History of The Jews in Norway - History

History

Although there likely were Jewish merchants, sailors and others who entered Norway during the middle age, no efforts were made to establish a Jewish community. Ruled by a series of Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish kings in combination with either Denmark or Sweden, public policy against non-Christians was in large part dictated by royal edict.

The first known mention of Jews in public documents relates to the admissibility of so-called “Portuguese Jews” (Sephardim) that had been expelled from Spain and Portugal in 1492 and 1497. Some of these were given special dispensation to enter Norway. Christian IV of Denmark-Norway gave Jews limited rights to travel within the kingdom, and in 1641, Ashkenazi Jews were given equivalent rights.

Christian V rescinded these privileges in 1687, specifically banning Jews from Norway, unless they were given a special dispensation. Jews found in the kingdom were jailed and expelled, and this ban persisted until 1851.

In 1814, Norway formulated its first constitution that included in the second paragraph a general ban against Jews and Jesuits entering the country. Portuguese Jews were exempt from this ban, but it appears that few applied for a letter of free passage. When Norway entered into the personal union of Sweden-Norway, the ban against Jews was upheld, though Sweden at that point had several Jewish communities.

In 1844 (4 November), the Norwegian Ministry of Justice declared: "... it is assumed that the so-called Portuguese Jews are, regardless of the Constitution’s §2, entitled to dwell in this country, which is also, to knowledge, what has hitherto been assumed."

After tireless efforts by the poet Henrik Wergeland, politician Peder Jensen Fauchald, school principal Hans Holmboe and others, the Norwegian parliament lifted the ban against Jews in 1851 and they were awarded religious rights on par with Christian "dissenters."

In 1852, the first Jew landed in Norway to settle, but it wasn't until 1892 that there were enough Jews to form a synagogue in Oslo.

The Jewish community grew slowly until World War II and bolstered by refugees in the late 1930s, peaked at about 2,100. During the Nazi rule under the Nazi occupation of Norway, nearly all Jews were either deported to death camps or fled to Sweden and beyond. The Jews fleeing to Sweden were most often given help by non-Jewish Norwegians, although a number of the border guards only agreed to assist after receiving large payments from the refugees.