Hello, this is the blog post for our visit to the Center for Studies of Holocaust & Religious Minorities & In/Visible: Everyday Racism in Norway Exhibit. We first were sat down in the office of Vidkun Quisling, puppet head of the Nazi Regime in Norway during the German occupation of Norway in the Second World War; there the two guides pointed out the rich history behind this building, that its foundations was formerly the residency of Quisling. A powerful quote that I wrote down was when the Center first opened and there was some controversy about this choice of location, “when an Auschwitz survivor was asked, ‘doesn’t this offend you’, he said no, I feel like I’ve won, that I am the conqueror and that he is the loser”.
We then split into two groups and the group I was in headed down to the In/Visible Everyday Racism in Norway Exhibit. There we watched a short film about the various but no less harmful forms of racism that non ethnic Norwegians face on a day to day basis; the Sámi, Asians, Africans, and other vastly diverse immigrant groups that mostly come to Norway for work find themselves facing everyday racism.
After the exhibit we switched with the other half of the class and went through the Holocaust and World War II focused section of the center. Our tour guide, passionate about the differences between West Oslo and East Oslo, also explained the various primary sources on the Norwegian response to Nazi occupation – not all good, for though Max Manus and other heroes of Norway fought back against the Nazi regime there were also significant factions that supported the Third Reich, an important detail that must not be forgotten.
We finished the tour by walking into a semicircular room full of names of the Norwegian victims of those shipped abroad by the Nazis. Overall this day was one of our courses heaviest subjects, but the blend of both relatively recent history with contemporary issues struck a very informative stance on the two topics.