Documenting Norwegian witnesses in Oslo

Throughout the week from 21 to 28 August, we recorded 10 stories of Norwegian witnesses with our EYE direct studio in the premises of The Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority studies, which is based in the building of the headquarters of Vidkun Qusiling, which was, and continues to be, considered a symbol of a traitor and collaborator cooperating with Nazi Germany.

The Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies

One of the recorded witness was also Ivar Bermann, who survived thanks to the fact, that at the age of 4, he was transferred in a backpack by a young student, a member of the Norwegian resistance, to neutral Sweden.

This backpack is still in the permanent exhibition of the Norwegian Center for Holocaust and  Minority Studies.

While telling her story and that of her family, Berit Gerd Bild Reisel brought the flute of her uncle, a musician – the very first murdered Norwegian Jew. She managed to track down this flute only in 2022.

It was also interesting that we filmed the stories of 3 generations of the Jewish Golombek family during one recording day – Gerda, her son Rolf and her grandson Simon.

The part of this first activity of the project is that we create short films of 15 to 20 minutes from the stories shot.There will be 5 Slovak films and 3 Norwegian films, which we will also translate into English and will use them in further work within the project, but also with our other acitivities.

Photo: Dominik Janovský and Nina Pompošová