Sjolie Oscar & Frida

Sjølie, Oscar Sjølie, Frida At the end of October 1942, Oscar and Frida Sjølie of Oslo were approached by their friend, Harald Lund, the head of police in Lillestrøm, just outside of Oslo. He had received information that Jewish men were to be rounded up on the 26th of that month. He asked the Sjølie couple to warn Rebecca and David Century and their two daughters, Berit and Celia. The Sjølies not only warned them, but decided to take David into their own home. He stayed with them until an escape to neutral Sweden could be arranged a month later. Later, in August 1944, Harald Lund had to escape to Sweden himself. There, he worked with Norwegian refugees until the end of WWII. On the date expected, the Norwegian police came to the Century’s home seeking David. When they learned that he was not home, they took all of Rebecca’s jewelry, hardly allowing her to keep her wedding ring, and ordered her to report to the police station every day. When the situation for the rest of the family became dire towards the end of November, Trygve Haalke, David’s former employer, organized the escape of the entire Century family to neutral Sweden. With the help of a farmer, a trailer was arranged and the entire family was hidden between bales of hay. They reached the border with Sweden, where the Swedish border guard, a Nazi sympathizer, wanted to send them back to Norway. David Century, however, was there to greet his family and he managed to convince the guard to let them pass. Back in Norway, the Sjølies took in the household goods of the Century family for safekeeping. Neighbors reported this to the police, who ordered Frida in for interrogation. Officers then accompanied her back home suspecting that they were hiding the property of the Century family. While entering her house, a letter from the Centurys had been dropped through her maillot landing on the floor. By stepping on it, Frida was able to hide the name of the sender from the police so that they would draw noconnection between them. None of the Century belongings were recognized as such by the police, and Frida was let go. Frida’s son Egil and daughter-in-law Ingrid hid books and paintings from the Century family in their own home, which, at that time, could have cost them six years of prison. Ingrid and Egil Sjølie also helped the family Prager to escape. The entire Century family survived. On May 15, 2005, Yad Vashem recognized Oscar and Frida Sjølie as Righteous Among the Nations.