Berit Reisel is a psychologist and specialist in clinical psychology. Reisel was born in a Swedish refugee camp, after his parents fled in the autumn of 1942. They settled in Norway again in 1947. For many years, Reisel was chair of the board of the The Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies.
Where did it all end up? What happened when the Jews in Norway were looted? What happened when these questions were put under the microscope in the 1990s? This is one of the key questions Berit Reisel asks in her book, which will be presented at this year’s Jkfest on Sunday September 5th in a conversation with Nina Grünfeld and Synne Correll. Berit Reisel, together with historian Bjarte Bruland, represented the Jewish communities in Norway in the Skarpnes Committee. On 23 June 1997, the Skarpnes Committee’s report was to be handed over to the government. The committee was to map what had happened to the Jews’ property in Norway during World War II. But the government did not receive a unanimous report. The government chose to follow the minority’s recommendation, which was completely out of the ordinary in a Norwegian public report.
The minority consisted of Bruland and Reisel. In the recent book “Where Did It All Go? The looting of the Jews in Norway »Reisel goes into great detail in the committee’s work and in the minority’s assessments, struggles and breakthroughs. “Reisel has an exceptionally sharp analytical gaze, and her book is a rare testimony to a shameful chapter in Norwegian history. It is important that a key player like Reisel now presents his story “, says director Guri Hjeltnes at the HL center.