Norway and the Holocaust – A Witness to History Speaks Out

Author and Holocaust child survivor Irene Levin Berman will speak about her two books that were inspired by her childhood in Nazi-occupied Norway. The talk and book signing will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 2:00 at Duncaster. It is open to the public but preregistration is required.

Berman’s first book, We Are Going to Pick Potatoes: Norway and the Holocaust, The Untold Story was published in 2010. The book is Berman’s remembrance of growing up Jewish in Norway during and after WWII. The book was endorsed by Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. She published her second book, Norway Wasn’t Too Small, in 2016. It is a novel based on her family’s flight from Norway in 1942.

Berman, a Duncaster resident, was born and raised in Norway. As a small child in 1942 she escaped to Sweden, a neutral country during World War II, to avoid annihilation. Nazi Germany had invaded Norway and the deportation of two thousand Norwegian Jews had begun. Seven members of her father’s immediate family were among the 771 victims who were unable to escape and were murdered in Auschwitz.

In 1960 Irene moved to the United State after marrying an American. That’s when she discovered that Americans had virtually no information about the Holocaust in Norway. That became the inspiration for her books. In 2005 Irene was forced to examine the label of being a Norwegian Holocaust survivor. Her strong dual identity as a Norwegian and a Jew led her to explore previously unopened doors in her mind and the writing of her first book.

After Berman’s presentation she will take questions and sign books, which will be available for purchase at the event.

Attendance is by preregistration only. To register, please call 860-380-5006 or email sLombardo@Duncaster.org.