøpte han billetter som ble delt ut. 

Antisemittismen. 

Mellomkrigstidens Norge var absolutt ikke fritt for antisemittisme. Efraim Wolff hadde en utpreget rettferdighetssans! 

Han hadde flere injuriesaker på grunn av antisemittiske avisartikler. Han fikk medhold i alle sakene med fornærmende påstander mot jøder, bl.a. mot redaktør Sylten i Nationalt Tidsskrift som siden 1916 hadde drevet et personlig korstog mot jødene. 

Denne saken vakte oppsikt i det Arbeiderbladet i Oslo kommenterte; “at det var på tide at en jøde reagerte slik at domstolen kunne stadfeste at folk i Norge ikke skulle sjikaneres fordi de ikke var av germansk rase eller kristen tro. “

Det er meget sannsynlig at Syltensaken førte til at Efraim Wolff var en av de første jødene som ble arrestert tidlig i Norge, til tross for at han ikke var medlem av noe jødisk trossamfunn. 

Efraim hadde stor respekt for sin familie, men distanserte seg selv fra fedrenes tro. Da det ble kjent at han skulle gifte seg med Elisabeth i 1933 ble det “stor ballade i hjemmet”, skriver hans bror Theo i et konfidensielt julebrev fra Oslo i 1932. 

De tre søstrene var imot dette “blandete ekteskapet”. De traff Elisabeth første gang ved Efraim Wolff's begravelse på Helsfyr i Oslo i 1942! En av Elisabeths slagord var:” Det er værst for dem sjøl” når folk ikke oppførte seg anstendig. Slik ble forholdet til de 2 svigerinnene “reparert” fra hennes side og slik ble det for Elisabeths barn også etter krigen.

Da han forlot Kristiansund i 1933, skrev Romsdalsposten at Kristiansunds sykehus hadde hatt en god tid under Koritzinskys ledelse. Foruten å være en fremragende lege, hadde han hatt pasientenes tillit og hans administrative dyktighet hadde kommet sykehuset til gode med orden og punktlighet.:”Mange og store forandringer og moderniseringer er foretatt i disse 12 år, alt på overlegens initiativ og hans kyndige ledelse,” skrev avisen.

Efraim jobbet ved Trondhjem sykehus i 8 år. Sykehuset manglet styring og fast ledelse. Folk kom og gikk som de ville slik at den nye overlegen stilte følgende spørsmål ved første styremøte på sykehuset: “ Er dette sykehuset til for de besøkende eller for pasientene ?” Omstillingen av driften og det bygningsmessige var ikke oppdatert, og 1930 årenes elendige økonomi gjorde det ikke lettere. 

Efraim Wolff så det slik at siden han var jøde måtte han gjøre en betydelig bedre jobb enn om en ikke-jøde var ansatt. Med sine 50 år hadde han betydelig erfaring både som lege og som leder. Dette hjalp i den krevende stillingen, som muligens var det høyeste embete en jøde hadde i landet den gang.

Kjærligheten til Elisabeth og barna som kom, gjorde livet rikt. Økonomien var god og privatlivet blomstret i den store direktørboligen i sykehushaven. Familie kom ofte på besøk både fra Elisabeths side og Koritzinsky familien. Dessuten kunstnervenner, både de med palett og pensel, musikere, kunstnere og forfattere. 

Familieliv og gjestfrihet blomstret. De 5 stuene var fyllt med maler-kunst fra år 1500 til 1800. Tjenerstaben bestod av både kokke og hushjelp foruten barnepleierske når det var spebarn i huset. Og det var det ofte i de 8 årene hjemmet besto.

Det var et viktig spørsmål om barna skulle døpes eller ikke. Foreldrene var enige om at dette måtte barna selv avgjøre etter hvert som de ble modne. Og slik ble det. Da Erik valgte å la seg døpe i november 1949, en uke før han ble konfirmert, ble de fire yngre søsknene Eva, Else, Elisabeth og Theo døpt samtidig. Dette ble en periode omtalt som “Den store barnedåpen i Ullern Kirke!” 

Arrestert for hamstring av B-såpe. 

Den 1.desember 1942 kom sivilt Nazipoliti på besøk i doktorboligen. Overlegen skulle arresteres for “hamstring” – det ble påstått at man hadde for meget B-såpe i kjelleren! 

Efraim Wolff var advart mange ganger av slekt og venner at han var utsatt, og burde forlate landet, alene eller sammen med Elisabeth og barna. Efraim Wolff var av en slik støpning at dette var utenkelig for han. For det første hadde han “ikke gjort noe galt”, dessuten var ledelsen av sykehuset i en krisetid hans ansvar og ikke noe han ville flykte fra. 

Han var den eneste den gang som tok de store lungeoperasjonene nord for Dovre. Han hadde Jernkorset fra første verdenskrig og som kirurg reddet livet til mange tyske soldater. Dessuten var Elisabeth høygravid med Theo som ble født en måned før arrestasjonen.

Etter den tyske okkupasjonen i 1940 ble styret på Trondheim Sykehus nazifisert og lederansvaret enda mer komplisert. Den psykiske belastningen må ha vært enorm. Det er grunn til å tro at det psykosomatiske bidro til at kreften utviklet seg meget hurtig etter arrestasjonen. Vollan Kretsfengsel var første steg som fange og 10. februar ble han overført til Falstad fangeleir der han bl.a. fungerte som lege. 

Fangetiden var preget av plaging, trakassering og konstant mangel på mat. Uken etter han ble arrestert i Trondheim bar det tilbake til sykehuset for avlusing sammen med andre fanger. På Falstad måtte han vaske gulv og vokterne moret seg med å sparke gulvbøtten overende slik at vannet måtte tørkes opp på nytt. Elisabeth fikk smuglet inn mat til Wolff men den ga han til de yngre fangene fordi som han sa: “ De trenger maten mer enn meg”.

Etterhvert som han ble sykere måtte han selv til lege og ble innlagt på Levanger Sykehus der han døde den 15. mai 1942. Da nazistene forsto at han kom til å dø ble han “frigitt”. Ellers kunne dødsfallet blitt en belastning for Naziregimet. Hans grav er på den jødiske gravlunden på Helsfyr i Oslo.

Hans minne og fasthet er bl.a. sikret ved en egen liten utstilling på Holocaust museet i Oslo. Han døde som han levde, ved ikke å flykte bort fra sitt ansvar som lege og familiefar.

skrevet av sønnen, 
Erik Koritzinsky

 

MARCUS LEVIN

A MAGNET WITHIN 

THE NORWEGIAN JEWISH 

COMMUNITY 

PART 1

Marcus Levin from the age of 21 
until his death  in 1965 witnessed many of the major historical events that greatly affected Jewish life in Norway.  

He was in reality the first Norwegian Jew who witnessed what had happened to the Jews who were deported from Norway in 1942 and 1943. 

1950: A memorial service took place in 
Oslo in memory of the plane crash that 
took place in Hurum, Norway in 
November 1949. Marcus Levin left, 
Golda Meir, center, Minister of Labor. 
Photo: Courtesy Irene Levin.

He was also strongly involved in refugee work before, during and after World War II, both in Norway and Sweden. After the war, because of his many contacts with international Jewish organizations he was able to collect funds for the Jewish communities in Oslo and Trondheim. These funds were used in part to build a modern Jewish community center in Oslo, as well as a new Jewish chapel at the cemetery at Helsfyr in Oslo.

Marcus Levin was born in Kristiania (subsequently Oslo) in 1899. The Levin family lived at that time at Osterhausgate 21, in the center of the Hausmann neighborhood, where most of the Jewish citizens had settled when they came to Oslo. He was one of nine siblings – the fifth child of Leib and Henriette Levin. During his lifetime, Jewish life in Norway had experienced great changes and had been exposed to a catastrophe of unbelievable dimensions.

Marcus Levin grew up in Rjukan, but spent his adolescence in Oslo. Rjukan is a small town in the county of Telemark (The Heroes from Telemark). There were a few other Jewish families living in Rjukan. The Levin family was the only family to become well established in that town.

However, Leib Levin realized that in the long run it would be impossible for his children to maintain their Jewish identity unless they were living in a larger Jewish environment. In 1918, the family returned to Oslo where Leib opened his own store on Markveien in Grünerløkka. During his later years he became very active in a Zionist organization.
Both Marcus and his siblings were active in Jewish youth organization in Oslo. It was small, yet thriving, in particular within the Organization for the Young Israelites. Marcus was an eager participant of that organization and arranged regularly summer camps for Jewish children. 

These were originally meant to counter-balance the Church’s “Israel Mission” which was an attempt to convert poor Jewish children to Christianity by offering them a summer camp vacation. Jewish youth organizations not only collected funds to run the summer camps, but also to finance a Jewish orphanage. In 1932, the organization built a small lodge in the countryside for Jewish children living in Baerum, on the outskirt of Oslo.

Marcus Levin center, year unknown. 
Courtesy Irene Levin

In the early 1920’s Marcus had, with Heiman Selikowitz, who later became his brother-in-law, established an organization called The Israelites Athletic Organization. Marcus Levin led the organization from 1925 to 1926. Unfortunately the organization did not last long, but it was to be remembered for a long time by some of the members!

Who does not remember those pleasant athletic evenings at Lokkegaten School's gymnastic hall - well, it may have been some 15 or 20 years ago - when Marcus Levin's commando voice was resonating within the walls of the gym as the boys worked very hard. Yes, there are some people who remember, and remember it well!

In the early 30s, Marcus Levin acquired over a store on Brugata in Oslo. He married Rosa Selikowitz, his “friend’s” sister in 1933. Julius Selikowitz, now his brother-in-law was interested in films and he shot some unique footage of Markus’ wedding day outside the Selikowitz family’s house on Calmeyers Gate 6. Their son, Leif Arild, was born in 1935 and their daughter Irene in 1938.

Levin’s was very involved early on, in the 1930s in the Jewish Relief organization, created in 1906 by Jews in Oslo that was primarily directed towards the needs of poor Jews in the city and elsewhere in the country. After the Russian revolution and the massacres of Jews in the Ukraine and Poland, the organization collected money to cover the needs of Jewish social needs for these areas. 

It was not until 1930 however that the organization really would become of significance in providing aid to Jews in extremely difficult situations in Norway. When Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, there was a mass emigration of political and Jewish refugees. 

 It was extremely difficult, quasi impossible to obtain permission to settle in another country. Norway was one of the countries that had extremely strict asylum policies. Research indicates according to Prof. Per Ole Johansen, that that the immigration guidelines were discriminating against Jews.

Levin’s previous organizational experience must have been of great importance when he started tackling the refugee issues. He remained preoccupied by the refugee problems until his death. 

There is no doubt that the serious situation in Germany since 1933 and the rapid expansion of antisemitism must have been of great significance. In addition, it was the Jewish belief that you should always do good to other people and take care of your own. 

In the Diaspora the Jews developed a stronger focus on self-preservation. Marcus Levin was brought up in this very tradition. In a profile interview in the Jewish monthly newsletter Hatikwoh published in Oslo in October/November 1938, Marcus Levin’s obsession is described as following:

But now Marcus Levin is beginning to be “bothersome!” If you happen to meet him during the day, there is only one issue that occupies him – and that consumes all his time. He is one of those who feel that the Jews in Oslo have neglected their responsibilities towards the immigrants. 

Don’t misunderstand. Those who have been in charge of this work – first of all the merchant D. Goldberg and a few others – have his full respect and admiration for the efforts they have contributed for the refugees. But they were alone in their endeavor. Marcus Levin is now working to change the people’s mentality on this issue.

As of 1938 the American Jewish Joint Distribution committee (“the Joint”) started to play a role in the Norwegian-Jewish efforts to help the refugees. The Joint was established in USA in 1914 to help the needs of the Jews in Eastern Europe and Russia, which were, had in WWI acute humanitarian needs. From 1933 to 1939 the organization participated in helping 375,000 Jews out of Germany. This was a significant effort against all odds.

In 1938 the Jewish Relief Organization eventually changed its name to the Jewish Aid Society. Many Jews made great efforts to assist the Jewish refugees who immigrated to Norway. 

Elias Feinberg

Among them were Elias Feinberg, the leader of the aid organization. His skills as a social worker resulted in him becoming a mentor to Marcus Levin. Incidentally, Elias Feinberg's son, Kai Feinberg, was one of the 28 Norwegian Jews to survive the concentration camp. Subsequently, Kai Feinberg took the legacy of the Jewish congregation in Oslo, a position he held for close to 20 years. Herman Valner and Marcus Levin were also involved in the Aid organization.

Kai Feinberg

Mr. Valner was a successful businessman in Oslo. The state required a financial guarantee for each refugee of 5,000NKR, an average annual salary at that time. Prior to 1940, Valner's guarantees had provided financially for more than 20 refugees. Both Mr. Valner and Mr. Feinberg were subsequently deported to Auschwitz and killed.

Very few Jewish refugees received assistance in Norway due to extremely strict policies. Norway became however a transit country for refugees who were waiting for visas for entry to other nations. Most of the Jewish refugees in Norway had only temporary permission with no work permits. 

Marcus Levin, right. Year unknown. Courtesy: Irene Levin

In the fall of 1939 the Jewish Aid Society and the Nansen Refugee Award offered assistance to ca. 300 Jewish refugees. Most of them would require continuous assistance for housing and food. Ca. 350-400 refugees came to Norway in 1940. Most of them were stateless, having lost their citizenship when they left German, Austrian or Czech soil. Those who managed to escape from Norway to Sweden during the roundup in 1942 would later experience problems with returning to Norway.

When the Germans invaded Norway on April 9, 1940, Marcus Levin left Oslo and moved his family to Valdres. He then reported to service with the Norwegian Armed Forces and participated in the war, including the intense battle near Bagn. 

 When the Norwegian forces surrendered, he was taken prisoner of war. Due to his knowledge of the German language he was appointed a liaison between the prisoners and the German forces. He later returned to Oslo with his family once the relatively short prison time was over to assume normal activities.

In the meantime, the Jewish Aid Society had been forced by the Gestapo to inherit all social work for the Jewish refugees in Norway with the justification that Jews should not become a burden to the Norwegian state. This resulted in an even heavier load on the organization. Through organized effort, money was collected from the Jewish congregation in Oslo and Trondheim, representing a social tax.

The Norwegian Jews participated loyally. Certain Jews even gave beyond requirement to this cause. The first war years included a stepping up of the anti-Jewish politics, although it was not until January 1942 that the Police Department and the Norwegian police carried out a systematic recording of the country's Jews. 

The anticipation of something worse might take place, increased among the Norwegian Jews, but none of the Jews in Norway would ever imagine the final outcome of a catastrophe that awaited them. A summary of these events is outlined in Marcus Levin's personal writings (to be published at a later point).

Shortly before the state police ordered the arrest of male Jews on October 26, 1942, Marcus Levin went undercover. Two of his brothers, Leonard and Sigurd Levin, had already been arrested and were under German captivity in northern Norway and at Grini Prison. With his third brother, Alf Levin, and two of his brothers-in-law (the Selikowitz family) he was brought across the border to Sweden. His family followed on November 25th, the day before the action against women and children in Oslo took place.

The escape was not organized through one of the major export company, but through a smaller group that charged a significant amount of money – approximately 40,000 kroner in addition to personal belongings – in order to help the family across. 

 It was not without anguish that Mr. Levin sent a complaint in January 1943, addressed to the Norwegian Consulate. The company had indeed brought his immediate family to safety – that was the most important. However, he expressed in his letter to the Consulate in Stockholm the bitterness he felt when he realized that the organization hardly operated as part of a patriotic initiative, but primarily on the objective of a personal profit.

Marcus Levin was offered a position at the refugee’s office of the Jewish Congregation in Stockholm upon arriving. For him and his family Stockholm was to become their place of residence for four years. From 1943-1946 it was the only time in his life when he exclusively worked with the cause of refugees as a pure social and dealing with the refugee problem on the administrative level.

Marcus Levin remained the Joint’s representative in Norway until his death in 1965 at the age of 66. He was awarded the King’s Gold Medal of Merit for his efforts in 1960. The Norwegian Refugee Council’s magazine Ny Fremtid (New Future), the following article written after his death stated the following:

With the loss of Marcus Levin, one of the refugee’s greatest friends, has left us. He was in the prime of his work with refugees internationally. As the long-term chairman of the Jewish Social Committee, he gave of his soul and life in order to help those who suffered.



Extracted from article written by historian Bjarte Bruland, Jewish Museum, Oslo