Imre Hercz

Last updated April 09, 2019

Imre Hercz (10 March 1929 – 24 July 2011) was a Jewish Hungarian-Norwegian physician and public debater.

He was born in Transilvania and had his childhood years in Nagyvárad, in the Hungarian part of Romania. At the age of 15, he was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp in May 1944, later to Vernichtungslager Kaufbeuren and then to Dachau concentration camp, but survived. After being hospitalized in Amberg for five and a half years, he recovered and emigrated to Norway in 1952 as one of several Jewish Holocaust-survivors of lesser health accepted to Norway with substantial grants from Joint to the Norwegian government. He finished secondary education in 1955 and graduated from the University of Oslo with a cand.med. degree in 1961. He worked in Tønsberg, Vinstra and Brumunddal from 1962 to 1970, before opening a medical clinic in Høvik in 1971. He resided in Nesbru, and later moved to Høvik.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the southeast, Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, and Moldova to the east. It has a predominantly temperate-continental climate. With a total area of 238,397 square kilometres (92,046 sq mi), Romania is the 12th largest country and also the 7th most populous member state of the European Union, having almost 20 million inhabitants. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, and other major urban areas include Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Iași, Constanța, Craiova, and Brașov.

The Auschwitz concentration camp was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschwitz I, the main camp (Stammlager) and administrative headquarters, in Oświęcim; Auschwitz II–Birkenau, a combined concentration/extermination camp three kilometers away in Brzezinka; Auschwitz III–Monowitz, a labor camp seven kilometers from Auschwitz I, set up to staff an IG Farben synthetic-rubber factory; and dozens of other subcamps.

Kaufbeuren is an independent town in the Regierungsbezirk of Swabia, Bavaria. The town is completely enclaved within the district of Ostallgäu.

He represented the Liberal Party as a deputy in Ringsaker municipal council from 1968 to 1970, and chaired the local party branch. He was a board member of the Mosaic Religious Community (Jewish Community in Oslo) from 1972 to 1991, member of the Norwegian Refugee Council from 1972 to 1991, national board member of the Norwegian Medical Association from 1981 to 1993 and national council member of Allmennpraktiserende Legers Forening (General Practicians Association) from 1984 to 1991.^[1]^[2]^[3]

The Liberal Party is a liberal and social-liberal political party in Norway. The party is the oldest in Norway, and has enacted reforms such as parliamentarism, freedom of religion, universal suffrage and state schooling. For most of the late 19th and early 20th century, it was Norway's largest and dominant political party, but in the postwar era it lost most of its support and became a relatively small party. The party has nevertheless participated in several centrist and centre-right government coalitions in the postwar era. It currently holds eight seats in the Parliament, and is also a part of Norway's government together with the Conservative Party and the Progress Party. Since 2010, the leader of the party is Trine Skei Grande.

Ringsaker (help·info) is a municipality in Hedmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Hedmarken. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Brumunddal.

The Norwegian Refugee Council is a humanitarian, non-governmental organisation that protects the rights of people affected by displacement. This includes refugees and internally displaced persons who are forced to flee their homes as a result of conflict, human rights violations and acute violence, as well as climate change and natural disasters.

He is well known from the public debate on health policy, but even more so in the debate on defamation and anti-Semitism. He has held several public speeches, among others for school students.^[1]^[2]^[3] In February 2009 he won a ruling from Pressens Faglige Utvalg, where a comedian aired on national TV 2 was admonished for defamation and breach of the Ethical Code of Practice for the Norwegian Press.^[5] In June 2011 he was awarded the King's Medal of Merit.^[6] He received patients in his office at Høvik Legesenter even up to his death, making him, at 82 years of age, one of the oldest practicing doctor in Norway.

TV 2 is a Norwegian free-to-air television channel. Its headquarters are located in Bergen. TV 2 began test broadcasting on 13 November 1991, and a year later, it was officially launched on 5 September 1992. In 1992, TV 2 A/S was admitted as full active member of the European Broadcasting Union. As is common with television in Norway, most foreign-language shows and segments of local programmes with foreign language dialogues are subtitled in Norwegian, not dubbed. Since 2012, TV 2 is owned by one of its co-founders, the Copenhagen-based Scandinavian media company Egmont Group.

The Ethical Code of Practice for the Norwegian Press is a code regularing journalism ethics and standards in Norway.

The King's Medal of Merit is a Norwegian award. It was instituted in 1908 to reward meritorious achievements in the fields of art, science, business, and public service. It is divided in two classes: gold and silver. The medal in gold is rewarded for extraordinary achievements of importance to the nation and society. The medal in silver may be awarded for lesser achievements. The medal is suspended from a ribbon in the colours of the Royal Standard of Norway.

He was married and had four children. He died in July 2011.^[4]

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Rudolf "Rudi" Vrba was a Slovak-Jewish biochemist who, as a teenager in 1942, was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. He became known for having escaped from the camp in April 1944, at the height of the Holocaust, and for having co-written a detailed report about the mass murder that was taking place there. Distribution of the report by George Mantello in Switzerland is credited with having halted the mass deportation of Hungary's Jews to Auschwitz in July 1944, saving more than 200,000 lives. After the war Vrba trained as a biochemist, working mostly in England and Canada.

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References

1 2 3 "Aktivt talerør i almenmedisin". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). 10 March 1989. p. 10.
1 2 3 Johansen, Heidi Solheim (9 March 1999). "Almenpraktiker og tidligere Auschwitz-fange Imre Hercz: I Spielbergs jødedokumentar". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). p. 12.
1 2 3 "80 år 10. mars: Spesialist i allmennmedisin / bedriftslege DNLF Imre Hercz" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 25 February 2009.
1 2 Suissa, Michal Rachel (27 July 2011). "Imre Hercz (obituary)". Aftenposten (in Norwegian).
↑ "Jøder lettet over PFU-kjennelse om Jespersen i TV 2" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 24 February 2009.
↑ "Hedret av kongen". Budstikka (in Norwegian). 23 June 2011. p. 5.

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[60y-1] 1 2 3 "Aktivt talerør i almenmedisin". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). 10 March 1989. p. 10.

[70y-2] 1 2 3 Johansen, Heidi Solheim (9 March 1999). "Almenpraktiker og tidligere Auschwitz-fange Imre Hercz: I Spielbergs jødedokumentar". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). p. 12.

[ntb-3] 1 2 3 "80 år 10. mars: Spesialist i allmennmedisin / bedriftslege DNLF Imre Hercz" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 25 February 2009.

[obit-4] 1 2 Suissa, Michal Rachel (27 July 2011). "Imre Hercz (obituary)". Aftenposten (in Norwegian).

[5] "Jøder lettet over PFU-kjennelse om Jespersen i TV 2" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 24 February 2009.

[6] "Hedret av kongen". Budstikka (in Norwegian). 23 June 2011. p. 5.