With funding from the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, we have been able to finance a project position for research and production of new articles for our online resource, Jødiske fotspor i Nord (Jewish footsteps in the North)! The articles cover the Jewish trade history in Norway's only Jewish quarter – Nerbyen in Trondheim.

The funds come through the Ministry's Action Plan against Antisemitism 2021-2023 – a continuation. The Ministry emphasizes that the Jewish Museum Trondheim has a 'special responsibility for conveying Jewish life and history in Norway from Trøndelag and northward.' and that conveying the diversity of Jewish life and history in Norway is part of the effort to prevent antisemitism.

We will therefore tell you a little about Jewish Traces in the North, how we have worked on it in recent years, and the expansions we have just made.

The online resource Jødiske fotspor i Nord ('Jewish Footsteps in the North') was launched by the Jewish Museum Trondheim in 2018 with funding from the then Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation and the The Fritt Ord Foundation. Since then, it has become a popular website, with over 36,400 views in 2023. The website offers a range of articles on Jewish history north of the Dovre mountains, categorized into five themes: everyday life, work life, religious life, the Holocaust, and life after the Holocaust. It also has its own resources and teaching materials that can be used by teachers and students, mainly intended for middle school and high school.

The format of the texts is mainly short and easily understandable articles, designed to be accessible to both young people and adults. However, we also have longer articles that cover various fields and a longer historical period. The main focus of the articles is on the different Jewish families and their stories.

Our goal is to continually expand this resource so that you can read about all the Jewish families in the middle and northern part of Norway.

Since the resource was launched, we have prioritized maintaining the website by adding new information, relevant archival material, and by producing new material.

Museum educator and historian at the museum, Rune Frøhaug, has been responsible for Jødiske fotspor i nord in recent years. Among other things, he has delved into the stories of the Komissar, Kagan, and Benkow families. This work has resulted in a series of longer articles on these families in the online resource. These are families and themes that have not been prioritized earlier, and we want the diversity of the online resource to reflect the diversity of the Jewish community in the region throughout history.

In recent months, our educator Eirik Wicklund has had a 50% project position with Jødiske fotspor i Nord. He has primarily delved into the Jewish trade history in Nerbyen in Trondheim. Based on this theme, he has produced nine new articles about various Jewish-owned businesses in Nerbyen. In addition, he has edited existing articles with new information and relevant archival material. The research work behind the articles will also be an important resource for the museum's future work – and possibly for new Traces articles in the future.

Nerbyen has a special status in Norwegian-Jewish history as the only Jewish quarter ever in Norway. The district became a meeting point for Jewish immigrants who wanted to settle down and start a clothing store. The Jews in Nerbyen were pioneers in the sale of cheap clothing in Trondheim, attracting mainly farmers and fishermen from the surrounding areas of Trondheim. At its peak, there were around 20 Jewish-owned businesses in Nerbyen at the same time, while there were over 30 in Trondheim in total. World War II and the Holocaust practically meant the end of Nerbyen as a Jewish trading quarter, although some resumed retail operations after the war.

The focus has therefore been to highlight some of the diversity of different businesses within this small area in Trondheim, where Jewish-owned businesses were located on almost every street corner before World War II.

In the future, we will publish material from these articles on our social media, so that the public can gain a better insight into these stories.

Here is an overview of the new articles, which cover the Jewish-owned businesses in Nerbyen. Click on them to read more!

A. Mendelsohn

Bernhard Isaksen

Brødrene Isaksen

Isidor Isaksen og Isidors Magasin

Jacobsen & Bekker

Leonard Isaksens Sønner

M. Bekker

S. Abrahamsen

S. Lankelinsky

Samt et utvalg av artikler som er redigert:

Brødrene Dworsky

H. Wolfsohn

J. Jacobsen & Søn

S. Slotnik