Norway's police apologize for deporting Jews to Auschwitz

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By ReutersOSLO -- Norwegian police apologized for the first time Monday for their complicity in the deportation and murder of over 700 Jews during the Nazi occupation in World War II, just months after the prime minister made a formal apology.

"Norwegian police officers participated in the arrest and deportation of Jews," police chief Odd Reidar Humlegaard said on the 70th anniversary of Norway deporting the first group of Jews to Auschwitz.

"It is fitting that I express my regret for the role police played in the arrest and deportation of these completely innocent victims," he said.

Follow @NBCNewsWorldState role already acknowledged

Vidkun Quisling, Norway's leader during the Nazi occupation whose name has become a synonym for traitor, ordered the registration of Jews in 1942 and the state apparatus played a complicit role in their eventual deportation.

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