Crown Princess Mette-Marit Attends Commemoration of WWII Jewish Deportation

Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit was present for a special commemoration at the University Aula in Oslo on Sunday that was held to mark the 75th anniversary of the deportation of 529 Jews from Norway during the Nazi occupation of the country at the height of World War Two.

The Crown Princess sat with Prime Minister Erna Solberg during the event, where they listened to the tale of survival of two Norwegian Jews, Gerd Golombek and Leif Grusd, who were both 12 in 1942 when they fled to the safety of neutral Sweden. Mrs Golombek said that it was important to mark the day because “no one should forget that it has happened” and that it was “a great way to say thank you to all those who risked their lives – over and over again.”

On November 26, 1942 the SS Donau left Oslo with 529 Jews on board, bound for Stettin, Poland where the prisoners then boarded cargo trains and were transported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. This was the largest single movement of Jews out of Norway – in total, 773 Jews were deported, of whom only 38 survived.

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Tagged Anniversary, Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, World War II.

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