Gunnar Sønsteby (1918–2012)
Autore di Report From #24 (No. 24)
Sull'Autore
Fonte dell'immagine: Photo: Arnephoto
Opere di Gunnar Sønsteby
Etichette
Informazioni generali
- Nome canonico
- Sønsteby, Gunnar
- Nome legale
- Sønsteby, Gunnar Fridtjof Thurmann
- Altri nomi
- Kjakan, No. 24
- Data di nascita
- 1918-1-11
- Data di morte
- 2012-05-10
- Sesso
- male
- Nazionalità
- Norway
- Luogo di nascita
- Rjukan, Norway
- Luogo di morte
- Oslo, Norway
- Luogo di residenza
- Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Oslo, Norway - Istruzione
- University of Oslo
Treider College - Attività lavorative
- accountant
resistance fighter
business executive
public speaker
memoirist - Relazioni
- Manus, Max (Oslogjengen, member)
- Organizzazioni
- Kompani Linge
NORIC1
Oslogjengen - Premi e riconoscimenti
- Presidental Medal of Freedom (with Silver Palm, 1945)
Krigskorset (med tre sverd, 1946)
H.M. Kongens Erindringsmedalje (sølv, 1946)
Distinguished Service Order (1946)
Association of Former Intelligence Officers Freedom Award (2002)
Forsvarsmedaljen (med laurbærgren, 2004) (mostra tutto 8)
St. Olavs Orden (kommandør, 2006)
Special Operations Command Medal (2008) - Breve biografia
- Gunnar Sønsteby was born in Rjukan, in Telemark, Norway. As a boy he enjoyed hiking in the mountains around Rjukan with his school friends, many of whom would later became members of the Norwegian Resistance with him. After graduating from gymnasium (high school), he moved to Oslo, where he studied at Otto Treider Business School (now Treider College). The next year, he began studying social economy at the University of Oslo. While in Oslo, he also fulfilled his mandatory military service and worked in a series of jobs.
He was working as an accountant when Nazi Germany occupied his country in 1940 in World War II. Sønsteby quickly joined the Norwegian Resistance forces in Østlandet. He fought in Philip Hansteen's ski company and was also involved in the underground press.
In 1941, he was recruited by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). He became "Agent 24" in the SOE. While on assignment in Stockholm in 1942, he was imprisoned for three months by the Swedish police, but managed to talk his way into being released. Back in Norway in 1943, he was caught by the Gestapo but managed to escape and flee to Sweden. From there, he was sent to Britain, where in June of that year he enrolled in the Kompani Linge, a commando unit formed to organize, instruct, and lead resistance and intelligence activities. In October, he parachuted into Norway and became head of the newly-established Oslogjengen (Oslo Gang), a sabotage group. British historian William Mackenzie called the Oslo Gang "the best group of saboteurs in Europe." This group carried out several daring acts, among them smuggling out the plates for the printing of Norwegian kroner from the Norwegian Central Bank to the government-in-exile in London, and blowing up the office for Norwegian forced labor, foiling the Nazis' plan to send young Norwegian men to the Eastern Front.
Sønsteby's gang also conducted the "Mardonius" action, blowing up several ships in Oslo harbor in April 1943. In addition, they killed several leading figures in the German Occupation Forces, including the Nazi head of police in Norway. After D-Day in 1944, Sønsteby's group attacked industries, munitions factories, railways, locomotives, aircraft engines, and oil and petrol warehouses. Operating in occupied territory, and being high on the Gestapo wanted list, Sønsteby became a master of disguise. He operated under 30 to 40 different aliases, and the Germans did not discover his real name until near the end of the war. They were never able to catch him. His obituary in Aftenposten attributed his ability to elude capture to "resourcefulness, luck, and intuition."
After the liberation of Norway, Sønsteby refused job offers from both the British and Norwegian intelligence services and moved to Boston, Massachusetts, USA, where he took part in an executive study program at Harvard Business School. He went to work for Standard Oil (Esso). In 1949, he returned to Norway, where he held several major positions in private business. Later, he also worked at the Norwegian Home Front Museum.
Throughout the post-war years and particularly after his retirement, Sønsteby gave many public talks in an effort to pass on the lessons of World War II to future generations. His service earned Sønsteby the highest honors Norway and the Allies could bestow after World War II. He wrote a memoir, Report from #24, first published in English in the USA in 1965.
Utenti
Recensioni
Statistiche
- Opere
- 5
- Utenti
- 101
- Popolarità
- #188,710
- Voto
- 3.6
- Recensioni
- 2
- ISBN
- 15
- Lingue
- 3