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Norway's Response to the Holocaust
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April 15, 2018
This was a thoughtful look at an often-overlooked topic. For whatever reason, Norway's response to the Holocaust has generated far less scrutiny than that of many other countries; and having lived in that country myself as a teenager (not far from Quisling's widow, as it turns out), I was naturally fascinated.
Abrahamsen's study is both exhaustive and oddly one-sided. He examines Norway's failures and betrayals in spectacular detail, giving us the names and ages of individual Jews arrested and sent away in waves of deportment to Auschwitz and other camps. But he says almost nothing of the stunning bravery of ordinary men and women who risked everything--freedom, life, and the lives of their families--to rescue Jewish friends and neighbors and strangers. Since almost exactly fifty percent of Norway's Jews died at the hands of the Nazis during World War II, the author is literally giving only half of the story. Although we must never forget what happened to the victims of the Holocaust, it is equally important that we know that these horrifying times also brought out the best in people who had never considered themselves heroes, but who did the right thing when no one else would.
Abrahamsen's study is both exhaustive and oddly one-sided. He examines Norway's failures and betrayals in spectacular detail, giving us the names and ages of individual Jews arrested and sent away in waves of deportment to Auschwitz and other camps. But he says almost nothing of the stunning bravery of ordinary men and women who risked everything--freedom, life, and the lives of their families--to rescue Jewish friends and neighbors and strangers. Since almost exactly fifty percent of Norway's Jews died at the hands of the Nazis during World War II, the author is literally giving only half of the story. Although we must never forget what happened to the victims of the Holocaust, it is equally important that we know that these horrifying times also brought out the best in people who had never considered themselves heroes, but who did the right thing when no one else would.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review