Einar Sverdrup (18 December 1895 – 13 May 1942) was a Norwegian mining engineer and businessman. He was the CEO of the

Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani (SNSK), or simply Store Norske, is a Norwegian coal mining company based on the Svalbard archipelago. It was formed in 1916, after a Norwegian purchase of the American Arctic Coal Company (ACC). The company ...

, operating at Svalbard. When the integrity of Svalbard was threatened during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he volunteered for a military operation, but was killed in action during

Operation Fritham Operation Fritham (30 April – 14 May 1942) was an Allied military operation during the Second World War to secure the coal mines on Spitsbergen, the main island of the Svalbard Archipelago, from the North Pole and about the same distance ...

Personal life and career

He was born in

Solund Solund is a municipality in the county of Vestland, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sogn. Solund is the westernmost island municipality in Norway. Holmebåen on the island of Steinsøy is the westernmost point in all of Nor ...

as the son of

Edvard Sverdrup Johan Edvard Sverdrup (22 June 1861 – 21 January 1923) was a Norwegian educator, author and church leader. Sverdrup was one of the key theologians in the Church of Norway in the first few decades of the 1900s. Biography Sverdrup was born in Ba ...

and his wife Agnes, née Vollan. His father was stationed in Solund as a

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pr ...

. Einar Sverdrup was the grandson of vicar and politician Harald Ulrik Sverdrup, a grandnephew of

Johan Sverdrup Johan Sverdrup (30 July 1816 – 17 February 1892) was a Norwegian politician from the Liberal Party. He was the first prime minister of Norway after the introduction of parliamentarism and served as the 4th prime minister of Norway. Sverdrup ...

, a nephew of politician Jakob Sverdrup and theologian

Georg Sverdrup Georg Sverdrup (born Jørgen Sverdrup; 25 April 1770 – 8 December 1850) was a Norwegian statesman, best known as one of the presidents of the Norwegian Constituent Assembly in Eidsvoll in 1814. He was a member of the Norwegian Parliament and ...

, a half-brother of oceanographer Harald Ulrik Sverdrup, Jr., and a brother of engineer and military officer Leif Sverdrup and women's rights activist Mimi Sverdrup Lunden. On the maternal side he was a grandson of Ole Vollan, and a first cousin of

Harald Harald or Haraldr is the Old Norse form of the given name Harold. It may refer to: Medieval Kings of Denmark * Harald Bluetooth (935–985/986) Kings of Norway * Harald Fairhair (c. 850–c. 933) * Harald Greycloak (died 970) * Harald Hardra ...

and

Nordahl Grieg Johan Nordahl Brun Grieg (1 November 1902 – 2 December 1943) was a Norwegian poet, novelist, dramatist, journalist and political activist. He was a popular author and a controversial public figure. He served in World War II as a war corresponde ...

. Einar Sverdrup studied to be a

mining engineer Mining in the engineering discipline is the extraction of minerals from underneath, open pit, above or on the ground. Mining engineering is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, and ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

and at the

Norwegian Institute of Technology The Norwegian Institute of Technology (Norwegian: ''Norges tekniske høgskole'', NTH) was a science institute in Trondheim, Norway. It was established in 1910, and existed as an independent technical university for 58 years, after which it was m ...

Trondhjem Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

. In 1923 in Trondhjem he married Dagny Lorck. The couple had three children, and settled in

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electora ...

. Sverdrup eventually became the CEO of the

, a Norwegian

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

company based in Svalbard.

World War II

Before

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...

was executed on 22 June 1941, the Svalbard archipelago was treated as a "

no man's land No man's land is waste or unowned land or an uninhabited or desolate area that may be under dispute between parties who leave it unoccupied out of fear or uncertainty. The term was originally used to define a contested territory or a dump ...

". The mining was conducted and controlled by Norwegians and Soviets, but the authorities allowed coal transport to German-occupied

Northern Norway Northern Norway ( nb, Nord-Norge, , nn, Nord-Noreg; se, Davvi-Norga) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the two northernmost counties Nordland and Troms og Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the la ...

. After Operation Barbarossa, however, the attitude changed, and Svalbard was evacuated between July and August 1941. In September 1941, Einar Sverdrup travelled to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Here, he became involved in a plan to retake Svalbard. He was soon singled out as leader of the operation, and was ranked lieutenant colonel. The operation was codenamed

. It started on 30 April 1942, when the ships and departed from

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of ...

. Sverdrup was on board SS ''Isbjørn''. The expedition reached Svalbard, but on 13 May, ''Isbjørn'' was sunk by German aircraft at

Grønfjorden Grønfjorden ( English: Green Fjord or Green Harbour) is a 16 km long fjord, separated from Isfjorden to the north by Festningsodden in the west and Heerodden in the east. It lies within the western portion of Nordenskiöld Land. On its ea ...

, claiming the life of Sverdrup. He was posthumously decorated with the

War Cross with Sword The War Cross with Sword ( Norwegian Bokmål: ''Krigskorset med sverd, '' Norwegian Nynorsk: ''Krigskrossen med sverd'') is the highest ranking Norwegian gallantry decoration. It is awarded for extraordinary brave actions or extraordinary leader ...

Legacy

In Svalbard, near the town of Longyearbyen is a place named for him: Sverdrupbyen ("Sverdrup Town"). Nearby, the settlement of Nybyen is sometimes alternatively known as Østre Sverdrupbyen ("East Sverdrupbyen"). There is also a memorial near Sverdrupbyen. The stone

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by An ...

has a metal plaque with the following engraving:

DIREKTOR EINAR SVERDRUP FOR INNSATS PÅ SVALBARD 1922–1942 FALT UNDER KAMP I ISFJORDEN 14 MAI 1942 UREDD OG ÆRLIG

which translates to

DIRECTOR EINAR SVERDRUP FOR EFFORTS IN SVALBARD 1922–1942 KILLED IN ACTION IN ISFJORDEN 14 MAY 1942 FEARLESS AND HONEST

Private life

Sverdrup was referred to as the "love of the life" of

Winifred Brown Winifred Sawley Brown (also known as Winifred Adams; 26 November 1899 – 30 July 1984) was an English sportswoman, aviator and author. She was the first woman to win the King's Cup air race (in 1930). The race has been running annually since ...

who was a British adventurer and pilot.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sverdrup, Einar 1895 births 1942 deaths People from Solund Norwegian Institute of Technology alumni Norwegian mining engineers 20th-century Norwegian businesspeople People of Svalbard Norwegian expatriates in the United States Norwegian expatriates in the United Kingdom Norwegian Army personnel of World War II Norwegian military personnel killed in World War II Recipients of the War Cross with Sword (Norway) People who died at sea Deaths by airstrike during World War II