Silent Refuge

In 1940 in the remote village of Rogne, Norway, eleven-year-old Margrit Rosenberg and her parents believe that they have finally found the safety that has eluded them since fleeing from Germany two years earlier. What could go wrong in a tiny village? But after war breaks out in Norway and anti-Jewish persecution escalates, the Rosenbergs must spend their winters in an even more secluded refuge – a small, rudimentary cabin in the mountains accessible only on skis. At first, in a landscape frozen in time, the isolation offers relative security and tranquility. But two years later, as the Nazis begin to arrest and deport the Jews of Oslo, the Rosenbergs are forced to make a fateful decision to trust the Resistance and plan a dangerous escape from Nazi-occupied Norway to neutral Sweden.

Introduction by Robert Ericksen

At a Glance
Germany; Norway; Sweden
Escape
Hiding
Postwar Norway
Arrived in Canada in 1951
Educational materials available: Margrit Stenge Activity

272 pages

Recommended Ages
11+
Language
English

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Photo of Margrit Rosenberg Stenge

About the author

Margrit Rosenberg Stenge was born in Cologne, Germany, on December 27, 1928. After the war, Margrit moved back to Oslo with her family and got married. She and her husband, Stefan, immigrated to Canada, settling in Montreal, in 1951. Margrit worked in administration for forty years, after which she translated six books from Norwegian to English, including Counterfeiter: How a Norwegian Jew Survived the Holocaust by Moritz Nachtstern (2008). Margrit Rosenberg Stenge passed away in 2021.

Explore this story in Re:Collection

News travels fast in the countryside, and when I started school many of the villagers knew that we were Jewish, although they really did not know what that meant.