''Ninas barn'' (Nina's Children) is a 2015 documentary film about the

Jewish Children's Home in Oslo The Jewish Children's Home in Oslo was established in 1939 under the auspices of Nansenhjelpen, the Nansen Aid, a humanitarian organization established in 1936 by Odd Nansen, the son of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Fridtjof Nansen. It was intended as ...

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 opposin ...

. The film was written and directed by

Nina Grünfeld Nina Frederikke Grünfeld (born July 27, 1966) is a Norwegian film director and author, and the former head of the Norwegian Film Directors (NFR) trade union. Career Grünfeld studied mass communication, Eastern European studies, film, and TV in ...

, and it was produced by her company Gründer Film. A book containing the story was also written by Espen Holm and Nina Grünfeld, and it was published by Kagge Forlag in 2015.

Story

The Jewish Children's Home was located on ''Holtegata'' in the

Homansbyen Homansbyen is a neighborhood in Frogner borough in Oslo, Norway. The area is named for the lawyer brothers Jacob (1816-1868) and Henrik Homan (1824-1900). Area The area is located between the streets of Pilestredet in the east, and Uranienbor ...

neighborhood of Oslo. A group of Austrian Jewish children had been invited by Nansen Relief to Norway for a summer camp, and they arrived in the summer of 1938. While they were staying in Norway, the situation for Jews in Austria became increasingly difficult, and the parents were offered to let the children stay in Norway. Fourteen children remained in Norway. The German-Russian child psychologist

Nina Hasvoll Nina Hasvoll (née Hackel, May 25, 1910 – December 19, 1999), surname also Hasvold and Hasvold Meyer, was a Russian–Norwegian psychoanalyst. She headed the Jewish Children's Home in Oslo during the Second World War, and she escaped to Sweden ...

(1910–1999) was persuaded to start an orphanage where the refugee children could be cared for. When the German occupation authorities began arresting Jewish residents in the fall of 1942, the orphanage manager received a tip that the children she was responsible for were in great danger. They had to be smuggled out of the country and into

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. She received help from a number of people to carry out the rescue operation. All fourteen children at the orphanage were rescued and transferred to Sweden. Seven of those that helped bring the children to safety were honored in 2006 by being named

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...

. These seven were

Sigrid Helliesen Lund Sigrid Helliesen Lund (23 February 1892 – 8 December 1987) was a Norwegian peace activist, noted for her humanitarian efforts throughout most of the 20th century, and in particular her resistance to the occupation of Norway during World War ...

Gerda Tanberg Gerda is a feminine given name. Notable people with the name include: A * Gerda Ahlm (1869–1956), Swedish-born American painter and art conservator * Gerda Alexander (1908–1994), Danish teacher and therapist * Gerda Antti (born 1929), Swedi ...

, Martin Solvang, Ola Rauken, Ola Breisjøberget,

, and

Nic Waal Nic Waal, born Caroline Schweigaard Nicolaysen in Kristiania, Norway (1 January 1905 – 28 May 1960) was a Norwegian psychiatrist, noted for her work among children and adolescents in Norway where she is known as "the mother of Norwegian pediatr ...

. Filmmaker Nina Grünfeld's father, the psychiatrist

Berthold Grünfeld Berthold Grünfeld (22 January 1932 – 20 August 2007) was a Norway, Norwegian psychiatrist, sexologist, and professor of social medicine at the University of Oslo. He was also a recognized expert in forensic psychiatry, often employed by Nor ...

, was one of the refugee children saved in this operation. In gratitude to Nina Hasvoll, he later named his daughter after her.

Cast

* Milla Olin * Maiken Ostermann

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 4964646
''Ninas barn''
at Filmfront 2015 films Norwegian war drama films Norwegian World War II films 2010s Norwegian-language films