Norway update: The country’s oldest Jewish cemetery is included  in the national roster of protected monuments

Norway’s National Heritage Directorate has included the Jewish cemetery at Sofienberg park in Oslo, the country’s oldest Jewish cemetery,  in the national roster of protected monuments.

“The Jewish cultural environments that we preserve represent Jewish life and history in Norway, and contribute to safeguarding Jewish history in a European context,” NHD Director Hanna Geiran said in an announcement Monday.

The Jewish cemetery at what today is Sofienberg park was in use from 1885 until 1917, when it was replaced by a new cemetery at Helsfyr.  (It had already been listed as a local monument.)

It was established as a Jewish part of a larger cemetery. Respecting the Jewish tradition that Jewish graves cannot be removed, the cemetery remained intact when the entire Sofienberg cemetery area was converted into a park in the 1960s.

The Jewish cemetery includes 197 graves and is surrounded by an iron fence erected in 1917 to replace a wooden fence. The burial chapel once on the site no longer exists.

“The original burial ground is well preserved, and no major changes have taken place since the burial ground ceased to be an active burial ground,” the Directorate said in its announcement.

The protection includes the cemetery with the grave monuments with stone frames and low fences around them, and the wrought iron fence and gate. [It] also includes the trees inside the cemetery, and an area around the cemetery. 

The cemetery is not only the oldest Jewish cemetery in Norway, but also “a representative of the early Jewish immigration to the country, and the oldest known cultural monument that can be linked to the Jewish population group in Norway,” the announcement said.

Placing the cemetery under the NHD’s protection and preservation is linked to the Directorate’s investment in Jewish cultural environments, begun in 2020, and takes place in close collaboration with the Jewish Community and the Jewish Museum, the announcement said.

“The old Jewish cemetery at Sofienberg is the Jewish minority’s first celebration as a community on Norwegian soil,” Oslo rabbi Rabbi Joav Melchior said in Monday’s announcement.

It gave a sense of belonging which was later extended to faith communities, synagogues, community centers and over 150 years of Jewish life in Norway. In this place you can find the people who established our community. By preserving our old burial ground, our memorials and stories are recognized as part of the common Norwegian cultural heritage.

Consultations about including the cemetery on the national list began last June.

As we posted at the time, the NHD said the move was part of its “investment in national minorities’ cultural monuments.”

The background for this national initiative is a survey of protected cultural monuments in Norway from 2011, where it was revealed that very few cultural monuments related to national minorities were represented on the protection list. As part of the conservation strategy, the National Heritage Board will promote and gain increased knowledge about our national minorities’ cultural monuments and preserve a selection of these. The cultural monuments that are selected for protection must be representative of Jewish life and history in Norway and contribute to safeguarding Jewish history in a European context.

Read the announcement from the National Heritage Directorate