The Holocaust in Norway

The German occupation of Norway began on 9 April 1940. In 1942, there were at least 2,173 Jews in Norway. At least 775 of them were arrested, detained and/or deported. More than half of the Norwegians who died in camps in Germany were Jews.^[2] 742 Jews were murdered in the camps and 23 Jews died as a result of extrajudicial execution, murder and suicide during the war, bringing the total of Jewish Norwegian dead to at least 765, comprising 230 complete households.^[3]

Many Jews survived by fleeing Norway, nearly two-thirds escaping.^[4] Of these, around 900 Jews were smuggled out of the country by the Norwegian resistance movement, mostly to Sweden but some also to the United Kingdom.^[5] Between 28 and 34 of those deported survived^[6] their continued imprisonment in camps (following their deportation)—and around 25 (of these) returned to Norway after the war.^[5] About 800 Norwegian Jews who had fled to Sweden returned after the war.