Carl Fredriksens Transport

[1] The Nazi regime in Norway implemented its part of the Holocaust through a series of steps, starting with registration, then confiscation, internment and concentration, and ultimately deportation of Jews, primarily to Auschwitz.

At that point, most men were arrested and detained in prison camps, while women and children were ordered to report to the nearest police station on a daily basis.

Although the Norwegian resistance movement had maintained a network of escape routes to Sweden, they were unprepared to deal with the urgent plight of Jews who faced deportation.

In addition, simultaneously with the arrest and deportation of Jews in 1942, the Gestapo launched an offensive to identify and apprehend members of the Norwegian resistance.

Through one of the leaders of Milorg, Ole Berg, Syversen contacted Alf Tollef Pettersen, who had been fired from the Norwegian police force for refusing to pledge loyalty to the Quisling regime.

In order to maintain operational security, the refugees were not aware that they were part of a larger scheme, and their rescuers' identities were kept secret in any event.

Ragnar Ulstein, a historian who specialized in the stream of refugees from Norway to Sweden, uncovered the most important features during an interview with Alf Tollef Pettersen.