Irene Levin Berman

THOUSAND OAKS, CA - An author will discuss what happened to her family and other Norwegian Jews during the Holocaust as part of the 2011-2012 Scandinavian Lecture Series.

Irene Levin Berman will present “Norway and the Holocaust” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15, in Overton Hall. This is the second event in a two-part series featuring personal experiences during World War II.

Berman is the author of ”’We are Going to Pick Potatoes:’ Norway and the Holocaust, the Untold Story.” Born and raised in Norway, she was a young child when she and her family escaped to neutral Sweden as Nazi Germany invaded Norway and began the deportation of 2,000 Norwegian Jews in 1942. Seven members of her father’s immediate family were among the 771 victims murdered in Auschwitz.

After the war, Berman struggled to understand the silence of returning Jews as they tried to rebuild their lives in Norway. Missing relatives were referred to as “having disappeared.” In 2005, she began to examine the label of being a Holocaust survivor and her strong dual identity as a Norwegian and a Jew. She found that the story of the Norwegian Jews had for the most part been overlooked in histories of the Holocaust.

Encouraged by the director of Norway’s Resistance Museum, Berman researched and wrote her book. It is not just about the Holocaust, but also about growing up Jewish in Norway during and after World War II. Originally written in Norwegian and published in Norway in 2008 to good reviews, she wrote an English version that was published last year.

Berman, a resident of Bloomfield, Conn., has lived in the United States most of her adult life. She is a professional translator of Scandinavian languages and has co-translated seven plays by the renowned Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.

Overton Hall is located near Soiland Humanities Center south of Memorial Parkway on the Thousand Oaks campus. Parking is available at the corner of Olsen Road and Mountclef Boulevard.

The CLU History Department and the Scandinavian American Cultural & Historical Foundation are sponsoring the free presentation. For more information, contact Anita Londgren at 805-241-1051 or call the Scandinavian Center at 805-241-0391.