Photography was an important part of the Benkowitz family’s life. The family made their living from photography, and they documented their own story, from the photo studio in today’s Belarus, via Lithuania and Sweden, and eventually in Norway.
a) Chaim Elijah Benkowitz.
From the book Fra synagogen til Løvebakken.
b) This camera has belonged to the family Benkowitz and is exhibited in the Jewish Museum in Oslo. Photo: Oslo Jewish Museum
Chaim Elijah Benkowitz was born in 1862 in Grodno, a large city in the Russian Empire. More than half of the city’s population was Jewish, and Grodno was an important center of Jewish learning and law.
a) Grodno.
b) Brest.
Photo from Yefim Basin’s collection.
c) Chaim Elijah undertook his training in Stammler’s photo shop at Shoseyna Street in Brest.
Photo from Yefim Basin’s collection.
d) During his training, Chaim Elijah lived in this building.
Chaim Elijah and his family belonged to the wealthy and educated class of Grodno. They enjoyed having guests, and would often have impoverished Talmud students at their table.
a) The Benkowitz family home and studio in Grodno.
Photo: POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
b) Statement of character, supporting Benkowitz’s application to open a business.
From the National Historical Archive of Belarus in Grodno.
Benkowitz was an accomplished photographer and attained the prestigious title of imperial court photographer. Many photos from his studio in Grodno are preserved and serve as valuable historical sources.
Photos taken in Benkowitz’s studio in Grodno.
Copyright: Feliks Woroszylski, www.mygrodnopostcards.com.
The anti-Jewish pogroms in Bialystok in 1903 shook the Jews in the region. Benkowitz decided to leave Grodno with his wife Ida and three sons, Isak, Moisé, and Noj, and move to Vilna. However, they did not feel safe as Jews in Russia, and headed west – to Sweden.
a) Norwegian newspapers wrote about the pogroms in Poland.
b) Card from Benkowitz’s studio in Vilnius.
Copyright: Feliks Woroszylski, www.mygrodnopostcards.com.
c) Photograph taken in Benkowitz’s studio in Vilnius.
Copyright: Feliks Woroszylski, www.mygrodnopostcards.com.
Settling first in Gothenberg and later in Stockholm, the Benkowitzes changed their name to Benkow, and continued working as photographers. Chaim Elijah set up businesses, served as a cantor for the Russian-Jewish congregation, and wrote Yiddish plays that were performed by amateur theatre companies.
Moisé received the title of royal court photographer in Sweden, and Ivan Isak, the oldest, went to Norway and established his own photo studios, first in Kristiansund and then in Trondheim.
a) The Benkow family in Stockholm, 1929. Ivan Isak is in the top right corner, surrounded by his brother Noi, stepmother Ida, son Harry, wife Anne Louise, sister Rosa and brother Moise.
Oslo Jewish Museum/Norwegian Museum of Cultural History.
b) Court photographer Moise Benkow experienced international success, and his pictures were shown in several museums. Here, “Sorrow” from 1934.
Copyright: Feliks Woroszylski, www.mygrodnopostcards.com.
Ivan Isak was a widower when he met the widow Anne Louise Florence. In 1924, they had a son, Joseph Elias, who came to be known to all of Norway as Jo.
As business declined, the family left Trondheim, where they had been part of the Jewish community. In Stabekk, a wealthy suburb outside of Oslo, Ivan Isak was the only photographer. The Benkows were also the only Jews living there.
a) Ivan Isak and his son, Jo, ca 1925-26.
b) Jo, Ivan and other family members picnicing near Trondheim, ca 1926.
(Uncle Herman Florence, Jo, aunt Solveig, father Ivan, aunt Cecilie, xx, Sonja meyer.)
c) New Year’s celebrations at the Benkows in Trondheim in the 1920s.
All photos: Oslo Jewish Museum/ Norwegian Museum of Cultural History
As Jo grew up, he trained to become a photographer with his father and uncle. However, his training came to a halt as the Second World War broke out.
Convinced that women would not be harmed by the Nazis, the Benkow men fled to Sweden. Jo joined the battle against the Nazis and received military training at Little Norway in Canada.
As the war ended, Jo returned to a life in Norway that was radically different from the one he had left behind – all the women in his family had been deported to Auschwitz and killed.
Jo with his young cousin, Ada.
Ada was deported and killed in 1942, aged 4.
Oslo Jewish Museum/ Norwegian Museum of Cultural History
Below this presentation you can see a video of Jo in the Norwegian airforce in Canada, ca. 1945.
Jo developed an interest in politics and joined the Young Conservatives in the late 1940s. Following a number of elected positions in the municipality and county, he was elected to the Norwegian parliament, the Storting, in 1965, as the first Jew in Norwegian history.
Jo Benkow on the occasion of the opening of the 134th Storting, the Norwegian Parliament, 1989.
Stortinget/foto: Scanfoto
In the 1980s, Jo Benkow became the party leader of the Conservatives. He ended his political career as President of the Parliament, Norway’s highest formal position after the king.
His memoir, which tells the story of his family, Jewish background and experiences in politics, is Norway’s bestselling book through the ages, second only to the Bible.
Jo Benkow’s bestselling autobiography.
POLISH CONTACT
Museum of the History of Polish Jews
6 Mordechaja Anielewicza St.
00-157 Warsaw
Poland
polin@polin.pl
www.polin.pl
NORWEGIAN CONTACT
Oslo Jewish Museum
Calmeyersgate 15 B
NO-0183 Oslo
Norway
post@jodiskmuseumoslo.no
www.jodiskmuseumoslo.no
WEBMASTER
webmaster@motnord.no
