Julius Paltiel (4 July 1924 – 7 March 2008) was one of the 26 Norwegian Jews who returned from Auschwitz. For their efforts in telling about the atrocities in the Nazi extermination camps, both Paltiel and his widow were awarded St. Olav's Medal, he in 2004 and she in 2016. Paltiel was given a Norwegian state funeral, attended by

King Harald V Harald V ( no, Harald den femte, ; born 21 February 1937) is King of Norway. He acceded to the throne on 17 January 1991. Harald was the third child and only son of King Olav V of Norway and Princess Märtha of Sweden. He was second in the lin ...

. Personal life: as early as 1992, he traveled back to the Auschwitz concentration camp, together with a journalist.

During World War II

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, Paltiel's family were textile merchants in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

. On 6 October 1942, he and his family were arrested and sent to

Falstad concentration camp '', '' no, Falstad fangeleir'', construction=1895-1910 Falstad concentration camp (Norwegian: ''Falstad fangeleir'', German: ''SS-Strafgefangenenlager Falstad'') was situated in the village of Ekne in what was the municipality of Skogn (now in the ...

, where they stayed until they were deported to Auschwitz on 24 February 1943. When the Russians advanced to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

in January 1945, the Germans evacuated 66,000 Jewish prisoners, and sent them on a

death march A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinguished in this way from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Conven ...

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or sus ...

. At the time of his arrival there, Paltiel's weight was 39 kg. One day, the prisoners got the message that the Scandinavians were going to be released and sent in the

white buses White Buses was a Swedish humanitarian operation with the objective of freeing Scandinavians in German concentration camps in Nazi Germany during the final stages of World War II. Although the White Buses operation was envisioned to rescue Scan ...

back to their home countries, but to Paltiel's misfortune,

Quisling ''Quisling'' (, ) is a term used in Scandinavian languages and in English meaning a citizen or politician of an occupied country who collaborates with an enemy occupying force – or more generally as a synonym for ''traitor''. The word ori ...

had removed the Norwegian Jews' citizenship so they were not included on the evacuation lists. On 11 April 1945, Paltiel and four other Norwegian Jews were saved by the Americans, after taking numbered clothing from dead non-Jews.

Death

Paltiel died at the age of 83 and was buried in Trondheim, the city where he was born. The government of Norway decided to honor Paltiel by giving him a state funeral. Prime minister

Jens Stoltenberg Jens Stoltenberg (born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician who has been serving as the 13th secretary general of NATO since 2014. A member of the Norwegian Labour Party, he previously served as the 34th prime minister of Norway from 2000 to ...

said: "With Julius Paltiel, Norway has lost a central witness from the Nazi extermination camps during the Second World War. As one of the few Norwegian Jews that survived, Paltiel has until the last been a clear voice for all who wanted to learn from his and his generation's experiences."VG: Julius Paltiel gravlegges på statens bekostning
/ref> The funeral was attended by King

Harald V of Norway Harald V ( no, Harald den femte, ; born 21 February 1937) is King of Norway. He acceded to the throne on 17 January 1991. Harald was the third child and only son of King Olav V of Norway and Princess Märtha of Sweden. He was second in the li ...

, Minister of Culture

Trond Giske Trond Giske (born 7 November 1966) is a Norwegian former politician who served as deputy leader of the Labour Party from 2015 until his resignation in 2018 as a result of the so-called Giske affair. He announced his permanent withdrawal from po ...

and Evangelical-Lutheran

Bishop of Nidaros Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Trøndelag county in Central Norway and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. Since 10 September 2017, the Bishop of Nidaros is Herborg F ...

Finn Wagle Finn Wagle (born 19 June 1941) is a theologian and a former bishop of Nidaros in the Church of Norway. He was also the Preses ('' Primus inter pares'', “first among equals”) and thus presided over the Bishop's Conference in the Church of ...

among others.

Family

He was survived by his wife, the Danish-born author , and his two adult children by his first wife Rita who died in 1987.

References

Literature

''Aftenposten'': Julius Paltiel er død

''Trønder-Avisa'': Tok farvel med Julius Paltiel
* English subtitles

During World War II

Death

Family

References

Literature

Further reading