At the docks

The sky was bright blue and Oslo's ultra-modern buildings looked at their very best. We walked around the docks, enjoying each new vista that opened up. The Norwegians seem to like their public art, and we had been admiring a sculpture of an iceberg set in the water a little way from the Opera House. Turning the corner and walking below the fortress, we saw another such sculpture. It consisted of a number of empty chairs, in one and twos, set out on the grass.

An adjacent plaque explained it: from that site, on the 26th November, 1942, 532 Norwegian Jews were put on board the ship Donau and deported to Auschwitz. Others were to follow. The sculpture - the work of Antony Gormley - commemorates it.

I thought I'd share this with you - we found it very moving.

SA