OSLO (AFP)---Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg on Friday apologised for Norway's role in deportations of Jews during World War II, on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.  

"Without relieving the Nazis of their responsibility, it is time for us to acknowledge that Norwegian policemen and other Norwegians took part in the arrest and deportation of Jews," Stoltenberg said.   

"Today I feel it is fitting for me to express our deepest apologies that this could happen on Norwegian soil," the prime minister added, standing on the exact spot where 532 Jews boarded the cargo ship Donau to be taken to the concentration camps.   

After Nazi troops invaded Norway on April 9, 1940, the Scandinavian country was ruled by a collaborationist government headed by Vidkun Quisling, whose
name has since been synonymous with "traitor" and who was executed following the May 8, 1945 liberation.   

According to the Norwegian government, 772 Jews were deported from Nazi-occupied Norway during the war. Only 34 of them survived the death camps.   

"The murders were unquestionably carried out by the Nazis," Stoltenberg said, "but it was Norwegians who carried out the arrests, it was Norwegians who drove the trucks ... and it happened in Norway."   

"No one, no individual, no minority, should have to live in fear in this country," he insisted.