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I 1912 kastet Goldschmidt seg inn i et studium av bergartene i den kaledonske fjellkjeden i Sør-Norge, et arbeid som skulle ta 8 år og føre til viktige arbeider, Studien im Hochgebierge des südlichen Norwegens. Her meddeler han resultatet av systematiske undersøkelser av fjellkjeden mellom Stavanger og Trondheim, ikke bare av dypbergarter, vulkanitter og omdannede bergarter, men også sedimenter og deres plantefossiler. 

Et viktig bidrag var at han delte fjellkjedens bergarter inn i “stammer”. I dag vet vi at hans “Stamme med grønne skifre” og “Opdalitt-trondhjemittstammen” har sin helt spesielle plass i en moderne platetektonisk forklaring av fjellkjedene.

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Goldschmidt var ikke bare en fremstående borger, han var også jøde. I Norge hadde han lite kontakt med jødiske kretser, men 1937 lot han seg velge som formann i den norske avdelingen av Det hebraiske universitets venner. 25. oktober 1942 ble han arrestert og, etter et kortere opphold på Bredtvedt fengsel i Oslo, brakt til konsentrasjonsleiren på Berg ved Tønsberg. 

Under et sykehusopphold traff han to medfanger, Moses Katz og Lesser Rosenblum, som kom til å gjøre stort inntrykk på ham. Etter en dag med nedverdigelse og plage hevdet den rasende Goldschmidt at de burde merke seg navnene på sine nazistiske voktere, slik at de kunne få sitt igjen dersom man overlevde. Men Katz svarte at “hevnen er ikke for oss; den må bli overlatt til den Allmektige”. Goldschmidt spurte så hva man i deres stilling kunne tillate seg å be Gud om, og fikk som svar at “du kan be om at dine fiender kan bli opplyst i sine hjerter”. Ateisten Rosenblum føyde til: “Vi må bryte den onde gjengjeldelsens sirkel, ellers kan det aldri bli slutt på ondskapen.” 

De to medfangene møtte senere døden i gasskamrene, og det var nære på også med Goldschmidt. Han hadde sluppet fri en kort tid, men ble arrestert på nytt 26. november 1942 og alle hans eiendommer konfiskert. Dagen etter stod han på kaia for å gå om bord i det tyske skipet Donau sammen med 531 andre jøder for å fraktes til Auschwitz. 

Victor Moritz Goldschmidt 1888 - 1947 FOTO: Oslo Museum, ca 1935

Victor Moritz Goldschmidt - 1929. FOTO: UiO

Herman was born in a village south of Stavanger on the south-west coast of Norway. His parents were Russian Jews, fleeing from Russia at the start of the First Word War. His father, Hille, crossed the Baltic Sea at the age of 29, travelling via Sweden to Oslo in August 1914. In Russia, his 26 years old fiancé Judith Davidova Zemechmann had to wait for five months in order to join him. She had visited several European cities as a piano teacher, accompanying well off families from St. Petersburg on their educational journeys. She arrived at Oslo directly from St. Petersburg in January 1915.They married and rented a small flat down town. Hille worked in a watchmaker shop, while Judith stayed at home, as most women in immigrant families did. In May, Judith gave birth to her first-born son Israel Josef. The family did not settle in Oslo, as conditions were bleak. In August 1916, the family moved to the industrial town of Stavanger, hoping for better opportunities in a town where the canning industry was booming due to wartime conditions.

            The Becker family was part of a major emigration from the Pale of Settlement in the years between 1880 and 1920. Nearly 3 million Jews emigrated from Eastern Europe due to restriction of opportunities, increasing poverty, systematic discrimination and brutal harassment. The Becker’s escaped as Russia launched punitive measures against the Jewish population in the western parts of the empire after the attack by Imperial Germany. Tsarist Russia considered Jews in these areas to be pro-German. However, unlike the majority emigrating to North America, Europe and Palestine, a small minority settled in the peaceful corner of Scandinavia, a region with a historically low part of Jews in the population. By 1920, approximately 1.200 Jewish immigrants had come to Norway, primarily from Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, and Russia.[1] They mainly settled in the two towns with Jewish communities, Oslo and Trondheim, but gradually some moved to other towns and rural regions as well.   

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The family of three moved to the village of Bryne on the regional railway line in 1918. In four years, the family counted five. Herman Hirsch Becker was born on July 30, 1920. Their only daughter Ada Abigael Becker was born in Stavanger on January 20, 1922. At Bryne, Herman enjoyed a good and safe upbringing. Hille ran a small watchmaker shop on the main street, struggling to make ends meet. Judith sold candy in the shop in order to add to the income. She took on pupils learning to play the piano. She also played the piano at the local cinema screening silent movies of the day and provided live music at gatherings and celebrations at the regional college.  

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            The Becker’s may have had limited social intercourse and a modest income, nevertheless, they were accepted and respected in the small community. Herman was a lively, talkative boy, making a lot of fun. He was allowed the keep his full, dark hair rather uncut, in a bohemian way, until he entered primary school in 1929. Considered an ordinary and proper schoolboy, he did not distinguish himself in any way. His musical talent, however, flourished as his father taught him to play the violin.

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Read Part I of article here

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Read Part II of article here

Herman Hirsch Becker (1920-. 1945)

Football club "Lille Ullevaal in 1935 Herman nr 3 from left. Photo courtesy Frode Sæland