Jewish museum Trondheim will in the following weeks present photographs and artifacts from the museum’s collection. We temporarily call this column “Artifact of the week”. When the schools open and the museum is back to normal, we will go back to our usual “Artifact of the Month”.

This week we share a photo from the youth department of the Jewish Women´s Association in Trondheim.

In 1919 The Mosaic Women´s Association was founded in Trondheim. The association organized both young and old women in the congretation. The association engaged in charity work, and they arranged events and fundraising to collect money for this purpose. In the years before the Second World War, the association was involved in helping Jewish orphans from Czechoslovakia and finding a Jewish home for them in Trondheim.

In the picture, The Women´s Associations younger members are gathered. Inbetween the charity work, it looks like they had spare time for parties and having a good time!

Mosaic Women´s Association changed name to Jewish Women´s Association in 1935. After Second World War the association was reestablished. From the report from their first meeting we can read the following:

"Jødisk kvinneforening,Trondheim, ble rekonstruert den 8. januar 1946 etter å ha ligget nede i okkupasjonsårene. [...] Jødisk kvinneforening som før krigen talte 45 medlemmer, er i dag redusert til 25, og det er alle jødiske kvinner over 18 år her i byen."

"Jewish Women´s Association, Trondheim, was reestablished 8th of January 1946 after have been out of function during the occupation years. [...] Jewish Women´s Association which before the war counted 45 members, is today reduced to 25, and that is all the Jewish women over 18 here in the city."

The association resumed the charity work. Right after the war they sent clothes and food to a retirement home in Budapest, and they collected money to buy fish oil for Jewish children.

Jewish Women´s Association joined WIZO (Women´s International Zionist Organisation) in 1945, and they were active in Trondheim until the 2000s.