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Sigrid Undset's home – Bjerkebæk
Sigrid Undset
Across the road from the Olympic park in Lillehammer, Norway, there is a museum
dedicated to the Norwegian author Sigrid Undset (1882-1949), the Nobel laureate for
literature for the year 1928. Undset was a remarkable woman. From early stage she
realized the danger posed by Nazism and fought against it with all the power of her
voice and writing machine. During the Second World War she was a vocal activist in
effort to rescue Jews and to establish the State of Israel.
The museum is located in the home where Undset lived from 1919 until her death in
1949. In 1940-1945 she lived in exile, mostly in the United States. From the outside,
all one can see is a wall. However, when stepping inside, a wall of glass reveals the
home itself, which is composed of two farm buildings the author purchased and moved to
the site from the same valley where Lillehammer is located, and then have them
connected. The idea of the present opaque wall at the entrance is to magnify the notion
of how much the author wanted to protect her privacy.
Guided tours into the building are conducted with no rigid timetable. The visitor is
led through the life of the author and the material things, e.g. beautiful pieces of
furniture, she accumulated during her lifetime.
Links:
The entry in Wikipedia in Hebrew
The roar of the 'lioness', written by Adi Schwartz. Published in Haartz: May 2.2008.
The
article in Hebrew
Lioness of Literature: Sigrid Undset in
USA (Sigrun Slapgard)
Sigrid Undset. 1940. Finland fights for life –
her own and that of Europe. Lies and terror are the Soviet and Nazi weapons.
America. March 2, pp. 565-566.
Comments on: Sigrid Undset. 1942. Return to the Future (David
Landau)
Sigrid Undset and the Emergency Committee to Save
the Jewish People of Europe (David Landau)
Israeli
activist Sigrid Undset (Sigrun
Slapgard)
Maman, Marie. 2000. Sigrid Undset in America. An
Annotated Bibliography and Research Guide
Great Norwegians
Viga-Ljot og
Vigdis (Hebrew)
Sigrid Undset
(Wikipedia)
Sigrid Undset's home Bjerkebæk
SIGRID UNDSET – YSTÄVÄ. Jedidut, 1/2012 s.
12-13
Hakehila, 3/2012
4/5772, s.11-12
Sigrid Undset – a Friend (David Landau)
A letter Sigrid Undset sent to Professor Joseph
Klausner in 1943
ACTION DEMANDED TO SAVE JEWS NOW. New York Times,
November 1, 1943, p.5
Sigrid Undset: Danes Resent Nazi
action. New York Times, December 23, 1943, p.18 (Letters to the Times)
Boycott of Sigrid Undset Urged by Nazi Newspaper. New York
Times, November 11, 1936, p. 19
Nazis Ban Sigrid Undset's Work. New York
Times, September 30, 1940, p. 3
MME. UNDSET HERE, WARNS ON HITLER. New York
Times, September 4, 1940, p. 28
Undset Books Destroyed By the Nazis in Norway. New York
Times, October 30, 1940, p. 6
TRAITORS ASSAILED BY SIGRID UNDSET. New York
Times, April 23, 1940, p. 4
Sigrid Undset. 1943.
THE BOOKS THAT LAST FOREVER. The New York Times Book
Review, December 5, 1943, pp. 1,52
Sigrid Undset Appeals
to Doctors to end War. The New York Times, April 8,
1940, p. 3
MME UNDSET HERE,
SADDENED BY WAR. The New York Times, April 27,
1940, p. 19
Sigrid Undset Speaks
of Writing and War, September 8,
1940, p. 2
Sigrid Undset. They Live For Revenge. The New York Times
Magazine. December 6, 1942, pp. 20-21
Sigrid Undset. How Norway Fights the Nazis. The New York
Times Book Review. January 31, 1943, pp. 1,25
Sigrid Undset. The Beauties of America. The New
York
Times Magazine. May 28, 1944. pp. 20,38
Sigrid Undset Dies; Norwegian Author. The New
York
Times. June 11, 1949. p. 17
Comments on
Kristin Lavransdatter (in Hebrew, David Landau)
Pilgrims to Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim (in Hebrew, David
Landau)
A guide in the museum, summer 2011
Last updated: July 19, 2020
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