Tosterud Margit (Limbodal)

Tosterud-Limbodal, Margit In 1939, when their son Narve was born, David Isak and Ida Bermann hired Margit Limbodal as nanny. She worked with the family until the spring of 1940, when she decided to obtain a diploma and went to train at Dr. Colletts Barnehjem Institute in Baerum, just outside Oslo. Although she had worked for the Bermann’s for only one year, she stayed in touch with them in the coming years. As the persecution of the Jews in Norway intensified, David Isak Bermann was arrested and sent to a camp in Northern Norway. His wife Ida managed the household on her own with the help of good-willed neighbors and friends, and on 18 May 1942 gave birth to her second son, Ingar Israel, who was never to see his father. In autumn 1942 the arrest of Jews for deportation began. The first to be arrested were men, and David Isak Bermann was brought back to Oslo. On 26 November 1942, he was deported to Auschwitz. According to the records of the camp, he perished on 22 January 1943. During the October arrests of Jewish men, Ida Bermann was told by her neighbors that a certain Mr. Olsson was an informer and that he had told the police about the Berman family. Ida decided to go into hiding, hoping to cross the border into Sweden. However, the underground activists could not take a 6-months baby along the way, and Ida was faced with a terrible dilemma – should she risk the lives of the three of them or was she to separate from her baby. She decided to turn to the former nanny, and in the middle of the night brought Ingar to Margit at the institute. Margit agreed immediately, and the same night Ida and Narve left Oslo and escaped to Sweden. Thus, Ingar stayed under the direct and personal supervision of Margit until the Liberation in May 1945. After the end of the war, Ida returned to Norway and was reunited with her baby. “If there is one person in Norway who really should be honored as a brave and caring person during the occupation of Norway, this should beMrs. Margit Trosterud, a fine lady of 83 years old, living as a widow in Oslo”, wrote Narve Bermann to Yad Vashem when he applied for Margit Limbodal-Tosterud to be recognized as Righteous Among the Nations. On September 6, 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Margit Tosterud-Limbodal as Righteous Among the Nations.