Meet our hero
During WW2, he was known to a very restricted number of people as No. 24. Only later would his true identity as Gunnar Sønsteby be revealed. When he died May 10 this year, Norway mourned the passing of a true hero.
His greatest legacy will forever remain his efforts as a key member of the organized section if the Norwegian resistance, military or civilian, during the Nazi German occupation of Norway; a time of national trial that lasted for a full five years. The Rjukan-born (location of the shooting of the "Heroes of Telemark" film) Gunnar Sønsteby wasted little time in showing his true colours once the foreign soldiers clad in the green unforms began to assert their full powers as custodians of the new order.
"WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!"
The then 22 year-old assistant accountant resolutely and swiftly met up with his friends in Oslo in the spring of 1940, and they all concurred that passive resistance was not their cup of tea. Something had to be done to oppose or even sabotage Nazi German rule as efficiently as possible. Eager to flesh out their plans, the group of young males knew that not much could be accomplished without proper training, proper funding or a crisp, acute sense of how to coordinate and time their actions well.
In time, their ranks would swell somewhat, and to fellow Norwegians tales of the exploits of the "Oslogjengen" (The Oslo Group) - and particularly those of Number 24, provided much-welcomed glimmers of light in a situation where truthful information was very hard to come by, and most people were kept in the dark as to the factual development of the Nazi German war efforts both at home and abroad. It's not hard to imagine the gleeful smirks on people's faces as someone in the household would relay morsels of rumours passed on to them via some illegal newspaper or by word of mouth about acts of sabotage in downtown Oslo.
DOLING OUT THE DIRTY WORK
The German occupants were not ignorant of their huge impopularity with the general populace. That's partly why they many times opted to covertly involve or even directly commission the puppet government of Vidkun Quisling, leader of the "Nasjonal Samling" (The National Union Party), the miniscule Nazi party of Norway, to implement policies or laws they knew would cause a national outrage.
Their actions being monitored and instigated by British secret services and the exiled Norwegian government in London, the "Oslogjengen" as well as other resistance groups were repeatedly called upon to carry out liquidations of notorious Norwegian nazi collaborators. And when not taking lives at the behest of their superiors, Gunnar Sønsteby and his fellow saboteurs would risk their lives by participating in other extremely dangerous operations.
One such happened as the Nazi regime, represented by the de facto dictator of Norway, Josef Terboven, came to fully realize that their continued involvement on both the Western and Eastern fronts required a massive and immediate forced recruitement of nationals in the respective occupied territories. Few Norwegians had up to that point in time voluntarily joined the Germans in their bloody fighting in Russia, and as chances were slim that a significant number of youths could be easily persuaded to help in the Nazi war effort, herr Terboven as well as the PM, mister Quisling, knew they had to act quickly - and by stealth - to achieve anything substantial.
FIGHTING FOR THE NAZIS?
By issuing a decree that all grown-up males in their late teens and early twenties enlist for compulsory military service, although carefully masking the forced service as such, Terboven and Quisling were hoping to at least buy some time. Both knew that the Third Reich was in dire straits, bordering on utter and irreparable collapse. They just might have enjoyed a few flickers of success had it not been for 'disloyal' informants within the Nazi bureaucracy.
Most Norwegians were unsuspecting of the potential scale of loss of Norwegian lives, not fully informed about the ramifications of the decree, but soon the "Oslogjengen" and Gunnar Sønsteby had been briefed about the absolute need to stall the latest move of the despairing occupants. And the orders they received from the appointed headman of th Norwegian resistance, Jens Christian Hauge, certainly didn't beat about the bush: blow up the premises where the Nazi government is keeping its records of eligible Norwegian citizens.
The operation went on to become a huge success. Without any human fatalities or casualties, the explosives assembled by members of the "Oslogjengen" worked wondrously well, consigning the attempt to force Norwegians to become canon fodder on the Eastern front to the growing pile of German abject failures.
WAR IS OVER, LET THE FIGHT BEGIN
In the decades following the war, Gunnar Sønsteby rapidly became a truly celebrated household name, being awarded countless medals of honour and other tokens of appreciation both from national and foreign authorities. But never a man paramountly concerned about his own successes, he avidly and vigorously worked for the welfare of other resistance fighters being ignored by successive post-war governments. A tireless campaigner for freedom and democracy, he also spent his years of retirement e.g. crisscrossing the country - adressing captivated audiences of youths, obviously sharing stories from his illustrious past, but never in an apparent attempt to prolong his own fame.
"Don't take peace for granted", was the gist of his message as he with aptitude and ease continued to fascinate and inform sucessive generations who, with the passing of time, only knew of the war through stories told by grandparents, or through the increasingly popular footage broadcast by a rising number of television companies.
ALWAYS A HERO
Historians of the future will probably try to reevaluate and reappraise the man and his contributions to the resistance movement, but in our hearts and minds he will most likely remain a feted figure; a man of extraordinary courage and character. A Norwegian who loved his country and its freedom to the point of being willing to lay his life on the line. And for that he deserves our attention and our praise even now.
His greatest legacy will forever remain his efforts as a key member of the organized section if the Norwegian resistance, military or civilian, during the Nazi German occupation of Norway; a time of national trial that lasted for a full five years. The Rjukan-born (location of the shooting of the "Heroes of Telemark" film) Gunnar Sønsteby wasted little time in showing his true colours once the foreign soldiers clad in the green unforms began to assert their full powers as custodians of the new order."WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!"
The then 22 year-old assistant accountant resolutely and swiftly met up with his friends in Oslo in the spring of 1940, and they all concurred that passive resistance was not their cup of tea. Something had to be done to oppose or even sabotage Nazi German rule as efficiently as possible. Eager to flesh out their plans, the group of young males knew that not much could be accomplished without proper training, proper funding or a crisp, acute sense of how to coordinate and time their actions well.
In time, their ranks would swell somewhat, and to fellow Norwegians tales of the exploits of the "Oslogjengen" (The Oslo Group) - and particularly those of Number 24, provided much-welcomed glimmers of light in a situation where truthful information was very hard to come by, and most people were kept in the dark as to the factual development of the Nazi German war efforts both at home and abroad. It's not hard to imagine the gleeful smirks on people's faces as someone in the household would relay morsels of rumours passed on to them via some illegal newspaper or by word of mouth about acts of sabotage in downtown Oslo.
DOLING OUT THE DIRTY WORK
The German occupants were not ignorant of their huge impopularity with the general populace. That's partly why they many times opted to covertly involve or even directly commission the puppet government of Vidkun Quisling, leader of the "Nasjonal Samling" (The National Union Party), the miniscule Nazi party of Norway, to implement policies or laws they knew would cause a national outrage.
Their actions being monitored and instigated by British secret services and the exiled Norwegian government in London, the "Oslogjengen" as well as other resistance groups were repeatedly called upon to carry out liquidations of notorious Norwegian nazi collaborators. And when not taking lives at the behest of their superiors, Gunnar Sønsteby and his fellow saboteurs would risk their lives by participating in other extremely dangerous operations.
One such happened as the Nazi regime, represented by the de facto dictator of Norway, Josef Terboven, came to fully realize that their continued involvement on both the Western and Eastern fronts required a massive and immediate forced recruitement of nationals in the respective occupied territories. Few Norwegians had up to that point in time voluntarily joined the Germans in their bloody fighting in Russia, and as chances were slim that a significant number of youths could be easily persuaded to help in the Nazi war effort, herr Terboven as well as the PM, mister Quisling, knew they had to act quickly - and by stealth - to achieve anything substantial.
FIGHTING FOR THE NAZIS?
By issuing a decree that all grown-up males in their late teens and early twenties enlist for compulsory military service, although carefully masking the forced service as such, Terboven and Quisling were hoping to at least buy some time. Both knew that the Third Reich was in dire straits, bordering on utter and irreparable collapse. They just might have enjoyed a few flickers of success had it not been for 'disloyal' informants within the Nazi bureaucracy.
Most Norwegians were unsuspecting of the potential scale of loss of Norwegian lives, not fully informed about the ramifications of the decree, but soon the "Oslogjengen" and Gunnar Sønsteby had been briefed about the absolute need to stall the latest move of the despairing occupants. And the orders they received from the appointed headman of th Norwegian resistance, Jens Christian Hauge, certainly didn't beat about the bush: blow up the premises where the Nazi government is keeping its records of eligible Norwegian citizens.
The operation went on to become a huge success. Without any human fatalities or casualties, the explosives assembled by members of the "Oslogjengen" worked wondrously well, consigning the attempt to force Norwegians to become canon fodder on the Eastern front to the growing pile of German abject failures.
WAR IS OVER, LET THE FIGHT BEGIN
In the decades following the war, Gunnar Sønsteby rapidly became a truly celebrated household name, being awarded countless medals of honour and other tokens of appreciation both from national and foreign authorities. But never a man paramountly concerned about his own successes, he avidly and vigorously worked for the welfare of other resistance fighters being ignored by successive post-war governments. A tireless campaigner for freedom and democracy, he also spent his years of retirement e.g. crisscrossing the country - adressing captivated audiences of youths, obviously sharing stories from his illustrious past, but never in an apparent attempt to prolong his own fame.
"Don't take peace for granted", was the gist of his message as he with aptitude and ease continued to fascinate and inform sucessive generations who, with the passing of time, only knew of the war through stories told by grandparents, or through the increasingly popular footage broadcast by a rising number of television companies.
ALWAYS A HERO
Historians of the future will probably try to reevaluate and reappraise the man and his contributions to the resistance movement, but in our hearts and minds he will most likely remain a feted figure; a man of extraordinary courage and character. A Norwegian who loved his country and its freedom to the point of being willing to lay his life on the line. And for that he deserves our attention and our praise even now.
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