A Swedish correspondent who has just returned from Buchenwald told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that he met there five Norwegian Jews, who believe that they are the sole survivors of the more than 1,200 who were deported from Norway in November,1942.
The survivors – Samuel Steinman of Oslo; Assor Hirsch, Asriel Hirsch and Juliun Paltiel of Trondheim, and Leo Ettinger of Molde – who range in age between 22 and 33, said that immediately after the deportations, the Jews were divided into two groups. Those unable to work were murdered while the able-bodied ones were kept at Oswiecim until the approach of the Russians.
They were then loaded onto open trucks and sent to Buchenwald. Many died en raute from exposure in the mid-winter cold. One of the five survivors told the correspondent that he was slated for extermination, but was saved by the arrival of the Allied troops. The Norwegian Government is arranging to bring them to England pending the liberation of Norway.
It was reported today that Eliezer Gruenbaum, a son of Isacc Gruenbaum of the Jewish Agency executive, is among the survivers found at Buchenwald.
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