14 Jødiske Barn
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14 Jewish Children

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The Nazi persecution of Jews began already in the interwar period. Norway became one of the places of refuge for Jewish refugees. In Holbergs gate was the Jewish orphanage, which took care of Jewish children who were rescued from Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938-39. But the Germans followed the refugees. Together with the Norwegian Quisling regime, Jewish campaigns were launched in Norway in October and November 1942. The children had to flee again.

Photographed by Andrew Ruppenstein, June 23, 2025

2. 14 Jødiske Barn / 14 Jewish Children Marker - wide view

…On 25 November 1942, the head of the Nansen Committee Sigrid Lunn received a phone call from an unknown man, who warned them that "there would be another party, this time they would be collecting the smallest parcels". This meant the Nazi would start arresting children and women. Indeed, on 26 November 1942 a law was published, outlawing the residence of Jews in Norway. In the early morning of that day, 26 November 1942, Nick and Nina drove the 14 children of the orphanage, the oldest at the time 12 years old, to the villa of Waal's friend Gerde Tandberg in Ullern, a suburb of Oslo. Being a licensed doctor, Nick had a special driving permit and cards for gas. In the morning when they were getting ready, the children were told to put on two of each item of clothing, the eldest boy was instructed to hide 10,000 kronor in his boots - this money was to pay for a taxi to the Swedish border. They had to carry the boots in their hands - there was a woman who lived on the ground floor of their house who was sympathetic to the Nazis, and the children had to leave

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without attracting her attention. The children were carried on the floor of Nick's car - first the younger ones, then Waal went back for the older ones. On the second trip, the Germans blocked the crossing at Majorstua, but Vaal refused to stop the car and broke through the roadblock. The children were then taken one by one from the Tandberg house into homes of Vaal's relatives. For a week they stayed in hiding in the houses. During this week Sigrid Lunn helped a lot - she helped to look after the children and got ration cards so that they didn't have to starve. Seven days later all the children, hiding on the floor of a taxi, were taken to a hunting lodge near Elverum. The next morning Resistance members helped them walk three kilometres through the forest and to cross the border with Sweden. From the hut all the way to the border, the children followed each other's steps so that possible pursuers would not count their number by their footprints in the fresh snow. Until the end of the war, the children lived in a house on the outskirts of Gothenburg, funded by the Jewish community...