Rabinowitz expected that the war would come to Norway. On 8 April, the day before the surprise attack came, he submitted his last op-ed article to "Haugesunds Avis" in which he asked readers to give the Norwegian soldier respect and support. The German army landed in Norway on 9 April and Haugesund on 10 April. The Gestapo made capturing Rabinowitz a high priority in the little coastal town. Rabinowitz had prepared several places along the coast as hiding places and moved from one to the other with Gestapo on his tracks. Following the war, there was some debate as to why Rabinowitz did not avail himself of four known opportunities to flee the country by sea to England. Among the townspeople of Haugesund, it was rumored that he was too invested in his company and his money. This view, reinforced by stereotypes was rejected in the local papers when Rabinowitz's (non-Jewish) business manager and several employees emphatically stated that such motivations would be uncharacteristic of him. Subsequent op-ed pieces have argued that he declined passage on two occasions for reasons unrelated to his business affairs.