Vilhelm Evang
Encyclopedia
Vilhelm Andreas Wexelsen Evang (9 November 1909 – 5 January 1983) was a Norwegian military officer. He headed the military intelligence
Norwegian Intelligence Service
Etterretningstjenesten or the Norwegian Intelligence Service is a Norwegian military intelligence agency under the Chief of Defence and the Ministry of Defence....

 in Norway for almost twenty years, from 1946 to 1965.

Personal life

Evang was born in Aker
Aker, Norway
Aker is a former municipality in Akershus, which lends its name to a municipality and a county in Norway. The name originally belonged to a farm which was located near the current Old Aker Church...

 as the son of Jens Ingolf Evang and Anna Beate Wexelsen. He grew up in Kristiania
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...

, and married Lisbeth Broch in 1938. He was a brother of civil servant Karl Evang
Karl Evang
Karl Evang was a Norwegian physician and civil servant.He was born in Kristiania as a son of assisting secretary Jens Ingolf Evang and Anna Beate Wexelsen . He was a brother of Vilhelm Evang, and a relative of Vilhelm Andreas Wexelsen, Per Kvist and Gunnar Jahn. He met physician Gerda S...

.

Early career

Evang finished his examen artium
Examen 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...

 in 1927, and started studying natural sciences at the University of Oslo
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...

. As a student, Evang was a member of the radical left-wing organization Mot Dag
Mot Dag
Mot Dag was a Norwegian periodical and a communist organization with the same name.It was established in 1921 under the initiative of Erling Falk, partly with origins in the debate forum in the Social Democratic student government in Oslo ; partly from a Falk-led study circle which from 1919...

, and as such in opposition to military service. He contributed to the encyclopaedia project Arbeidernes Leksikon
Arbeidernes Leksikon
Arbeidernes Leksikon is a Norwegian encyclopedia published in six volumes in the 1930s.It was the first reference book in Norwegian to have a pronounced class bias, and the first encyclopedia outside of the Soviet Union to be directed specifically at the working class...

 in the 1930s, writing articles on geography and natural science. He later became a member of the Norwegian Labour Party
Norwegian Labour Party
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway....

.

World War II

During the German attack on 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...

 in April 1940, Evang participated in the fighting against the German troops, and eventually had to flee to Sweden. In Sweden he came to be the head of the refugee camp in Öreryd
Öreryd
Öreryd is a village and parish in Småland, Sweden, in the county of Jönköping. During World War II, Öreryd hosted a refugee camp and transit center for refugees fleeing Nazi persecution in occupied Norway, from March 1941 until June 1942, when it was replaced by the camp Kjesäter...

. In 1942 he was called to London to work for the exiled Norwegian government. In London he was employed at the Norwegian Ministry of Defence
Norwegian Ministry of Defence
The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Defence is a Norwegian government ministry in charge of the formation and implementation of national security and defence policy, and for the overall management and control of the activities of subordinate agencies. The ministry is located at Glacisgata 1, Oslo,...

, working with security.

Post war

Evang served as head of the Norwegian Intelligence Service
Norwegian Intelligence Service
Etterretningstjenesten or the Norwegian Intelligence Service is a Norwegian military intelligence agency under the Chief of Defence and the Ministry of Defence....

 from 1946 to 1965, first as a Major, and from 1953 with the rank of Colonel. He was responsible for developing and expanding the intelligence service during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

. Evang was also a controversial person, and had conflicts both with military officers and with the head of Norwegian Police Security Service 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:...

. These conflicts eventually led to his resignation in 1965.
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