Berg concentration camp

The first prisoners to Berg were a contingent of 60 male Jews arrested on 26 October 1942. They arrived by train and were force-marched into the still-unfinished camp. The barracks were uninsulated and lacked sanitary facilities, beds, or other furniture. Within two days, there were 350 prisoners under the administration of Leif Lindseth. They were told that anyone who tried to escape would be summarily shot; and that ten of their fellow inmates and their families would also be shot in retribution.

During the month before their deportation to Germany en route for Auschwitz, the Jewish prisoners were put to hard labor, expanding the camp. They worked seven days a week from 7:30 am to 8:30 pm, subsisting on a quarter loaf of bread, soup from flowers, and ersatz coffee.

The local Red Cross chapter, led by Anton Jervell, made attempts to provide relief to the prisoners with mixed success.

After most of the Jewish prisoners had been deported,^[3] several groups of political prisoners moved in. Conditions deteriorated after this, and disease became prevalent. In April 1943, conditions started to improve somewhat, but Berg was considered among the worst camps in Norway and far worse than Grini.

In addition to the 350 Jewish prisoners held at Grini, 847 other prisoners spent time at Berg. During the winter of 1944/45, the camp reached its maximum population of 500-600 prisoners. Of the 280 Jewish prisoners who were deported from Berg, seven survived.

Notable prisoners include:

• Charles Braude^[4] flyweight boxer (member of Workers' Sports Association) who won number of championships, in Norway and abroad, and one of the lead subjects of Norwegian movie, Betrayal^[5]
• Berthold Epstein
• Victor Moritz Goldschmidt, 1942
• Herman Sachnowitz
• Ole Øisang, 1944–1945

As of 2015, only one Jewish prisoner at Berg during World War II was still alive; his father who was married to a Jew was deported, while the son, who was not deported because he had "a Norwegian wife", Martin Mankowitz, changed his last name to Meholm, after the war.^[6]

After the war, the camp was used to imprison those accused of having collaborated with the war-time fascist Quisling regime.

• "Berg krigsfangeleir" (in Norwegian). Aktive Fredsreiser. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
• Bugge, Svein (2001). Skyggene fra Quislings hønsegård : den norske konsentrasjonsleiren på Berg i Vestfold (in Norwegian). Tønsberg: Færder forlag. ISBN 82-7911-035-6.