At the end of World War II, the former headquarters of Norway’s most infamous Nazi, Henry Rinnan – a house dubbed “Bandeklosteret” – became the home of a Jewish family, a family that later became author Simon Stranger’s in-laws. It became the starting point for a novel.
The first thing I thought was: This is a novel,” says Stranger. “I think my mother-in-law thought so too. She talked about it in a way that would have been unnatural had I not been an author.” Stranger talks about the story behind his latest novel, Leksikon om lys og mørke (Keep Saying Their Names), which has received a lot of attention in Norway this summer.
The book concerns the remarkable history of Stranger’s own in-laws; starting with Hirsch Komissar – grandfather of Stranger’s wife Rikke – a Russian-born Jew who through the inter-war period ran a clothing store in Trondheim, central Norway’s largest city. In 1942 Hirsch was brought in for questioning by the Gestapo, imprisoned, and sent to a prison camp. Later that same year he was executed by the Germans in Falstad Forest outside the city.
After the war, his son Gerson Komissar moves his family from Oslo to Trondheim, to help his mother. Marie with the family business. She tells him that she has made all the preparations for him, and found a villa for them in a good neighbourhood.
Norway’s most hated man
But Jonsveien 46 wasn’t just any old house. It was known locally as “Bandeklosteret” (meaning, the gang monastery), and had previously been used by one of Norway’s most hated men, Nazi Henry Rinnan, and his collaborators. It was here that they had their headquarters during World War II; here they ate and drank, and from here they infiltrated the Norwegian resistance groups. It was here that Norwegian resistance men and women were brutally interrogated, thrown into the cellar, tortured, killed and even dismembered. This house – of all places – became home for the Jewish Kommisar family, who moved in after the war.
The house is the starting point for Simon Stranger’s novel. But he also tries to follow the young Henry Rinnan during the inter-war years using fictional techniques to create an understanding of why things turned out the way they did. Stranger also sometimes uses lexical elements, by incorporating alphabetical “keywords” used in the text as relevant side- notes and afterthoughts. Hence the Norwegian title, directly translated, Lexicon of light and darkness.
“I am interested by a novel’s structure. At first I had a structure which was built on the house and its rooms, but I didn’t feel that it worked very well. When I came up with the alphabetical element, it felt like there was a different energy in the text. The ethical seriousness underneath became clearer,” says Stranger.
It is believed that the Rinnan gang were behind the arrests of a thousand resistance members during the war, several hundred were tortured and more than 80 were killed. Henry Rinnan was himself executed in 1947, as were nine of his collaborators. Many were also given long prison sentences.
“Will never end”
“It seems that historical antisemitism will never end. It’s quite weird. It’s all about how words create realities, and create world-views that ultimately result in war and violence,” Stranger says.
Simon Stranger believes the novel concerns themes which are, unfortunately, forever relevant: “Keep Saying Their Names has been three things to me: A family project, a historical novel, and contemporary novel. It’s important to emphasise that it’s not just a story about Jewish persecution during World War II. It’s about exclusion and extremism – about young men who are looking for meaning, who wants to be significant says Stranger.
Several overseas publishers have had their eyes on Stranger’s novel, and recently Knopf secured the US publishing rights through a so-called “pre-empt.”
“Stumbling Blocks”
Outside a house in Trondheim there is a so-called “stumbling block,” a bronze cobblestone, embossed with the simple words “Here lived Hirsch.” There are almost 70,000 of these stumbling blocks located in numerous European cities, placed there as reminders of the people who became victims of Jewish persecution.
According to Jewish tradition, a person dies twice. The first time in a physical sense. The second time, when your name is said, read or thought of for the last time, perhaps decades or hundreds of years later.
With his novel, Simon Stranger has given the family a shining stumbling block.
For more information
Oslo Literary Agency: Simon Strang
Books from Norway: Leksikon om lys og mørke