Breisjoberget Ola

Nina Hackel-Hasvold Nic Waal Martin Solvang Gerda Tanberg Ola Rauken Ola Breisjoberget Before Norway was occupied by the Germans, the Jewish community in Oslo established a home for Jewish children who had been brought from Austria and Prague in 1938 and 1939. Following the German occupation, the Germans and their Norwegian collaborators forced the return of eight of these children to their families. All of them perished in the Holocaust. 13 children remained in the orphanage in Oslo. Nina Hackel Hasvol was the director of the institution. She had been born in St Petersburg in 1910, studied in Berlin, and was living in Oslo as of 1936. On 25 November 1942, when for the first time Jewish women and children were to be arrested, she received a warning about the imminent arrest of her wards. Nina immediately called Nic Waal, a psychiatrist and friend with whom she had studied in Berlin. Waal rushed to the orphanage, which was beautifully decorated for the holiday of Hannukah, and the two women divided the children into two groups. Waal took the first group in her car to Gerda Tanberg’s home, while Nina stayed with the other group until they too could be taken to safety. Berthold Grunfeld, one of the children, later testified that once at Tanberg’s apartment the women dyed the hair of two of the girls from black to blond. From their temporary hideout in the Tanberg apartment the children were taken in groups by a taxi driver by the name of Martin Solvang, a Communist and an acquaintance of Waal. Then Ola Rauken and Ola Breisjoberget took the children over the border into Sweden. Nina Hackel-hasveold stayed with the children all the way. When the Germans arrived at the orphanage later that night, they found the place empty. All the children had been brought to safety. On 20 March 2006 Yad Vashem recognized Nina Hackel-Hasvold, Nic Waal, Martin Solvang, Gerda Tanberg, Ola Rauken and Ola Breisjoberget as Righteous Among the Nations.