Nytt liv i gammel synagoge. Jødisk Museum i Oslo

Resumé

Oslo Jewish Museum is located in the city centre east, in a synagogue built in 1921. The area of the city, known as the Hausmann Quarter, was the centre of a once vibrant Jewish life. A large portion of the Jews that immigrated to Oslo from 1880 onwards settled in this area and later established shops, workshops and factories.

In the autumn of 1942, the Norwegian Nazi Authorities effectively destroyed the Jewish life in this area of the city of Oslo. The synagogue was requisitioned by the state and used as a storage facility. The death of 766 Norwegian Jews made a second synagogue in Oslo redundant, and it was used as a factory, a storage facility, and in more modern times as a cultural centre for Kurdish immigrants.

In 2005, Oslo Jewish Museum moved into the former synagogue. In September 2008 the first exhibition of the museum, Freedom is never won once and for all, was opened. A new exhibition is being prepared and will open to visitors in 2010.