The Oslo Jewish Museum, located in a former synagogue, presents the history of Jews in Norway.

Oslo, 2001, Building of the former synagogue, since 2005 home to the Oslo Jewish Museum, Bjarte Bruland

Norway gained its independence from Denmark in 1814. The Evangelical Lutheran state's constitution expressly denied Jews settlement rights. This paragraph was only invalidated in 1851, mostly thanks to the efforts by poet Henrik Wergeland (1808-1845). The number of Jews in Norway remained low, only between 1880 and 1920 did the Jewish population rise from about 50 to over 1,300. During that time, many Jewish associations and prayer houses came into being, among them the synagogue in »Calmeyers gate« street, which today houses the museum. When the German Wehrmacht occupied Norway in April 1940, there were over 1,300 Norwegian Jews and up to 600 Jewish refugees from other European countries living in Norway. Beginning June 1941, the German occupying forces under Reichkommissar Josef Terboven (1898–1945), and Norwegian nationalists radicalised the exclusion of Jews. After their wealth had been confiscated for the most part, all Jews in Norway were arrested in October 1942. In all, around 765 Jews from Norway were murdered until 1945, over 40 per cent of the country's Jewish population. The synagogue in »Calmeyers gate« was closed down in 1942 by the Quisling government. Of the 28 Jews who lived in the residential building opposite the synagogue, 19 were deported and murdered.

Oslo, 2001, Building of the former synagogue, since 2005 home to the Oslo Jewish Museum, Bjarte Bruland

Approximately 765 Jews from Norway were murdered during the Holocaust.

After the war, the synagogue building in »Calmeyers gate« street was no longer a house of worship but instead used, amongst others, as a factory and a Kurdish cultural centre. In 2000, the construction of a Jewish museum was begun by a working group in cooperation with the Oslo City Museum. In 2005, the museum moved into a floor of the former synagogue building. In September 2008, an exhibition entitled »Friheten vinnes ikke bare én gang...« (English: »Freedom is never won once and for all...«) was opened. It focuses on the contribution Jews have made to Norwegian art and culture as well as Jewish resistance against the occupation regime during the Second World War. The opening of a permanent exhibition is planned for 2010.

Name

Jødisk Museum i Oslo

Address

Calmeyers gate 15b
0183 Oslo

Phone

+47 (0) 222 084 00

Fax

+47 (0) 232 057 81

Web

http://www.jodiskmuseumoslo.no/

E-Mail

post@jodiskmuseumoslo.no

Open

Tuesday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Thursday 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
From June 15 to August 15 additionally also open on Wednesday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Friday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Possibilities

Exhibition, lecture series, publications