The Ultimate Crime

Winner of the Brage Prize 2014, non-fiction

October 1942. In an operation to escort Norwegian Jews into safety in Sweden a Norwegian policeman is killed. Shortly after, Minister of Justice Sverre Riisnæs writes the following: “it’s time to get rid of the Jews – and do it properly.”

But the story does not start there. Early in the 20th century a young Jewish couple named Braude settles down in Oslo’s East End. They have four children. Elsewhere in the same city Stian Brech Jr. comes of age. His father is a barrister with heavy anti-Semitic leanings, and young Bech is desperate to live up to his father’s expectations. Stian’s and the Braudes’ paths will cross one day, when the war comes.