The Prime Minister's speech at the Trondheim Synagogue 100th anniversary

Transcript of the speech as delivered (translated from Norwegian)

Your Majesty,
County Governor,
Friends from the Jewish community,

It is a great pleasure for me to be here today – in this beautiful setting – to take part in the celebration of this unique anniversary:

One hundred years! The world’s northernmost synagogue with an active congregation.

On behalf of the Government and the entire nation, I would like to congratulate you on a century of forging an inclusive Jewish community here in this building, this place of worship, this community centre, which fulfils so many different functions:

Celebration of festivals, rituals and ceremonies, concerts, feasts, a museum and so much more.

A building that has witnessed occupation, destruction and deportation of its members.

A building that has also fostered – and continues to foster – a sense of fellowship, mutual support and joy – just as it is doing today.

If these walls could only talk, they would tell us the story of the beautiful blue ceiling – which I had heard of and now have the chance to see. If the sky could only whisper.

 

The architect who designed this building – originally as a railway station – was Georg Andreas Bull.

The same architect who designed the Vestbanen railway station – now the Nobel Peace Center, a centre for peace and human rights – in Oslo, our capital city and my hometown.

Here in Trondheim in 1925, the railway station became a home to one of the world’s great religions and a small group of people, the Norwegian Jewish community north of Dovre.

The first Jewish immigrants came here – as we have just heard – in the 1880s, driven by poverty and persecution.

I am glad that Trondheim and Norway were the ‘station’, if I can put it like that, where this small ‘train’ of Jewish people seeking refuge chose to end their journey.

Because Norway as a nation needed – and needs – its Jewish minority, then as it does now.

We must acknowledge the fact that we need different cultures, different religious communities, different traditions – to expand, renew and enrich our shared Norwegian identity.

A homogeneous Norway can never be our goal – this would only narrow our perspectives and make our society poorer.

A Norway with vibrant, visible minority populations who feel safe and secure – that is our goal, and it will make all of us safer.

A Norway where people can say: I am proud to be Jewish. Proud of my faith, my history and my cultural heritage. – We all have a responsibility to make this the reality.

I am pleased to have had the chance to get to know so many people of Jewish heritage in the course of my political work – as well as in my private life. This has made my life richer and expanded my horizons.

 

But, as we know all too well, the image of stations and trains can also bring back terrible, painful memories.

Of the deportation of the Jews of Trondheim and Oslo in 1942–1943 – first by ship and then by train in freight cars that fed directly into the industrial-scale genocide.

Many people have walked along the railway tracks to those terrible final destinations. And some of us walked them just this past January, 80 years after the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

There I met Chana Aberman, a Holocaust survivor, who is here with us today. Chana was born in Poland and later settled in Trondheim. She lost 50 members of her family in the Holocaust.

Eighty-three years ago today, on 26 October 1942, all Jewish men over the age of 15 in Norway were ordered to be arrested and taken to camps, including camps such as Falstad here in this region.

All their property was confiscated, and legislation relating to the confiscation of Jewish assets came into force.

Only a few of the Jews returned, as is evident from all the stumbling stones to be found here in Trondheim – and in Oslo and elsewhere.

But we can learn about the flourishing Jewish community that was here before the war in the museum and in theatre productions like the one we have just seen, about the former Nerbyen Jewish quarter. And we can learn from the way today’s Jewish communities stand tall, and show and share with us their cultural heritage.

And I am grateful to have been able to meet Chana here again today – your testimony as a survivor is one of the most powerful we have. When His Royal Highness The Crown Prince and I spoke with you in January, we were deeply moved by your story.

 

I have met many representatives of the Jewish community. Most recently last week – at the synagogue in Oslo.

We talked about 7 October 2023. And here I’d like to quote the words of a young Jewish person I met in Oslo: ‘That day changed what it is to be Jewish in Norway’.

We have heard what you told us. It has become more difficult, less safe, more lonely. Antisemitism has soared.

All the painful feelings evoked by the brutal conflict in the Middle East and the strong opinions and heated rhetoric have created an inflammatory public debate. This is terribly sad.

We must all take responsibility for addressing this – because antisemitism, like a virus, comes in waves – but as history has shown us, this is a virus that can have a deadly outcome for the Jewish people.

And that is why I would like to use this opportunity today – a joyful day, but like most Jewish holidays, a day where our joy is tinged with sorrow – where we remember what has gone before and let what has brought us to where we are now inspire us to look ahead to the future:

As public authorities, we will do our part to protect our Jewish communities and combat and prevent antisemitism. – Not just incidents that make the headlines, but as young people have told us, all the individual comments that come out in different contexts. That is not how it should be here in Norway!

We must protect our Jewish communities and combat and prevent antisemitism, and encourage tolerance towards all religious communities. – Particularly in schools.

When there is injustice against Jewish people, it affects all of us in Norway.

Political and religious leaders have a special responsibility to lead the way by example. We must take responsibility and stand up for human dignity and equality.

Because antisemitism, at its core, is nothing other than a deep contempt for humanity and cannot be tolerated.

 

We need knowledge. Ignorance fuels prejudice.

And here in Trondheim, you are doing something about this. Your work provides inspiration beyond the city’s boundaries. You invite people in and share your insights. The Jewish cultural festival is celebrating its 15th year. This is not just impressive, it is a sign of a community that is thriving.

Keep on doing what you are doing to help increase understanding and make the dynamic life of the Jewish community more visible and widely known.

We need to hear your voices and learn from you. Let me put it like this: never be silent. – And based on my contact with Jewish people in Norway, it clearly takes a lot to make that happen, and that is as it should be.

And with these words I would like to congratulate the synagogue, the world’s northernmost with an active congregation, which we are very proud of – and all the wonderful people filling it today – on your 100th anniversary!

Let us all go in peace.