Kristian Welhaven
Encyclopedia
Kristian Welhaven was a Norwegian police officer. He was chief of police of Oslo
for 27 years, from 1927 to 1954. He was a leading force in establishing an organized Norwegian intelligence service before World War II, and in re-establishing it after the war. During the war years Welhaven was arrested by the Germans and imprisoned in both Norway and Germany, before spending the remainder of the war as a civilian internee in Bavaria
.
as the son of parish priest Johan Andreas Welhaven (1825–1893) and his wife Gerda Kathinka Elisabeth Hansen (1857–1948). He married Margit Aagaard in October 1917 in Kristiania. He was a nephew of poet Johan Sebastian Welhaven
, writer Elisabeth Welhaven
and culture personality Maren Sars
(married to Michael Sars
, and mother of Georg Ossian Sars
, Ernst Sars
and Eva Nansen
). In addition to these three he was a first cousin of Hjalmar Welhaven
. He died in Oslo in 1975.
his secondary education at the Kristiania Cathedral School in 1901. He studied at the Norwegian Military Academy
from 1901 to 1902, and then law at the Royal Frederick University
, graduating with the cand.jur. degree in 1907. He worked in Tana
, Tromsø
and Kristiania until he was appointed Chief of Police in Rjukan
in 1916. He became Chief of Police of Oslo in 1927, and held this position until 1954, except for the war years.
He was chairman of Statens Idrettsråd from 1936 to 1940.
One of Welhaven's keen interests was surveillance and intelligence gathering, and he was central in establishing the Oslo police force's surveillance department before the war. Amongst the people that Welhaven wanted to keep under surveillance was the Norwegian communist Viggo Hansteen
. Another group deemed as worthy of surveillance was the Romani, Welhaven responding to a pre-war request from the Gypsy registry in Vienna
that as soon as a national registry had been established in Norway it would be sent to Vienna.
Welhaven was made head of a commission set up to plan the evacuation of the population of Oslo in case of war. When the German invasion of Norway
came on 9 April 1940, attempts were made to evacuate people, but in the chaos of the invasion the organization fell through and at 1300hrs Welhaven called off the evacuation work. At the same time German troops entered Oslo after having captured Fornebu Airport
in an airborne operation, their seaborne attack having been blunted at the battle of Drøbak Sound
early that morning. Welhaven had been contacted by Minister of Justice and the Police
Terje Wold
in the early hours of 9 April and had been authorized to use all municipal powers to prepare Oslo for war, especially in case of bombing. Welhaven was given responsibility for aiding the civilian population in case of bombing, and was tasked with taking over civilian power in the capital in case the government had to evacuate Oslo. Wold had also told Welhaven to arrest Norwegian Fascist leader Vidkun Quisling
if the opportunity presented itself. At around noon on 9 April, Wold ordered Welhaven to surrender the city to the Germans. After the German occupation of Oslo Welhaven was asked by the German envoy Curt Bräuer
to telephone the Norwegian government and try to organize a meeting between Bräuer and King Haakon VII
personally to negotiate for peace. Bräuer got his meeting with the king, but it led nowhere and the fighting continued. Welhaven also facilitated contact between the local authorities in Oslo and Bräuer, and provided a police escort and support for bishop Eivind Berggrav
during his later infamous journey to Krokskogen
outside Oslo to encourage irregular
Norwegian forces to lay down their arms. Welhaven, together with Director of Public Prosecutions Haakon Sund
and Mayor of Oslo Trygve Nilsen
, also signed radio broadcast announcements on 12 April which quoted the Hague Conventions
on the laws of war. The same announcements warned that francs-tireurs
taking part in irregular fighting would be punishable by death in a court-martial
. The concern of Welhaven and the other dignitaries was that Norwegians would not know the regulations of the Hague Conventions nor understand the concept of being francs-tireurs, and be then court martialled by the Germans Among Welhaven's other actions following the German invasion was to order the Norwegian surveillance archives destroyed by burning.
and the Norwegian Nazi collaborators. Welhaven, together with Supreme Court Justice Paal Berg, Oslo mayor Hartmann and Trygve Nilsen approached the German authorities to have Quisling's coup government removed. This led to the establishment of the Administrative Council
on 15 April and the temporary removal of Quisling's government
. Welhaven was removed from his position by the Germans 23 September 1940, and replaced with the Nazi-loyal Bernhard Askvig
. He was arrested by the Germans
12 September 1941 and incarcerated at the Grini concentration camp until 19 January 1943. He was transferred to Germany where he was kept in custody from 1943 to 1945, first in the Gestapo
prison in Prinz-Albrecht-Straße in Berlin
, and later interned in Landsberg am Lech
, Bavaria
together with his wife Margit and daughter Gerda. Didrik Arup Seip
and his wife, who was in a similar situation, visited the Welhaven family in Landsberg in 1943. In March 1945 the family was brought to Gross Kreutz outside Berlin by Johan Bernhard Hjort, whose family had also been interned in Germany during the war years, and in April they were brought to Sweden as part of the White Buses
operation.
Welhaven worked with rebuilding the police force of Oslo, being its leader until his retirement in 1954. Welhaven used his influence to ensure that the post-war purge
of the Norwegian police force was as gentle as possible.
In addition to ordinary police work he was instrumental in the establishment of a national surveillance organization. In the early post-war days surveillance operations were carried out by individuals outside of government control, and by Western intelligence services. The national organization that Welhaven built together with chief of surveillance Asbjørn Bryhn
was based around the Oslo police service and led by Welhaven himself.
He was decorated as a Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1947, and also of the Danish Order of Dannebrog and the Swedish Order of Vasa
and Order of the Polar Star
.
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
for 27 years, from 1927 to 1954. He was a leading force in establishing an organized Norwegian intelligence service before World War II, and in re-establishing it after the war. During the war years Welhaven was arrested by the Germans and imprisoned in both Norway and Germany, before spending the remainder of the war as a civilian internee in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
.
Personal life
Welhaven was born in KristianiaOslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
as the son of parish priest Johan Andreas Welhaven (1825–1893) and his wife Gerda Kathinka Elisabeth Hansen (1857–1948). He married Margit Aagaard in October 1917 in Kristiania. He was a nephew of poet Johan Sebastian Welhaven
Johan Sebastian Welhaven
Johan Sebastian Cammermeyer Welhaven was a Norwegian author, poet, critic and art theorist.-Background:...
, writer Elisabeth Welhaven
Elisabeth Welhaven
-Personal life:She was born in Bergen as a daughter of priest Johan Ernst Welhaven and Else Margrethe Cammermeyer . She was a sister of Johan Sebastian and Maren Sars....
and culture personality Maren Sars
Maren Sars
Maren Cathrine Sars was a Norwegian socialite.-Personal life:She was born in Bergen as a daughter of priest Johan Ernst Welhaven and Else Margrethe Cammermeyer...
(married to Michael Sars
Michael Sars
Michael Sars was a Norwegian theologian and biologist.-Biography:Sars was born in Bergen, Norway. He studied natural history and theology at Royal Frederick University from 1823 and completed a cand.theol. degree in 1828. For several years he taught at a number of different schools, firstly in...
, and mother of Georg Ossian Sars
Georg Sars
Georg Ossian Sars was a Norwegian marine biologist.Georg Ossian Sars was born on April 20, 1837, in Kinn, Norway , the son of Michael Sars and Maren Sars; the historian Ernst Sars was his elder brother, and the singer Eva Nansen was his younger sister. He grew up in Manger, Hordaland, where his...
, Ernst Sars
Ernst Sars
Johan Ernst Welhaven Sars was a Norwegian historian, publicist and editor. His main work was Udsigt over den norske Historie, four volumes issued from 1873 to 1891. He co-edited the magazines Nyt norsk Tidskrift from 1877 to 1878, and Nyt Tidsskrift from 1882 to 1887...
and Eva Nansen
Eva Nansen
Eva Helene Nansen was a celebrated Norwegian mezzosoprano singer. She was also a pioneer of women's skiing.-Personal life:...
). In addition to these three he was a first cousin of Hjalmar Welhaven
Hjalmar Welhaven
Hjalmar Welhaven was a Norwegian architect, palace manager, and sportsman.-Personal life:Welhaven was born in Christiania as the son of writer Johan Sebastian Welhaven and Josephine Angelica Bidoluac. He married painter Margrethe Petersen Backer in 1876...
. He died in Oslo in 1975.
Pre-war career
Welhaven finishedExamen artium
Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1630...
his secondary education at the Kristiania Cathedral School in 1901. He studied at the Norwegian Military Academy
Norwegian Military Academy
The Norwegian Army Academy was established in 1750. It is the oldest university-level educational institution in Norway, and one of the oldest active military academies in the world. Krigsskolen primarily educates officers for the Norwegian Army. There are separate academies for the Royal...
from 1901 to 1902, and then law at the Royal Frederick University
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...
, graduating with the cand.jur. degree in 1907. He worked in Tana
Tana, Norway
Deatnu or Tana is a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Tana Bru....
, Tromsø
Tromsø
Tromsø is a city and municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.Tromsø city is the ninth largest urban area in Norway by population, and the seventh largest city in Norway by population...
and Kristiania until he was appointed Chief of Police in Rjukan
Rjukan
Rjukan is a town and the administrative center of Tinn municipality in Telemark . It is situated in Vestfjorddalen, between Møsvatn and Tinnsjå, and got its name after Rjukanfossen west of the town. The Tinn municipality council granted township status for Rjukan in 1996. The town has 3 386...
in 1916. He became Chief of Police of Oslo in 1927, and held this position until 1954, except for the war years.
He was chairman of Statens Idrettsråd from 1936 to 1940.
One of Welhaven's keen interests was surveillance and intelligence gathering, and he was central in establishing the Oslo police force's surveillance department before the war. Amongst the people that Welhaven wanted to keep under surveillance was the Norwegian communist Viggo Hansteen
Viggo Hansteen
Harald Viggo Hansteen was a Norwegian lawyer who was executed by the Nazis during the five-year Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. -Biography:...
. Another group deemed as worthy of surveillance was the Romani, Welhaven responding to a pre-war request from the Gypsy registry in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
that as soon as a national registry had been established in Norway it would be sent to Vienna.
Early phase
At the outbreak of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Welhaven was made head of a commission set up to plan the evacuation of the population of Oslo in case of war. When the German invasion of Norway
Operation Weserübung
Operation Weserübung was the code name for Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign...
came on 9 April 1940, attempts were made to evacuate people, but in the chaos of the invasion the organization fell through and at 1300hrs Welhaven called off the evacuation work. At the same time German troops entered Oslo after having captured Fornebu Airport
Oslo Airport, Fornebu
Oslo Airport, Fornebu was the main airport serving Oslo and Eastern Norway from 1 June 1939 to 7 October 1998. It was then replaced by Oslo Airport, Gardermoen and the area has since been redeveloped. The airport was located at Fornebu in Bærum, from the city center. Fornebu had two runways, one...
in an airborne operation, their seaborne attack having been blunted at the battle of Drøbak Sound
Battle of Drøbak sound
The Battle of Drøbak Sound took place in the northernmost part of the Oslofjord on 9 April 1940, on the first day of the German invasion of Norway...
early that morning. Welhaven had been contacted by Minister of Justice and the Police
Minister of Justice and the Police (Norway)
In Norway, the Minister of Justice and the Police is the head of the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police and a member of Government of Norway. Current minister is Grete Faremo of the Norwegian Labour Party who is part of the second cabinet Stoltenberg...
Terje Wold
Terje Wold
Terje Wold was a Norwegian judge and politician for the Labour Party.Terje Wold was born in Evenes. He graduated as cand.jur. in 1921. He worked as a jurist, becoming a Supreme Court Justice of Norway in 1950. From 1958 to 1969 he was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court...
in the early hours of 9 April and had been authorized to use all municipal powers to prepare Oslo for war, especially in case of bombing. Welhaven was given responsibility for aiding the civilian population in case of bombing, and was tasked with taking over civilian power in the capital in case the government had to evacuate Oslo. Wold had also told Welhaven to arrest Norwegian Fascist leader Vidkun Quisling
Vidkun Quisling
Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling was a Norwegian politician. On 9 April 1940, with the German invasion of Norway in progress, he seized power in a Nazi-backed coup d'etat that garnered him international infamy. From 1942 to 1945 he served as Minister-President, working with the occupying...
if the opportunity presented itself. At around noon on 9 April, Wold ordered Welhaven to surrender the city to the Germans. After the German occupation of Oslo Welhaven was asked by the German envoy Curt Bräuer
Curt Bräuer
Curt Bräuer was a German career diplomat.Born in Breslau, in what is modern-day Poland, Bräuer entered service in the German foreign ministry in 1920. At the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Bräuer was posted at the German embassy in Paris. Later that year, Bräuer was named as envoy to...
to telephone the Norwegian government and try to organize a meeting between Bräuer and King Haakon VII
Haakon VII of Norway
Haakon VII , known as Prince Carl of Denmark until 1905, was the first king of Norway after the 1905 dissolution of the personal union with Sweden. He was a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg...
personally to negotiate for peace. Bräuer got his meeting with the king, but it led nowhere and the fighting continued. Welhaven also facilitated contact between the local authorities in Oslo and Bräuer, and provided a police escort and support for bishop Eivind Berggrav
Eivind Berggrav
Eivind Josef Berggrav was a Norwegian Lutheran bishop, primarily known as Primate of the Church of Norway and remembered for his unyielding resistance against the Nazi occupation of Norway during World War II.-Background:Berggrav was born in Stavanger, Norway...
during his later infamous journey to Krokskogen
Krokskogen
Krokskogen is a wooden area of around 300 square kilometres, a part of Oslomarka area in Oslo, the capital of Norway, and the neighbour municipalities Ringerike, Hole and Bærum. The old road through Krokskogen was part of the King's Road from Oslo to Bergen, opened in 1805....
outside Oslo to encourage irregular
Irregular military
Irregular military refers to any non-standard military. Being defined by exclusion, there is significant variance in what comes under the term. It can refer to the type of military organization, or to the type of tactics used....
Norwegian forces to lay down their arms. Welhaven, together with Director of Public Prosecutions Haakon Sund
Haakon Sund
Haakon Ragnvald Olsen Sund was a Norwegian judge and prosecutor.He took the cand.jur. degree in 1895, and became police chief in Bodø in 1904. In 1913 he was promoted to Public Prosecutor in Nordland...
and Mayor of Oslo Trygve Nilsen
Trygve Nilsen
Trygve Nilsen was a Norwegian civil servant and politician for the Labour Party.He was born in Kristiania, and was a mason by occupation. He was a member of Oslo city council from 1926 to 1940, serving as Mayor from 1935 to 1936 and 1936 to 1940...
, also signed radio broadcast announcements on 12 April which quoted the Hague Conventions
Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)
The Hague Conventions were two international treaties negotiated at international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands: The First Hague Conference in 1899 and the Second Hague Conference in 1907...
on the laws of war. The same announcements warned that francs-tireurs
Francs-tireurs
Francs-tireurs – literally "free shooters" – was used to describe irregular military formations deployed by France during the early stages of the Franco-Prussian War...
taking part in irregular fighting would be punishable by death in a court-martial
Court-martial
A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
. The concern of Welhaven and the other dignitaries was that Norwegians would not know the regulations of the Hague Conventions nor understand the concept of being francs-tireurs, and be then court martialled by the Germans Among Welhaven's other actions following the German invasion was to order the Norwegian surveillance archives destroyed by burning.
Under German occupation
During the occupation, Welhaven refused to cooperate with the German occupantsOccupation of Norway by Nazi Germany
The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany started with the German invasion of Norway on April 9, 1940, and ended on May 8, 1945, after the capitulation of German forces in Europe. Throughout this period, Norway was continuously occupied by the Wehrmacht...
and the Norwegian Nazi collaborators. Welhaven, together with Supreme Court Justice Paal Berg, Oslo mayor Hartmann and Trygve Nilsen approached the German authorities to have Quisling's coup government removed. This led to the establishment of the Administrative Council
Administrative Council (Norway)
The Administrative Council was a council established by the Supreme Court to govern Norway. The council was established on 15 April 1940, replacing Quisling's First Cabinet, and sat until 25 September, when it was replaced by the Reichskommissariat Norwegen headed by Josef Terboven. The council...
on 15 April and the temporary removal of Quisling's government
Quisling regime
The Quisling regime, or the Quisling government are common names used to refer to the collaborationist government led by Vidkun Quisling in occupied Norway during the Second World War. The official name of the regime from 1 February 1942 until its dissolution in May 1945 was Nasjonale regjering...
. Welhaven was removed from his position by the Germans 23 September 1940, and replaced with the Nazi-loyal Bernhard Askvig
Bernhard Askvig
Bernhard Askvig was a Norwegian police officer and Nazi collaborator during the German occupation of Norway from 1940 to 1945. He was chief of police in Aker at the time of Operation Weserübung and helped escort the invading Germans into Oslo. He was inserted as chief of police in Oslo later in...
. He was arrested by the Germans
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
12 September 1941 and incarcerated at the Grini concentration camp until 19 January 1943. He was transferred to Germany where he was kept in custody from 1943 to 1945, first in the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
prison in Prinz-Albrecht-Straße in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, and later interned in Landsberg am Lech
Landsberg am Lech
Landsberg am Lech is a town in southwest Bavaria, Germany, about 65 kilometers west of Munich and 35 kilometers south of Augsburg. It is the capital of the district of Landsberg am Lech....
, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
together with his wife Margit and daughter Gerda. Didrik Arup Seip
Didrik Arup Seip
Didrik Arup Seip was Professor of North Germanic languages at the University of Oslo.He earned his doctorate in 1916 and was appointed professor the same year, retiring in 1954. Together with Herman Jæger, he edited and published the collected works of Henrik Wergeland in 23 volumes...
and his wife, who was in a similar situation, visited the Welhaven family in Landsberg in 1943. In March 1945 the family was brought to Gross Kreutz outside Berlin by Johan Bernhard Hjort, whose family had also been interned in Germany during the war years, and in April they were brought to Sweden as part of the White Buses
White Buses
"White Buses" refers to a program undertaken by the Swedish Red Cross and the Danish government in the spring of 1945 to rescue concentration camp inmates in areas under Nazi control and transport them to Sweden, a neutral country...
operation.
Post war career
After the warWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Welhaven worked with rebuilding the police force of Oslo, being its leader until his retirement in 1954. Welhaven used his influence to ensure that the post-war purge
Legal purge in Norway after World War II
When the occupation of Norway ended in May 1945, several thousand Norwegians and foreign citizens were tried and convicted for various acts that the occupying powers sanctioned...
of the Norwegian police force was as gentle as possible.
In addition to ordinary police work he was instrumental in the establishment of a national surveillance organization. In the early post-war days surveillance operations were carried out by individuals outside of government control, and by Western intelligence services. The national organization that Welhaven built together with chief of surveillance Asbjørn Bryhn
Asbjørn Bryhn
Asbjørn Johan Bryhn was a Norwegian police officer, known for his resistance work during World War II, and later head of the Norwegian Police Surveillance Agency.-Personal life:...
was based around the Oslo police service and led by Welhaven himself.
He was decorated as a Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1947, and also of the Danish Order of Dannebrog and the Swedish Order of Vasa
Order of Vasa
The Royal Order of Vasa was a Swedish Royal order of chivalry, awarded to citizens of Sweden for service to state and society especially in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce. It was instituted on 29 May 1772 by King Gustav III of Sweden...
and Order of the Polar Star
Order of the Polar Star
The Order of the Polar Star is a Swedish order of chivalry created by King Frederick I of Sweden on 23 February 1748, together with the Order of the Sword and the Order of the Seraphim....
.