Saved Children (Ninas barn 2015) – Norwegian Documentary Film

This powerful documentary by Norwegian director and writer Nina F. Grünfeld tells the story of fourteen Jewish children who found refuge during World War II in a small orphanage near Oslo. Originally from Austria, the children arrived in Norway in the summer of 1938 to attend a summer camp organized by the Nansenhjelpen foundation. As the situation for Jews in Austria worsened, they were unable to return home. In 1942, when the Nazis began arresting Jews in Norway, the orphanage’s head, German-Russian child psychologist Nina Hasvoll (1910–1999), made the courageous decision to attempt a rescue. She and her collaborators managed to smuggle all fourteen children across the border into neutral Sweden. Among them was Berthold Grünfeld, who would later become one of Norway’s leading psychiatrists and the father of the filmmaker. In 2006, Hasvoll and her team were honored as Righteous Among the Nations. The documentary is both a historical testimony and a deeply personal tribute to courage and compassion in dark times. The screening will be introduced by the filmmaker herself.