YNET NEWS: Time to acknowledge that Norwegians took part in deportation of Jews, PM says
Norway apologized for the first time on Friday for the country's complicity in the deportation and deaths of Jews during the Nazi occupation in World War II.
"Norwegians carried out the arrests; Norwegians drove the trucks and it happened in Norway," Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said. "Today I feel it is fitting to express our deepest apologies that this could happen on Norwegian soil."
"It is time for us to acknowledge that Norwegian policemen, civil servants and other Norwegians took part in the arrest and deportation of Jews," he said in a speech marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Vidkun Quisling, the country's leader during the occupation whose name has become synonymous with traitor, ordered Norway's 2,100 Jews registered in 1942. More than a third were deported to death camps, while others fled to neighboring Sweden.
"I regret to say that the ideas that led to the Holocaust are still very much alive today, 70 years later," Stoltenberg said. "All over the world we see that individuals and groups are spreading intolerance and fear." » | Reuters | Friday, January 27, 2012
