Asbjørn Bryhn
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Asbjørn Johan Bryhn (24 August 1906 – 21 January 1990) was a Norwegian police officer, known for his resistance work during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, and later head of the Norwegian Police Surveillance Agency.


Personal life

Bryhn was born in
Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such ...
as the son of teacher Johannes Bryhn and teacher Inga Marie Helgesen. He married teacher Karen Sørensen in 1938. He died in Oslo in 1990.


Career

Bryhn studied law at the Royal Frederick University from 1925, graduating in 1930. While being a student he was a member of the
socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
and pacifist organization Clarté. From 1930 he worked in
Svolvær (Norwegian language, Norwegian, ), , or is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town and the administrative centre of Vågan Municipality in Nordland County, Norway. It is located on the island of Austvågøya in the Lofoten archipelago, alon ...
for two years, and later with the police in
Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...
. After the German occupation of Norway, Bryhn served as assistant of Chief of Police of
Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...
Kristian Welhaven. When Welhaven was removed from his position, Bryhn and others started undercover intelligence work within the police corps. He was dismissed from the police in December 1941. From 1942 he became a leader of the police group of the undercover resistance group ''2A'', and cooperated closely with Asbjørn Sunde. He fled to Sweden, where he built up surveillance and security service at Norwegian legation in Stockholm. His main task was to control refugees and couriers from Norway, and he eventually became a controversial person at the legation. He was assistant secretary () at the Ministry of Justice in the Norwegian exile government in London from 1943 to 1945. When the war ended in 1945 he became leader of the department which was responsible for the investigation of German criminals of war in Norway. From 1945 to 1957 he was a police inspector in Oslo. From 1957 to 1966 he was head of the Police Surveillance Agency (, POT). After a controversy with leader of the Norwegian Intelligence Service Vilhelm Evang, when Bryhn arrested Evang's secretary and charged her for espionage for the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, both Bryhn and Evang had to leave their positions. After Bryhn had left the service, Gunnar Haarstad became the next head of POT. Bryhn was Chief of Police of Bergen from 1967 to 1976.


Biography


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryhn, Asbjoern 1906 births 1990 deaths People from Drammen University of Oslo alumni Norwegian resistance members Norwegian police chiefs Directors of government agencies of Norway