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Norway 

 

Day of Remembrance: 27 January 

Historical Background:
On the morning of 27 January, 1945, the Soviet Army entered Auschwitz III, followed by Birkenau and Auschwitz I later that afternoon. Altogether, they liberated some 7650 prisoners. During WWII, the Nazis murdered over one million Jews in the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camps.

Norway and the Holocaust:
Lexicon entry from Yad Vashem's online Holocaust Resource Center: Norway

Educational Activities:
The National Plan of Action to Combat Racism and Discrimination states that Holocaust Memorial Day will be commemorated in schools each year. In addition, one school is awarded the Benjamin Prize, named after a 15-year-old Norwegian boy who was the victim of a racially-motivated murder. On Holocaust Memorial Day the Holocaust Centre conducts a memorial ceremony in Oslo at the site where the Norwegian Jews were deported. Members of the government attend both these arrangements.
The Directorate of Primary and Secondary Education invites all schools to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day, and provides educational resources on its website. Schools commemorate 27 January in various ways. Some have local torch-lit processions and some invite witnesses or survivors to tell their stories. Many schools and classes encourage creative activities such as writing poems and painting.
Holocaust education is mandatory in Norwegian schools. This is made clear both in the national curriculum for the 10-year compulsory school in Norway and in the National Plan of Action to Combat Racism and Discrimination. The curriculum offers schools and teachers a wide degree of flexibility in selecting their own  educational material and teaching methods.
The Holocaust is included in teaching about WWII in the history syllabus (Grade 9 and Grade 12). It is also included in the social sciences syllabus as part of human rights education, and in the syllabus for Christian Knowledge and Religious and Ethical Education.
It has become more and more common for schools to organise or take part in study trips to visit former extermination and concentration camps in Germany and Poland, such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, Sachsenhausen and Ravensbruck.
In 2001 the Centre for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities in Norway was established as the main institution in the field of Holocaust research, documentation, information and education.

Educational Activities on Holocaust Memorial Day:
Details on Holocaust Memorial Day in Norway can be found on this site: http://www.hlsenteret.no/Undervisning/Holocaustdagen_27._januar


Websites and Teaching Aids:
Norwegian Board of Education: www.ls.no
Villa Quisling Museum: www.chn.ir


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