Jens Chr Hauge

Jens Christian Hauge (15 May 1915 – 30 October 2006) was a Norwegian lawyer and leader in the World War II resistance—and one of the two incumbent Milorg Council members in May 1945. Njølstad p.125 He served as Minister of Defence from 1945-1952 and Minister of Justice from January to November 1955.

After 1955 he never held political office, but "continued to exert influence on political processes—sometimes openly",Njølstad p.710 and sometimes less so.

He is also controversial, and has been criticised for not giving more information regarding central parts of the Milorg activities, such as assassinations of Norwegian collaborators.

Early life

He was born at Ljan, and he had an older sister Aase. Their mother was a school teacher of hand craft, and the father was son of a cotter. Jens Chr. Hauge's father was a former non-commissioned officer, who worked in an insurance company.

Military service as a conscript

He was a conscript in Stavern in the summer of 1936, and served 48Njølstad p.93 days f recruit training ">recruit_training.html" ;"title="f recruit training">f recruit training at the anti-aircraft regimental recruits' school ('),Njølstad p.90 In 1938 he received 15 days of recruit training.Njølstad p.93
He received training as crew on anti-aircraft weapon (').Njølstad p.92 In May 1939 he was summoned for the last 14 days of recruit training.Njølstad p.93 He replied to the summons with a medical certificate regarding his varicose veins,Njølstad p.93 adding that he was willing to be checked by military doctors, even though [his schedule] as a magistrate (') would make it difficult to leave work.Njølstad p.93 He received a medical discharge, according to an annotation dated 10 August 1939, by Hauge.Njølstad p.93

After law school

He finished his final exams to become a lawyer, in autumn of 1937. He worked as a private lecturer (''manuduktør'') for law students, for the next year. In November 1938 he started as a ''dommerfullmektig'' in Kragerø, to perform his period as a judicial "conscript".Njølstad p.17 "I November 1938 tiltrådte han som dommerfullmektig ved sorenskriverkontoret i Kragerø for å utføre sin juridiske "verneplikt"." In January 1940 he again was working as a ''manuduktør'' in Oslo. While still a law student he became a member of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights in 1936.

Arrest, imprisonment and trial during World War II

The military invasion of Norway, resulted in students not coming to his private lectures, so he was without income. On 12 April he applied for work at Oslo Politikammer, and started work the next day. In June, his employer had established ''Priskontoret'' ("the price office"), and he applied for a transfer, and became the leader of the office. On 13 August he was arrested for making statements (during private lectures—of which he had resumed, besides his employment with the police) that violated (or were offensive to) Nasjonal Samling.

While imprisoned, the " Milk Strike" occurred in Oslo, including the 10 September execution of two: the leader of a trade union and a lawyer in LO. " re than anything, it was the justice-scorning executions of these two, that aterledNjølstad p.732 Hauge to Milorg." (Years earlier Hauge had the lawyer prosecute a case in Kragerø; Hauge had barely known him.Njølstad p.68)

During the last days of September, he was transferred to "the newly established prison for political prisoners", at Bredtveit Farm.Njølstad p.77

17 October saw the trial of Hauge.Njølstad p.79 (At the end of the trial, Hauge was granted a release until the next day.Njølstad p.83)
The verdict of 100 days in prison, whereof 66 days had already been served,Njølstad p.84 was announced the next day—and he was imprisoned. He was released on 30 October, after completing four-fifths of the sentence—eighty days.

In the Resistance

He joined Milorg at the beginningNjølstad p.99 of 1942. (His wife and two children were relocated to Vestre Slidre in the middle of March—to a acant cotter home which belonged to Husaker (a mountain farm).Njølstad p.99)

In the middle of August 1942 he became inspector for (Milorg district) Østlandet—replacing Knut Møyen.Njølstad p.111

On 3 October 1942 Operation Bittern landed four commandos in Norway.Njølstad p.117 During the meeting where the leader of commandos showed his orders to Hauge, Hauge confiscated the accompanying list of 62 "that SOE wanted to" assassinate.Njølstad p.118
("In 1941 - 1942 there was a tense relationship between Milorg and" SOE.Njølstad p.116
"An early example of such a conflict, surfaced in the wake of the controversial Operation Bittern in the autumn of 1942", according to Njølstad.Njølstad p.117 SOE expeditions which followed, improved Milorg's relationship to the British:Njølstad p.119 The Chaffinch-, Thrush- and Pheasant Expeditions.)

One evening between 7 and 14 OctoberNjølstad p.122 he met The Council (of Milorg) for the first time. The meeting resulted in a half-pascifisticNjølstad p.123 message to the High Command, which in turn replied with a reprimand: To abstain from shooting in self-defense "is in opposition to human nature". (Hauge's dissent at the meeting was noticed also by a secretaryNjølstad p.113 at SL.)

In January 1943 he was promoted to ''Stor I''—the General Inspector of all Milorg combat groups in the nation.Njølstad p.111

After promotion to General Inspector

In May 1943, he traveled to Sweden—his first trip abroad for Milorg.Njølstad p.145 (Njølstad says that Hauge's rapidly increasing influence in Milorg—and later in ''den samlede hjemmefrontsledelsen''—was in part because he never feared traveling abroad.
Furthermore, " ny Resistance leaders were reluctant to such travel, because they feared that, in practice, it would mean the end of their effort in Norway. Or they calculated that their power to influence was greater when they communicated with '' utefronten''—from Norway, rather than meeting its representatives" abroad.Njølstad p.145) 7–9 May saw one set of meetings, followed by Hauge's return to Milorg's Council, to be followed by another border crossing for meetings in Sweden's capital.Njølstad p.145 The High Command wanted more operative control of Milorg's units, particularly in the districts.Njølstad p.147 This is in part the reason for the establishment of radio links directly between Milorg's district commands and the High Command, without establishing radio links between Milorg districts; due to security concerns, the districts were only to communicate with each other through ''Sentralledelsen'' in Oslo.Njølstad p.147

In September 1943, he became a permanent member of the Sentralledelsen's top decision making group—The Council (''Rådet''). "From then on, for all practical purposes, he was Milorg's top chief", according to Njølstad.Njølstad p.111

After promotion to Milorg's Council

From October 1944, the contact with Frithjof Hammersen (officer in Wehrmacht), was handled by Ingrid Furuseth, Hauge, and Ole Arntzen.Njølstad p.240 Evidence from Hammersen, was the first trustworthy evidence of cancelled plans for moving Hitler's inner circle members—to Festung Norwegen.Njølstad p.241
(In the last months of the war, Hauge had secret talks with Wehrmacht officers that gave information about the German plans for Norway. These talks facilitated the smooth transition to peace when the Germans surrendered in May 1945.)

After the 5 December 1944 directive from SOE

A 5 December 1944 directive (''direktiv'') from SOE, stating "that it must be a prioritized task, for Milorg and NORIC to obstruct German forces from leaving" Norway.Njølstad p.209 (It was Hauge's understanding that, there was a wish for severing the lines of transportation on land, so that the Germans were forced out to sea—were the British were feeling increasingly stronger.Njølstad p.209-10)

On 16 December, the Germans attacked through the Ardennes Forest on the German-Belgian border. Jens Christian Hauge, Guide of Modern Norway, Dies at 91
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A 31 December failed aerial bombing attack on Gestapo headquarters in Oslo, had originally been requested by Hauge.Njølstad p.221 (77 died, round1000 became homeless, 23 buildings were hit—whereof 6 were leveled. But Victoria terrasse was nearly undamaged.Njølstad p.221)

After the assassination of the chief of police service ''Stapo''

Karl Marthinsen was assassinated on 8 February 1945.Njølstad p.228 (Months earlier, Hauge was authorized by the government in exile, to have Marthinsen killed.Njølstad p.228)

Hauge and then General Inspector were arrested for traffic violations on 10 April, and released the next day.Njølstad p.233

After Germany's capitulation, the fugitive chief of Gestapo in Norway was arrested on 31 May.Njølstad p.255 Hauge met him, to have him report in writing about Fehmer's work in Norway—with a 10-day deadline.Njølstad p.255 (Hauge's official motive was to cut off Gestapo leaders' options of telling lies in court, about everything they knew about hjemmefronten, but did not use against them.Njølstad p.256)

The only award he chose to receive for his wartime service, was the one that was given to all Milorg's men and women: a silver needle.Njølstad p.259

Indications of employment with OSS

In August 2008 signs were found of Hauge having been employed by Office of Strategic Services(OSS). His name was found in a directory of personnel files of employees from 1942 to 1945—released by the US National Archives in 2008, according to Klassekampen. (Other Norwegians on the list were Wilhelm Hansteen, Håkon Kyllingmark and Knut Lier Hansen.)

Secretary for prime minister

Paal Berg was asked by C.J. Hambro to form a government.Njølstad p.264 Berg did not become a prime minister.Njølstad p.264

In 1945 Hauge was asked by Einar Gerhardsen if he would accept a position—after Gerhardsen had formed his cabinet—as a "secretary and judicial advisor at the Office of the Prime Minister".Njølstad p.269 As "Gerhardsen's secretary with responsibility for judicial cases", he became linkedNjølstad p.270 to the legal purge of war-time collaborators and the trials against Vidkun Quisling and Knut Hamsun.

After the war, he became a member of the Labour Party.

Minister of defence

On 5Njølstad p.288 November 1945 he became Defence Minister—the youngest of anyNjølstad p.289 orwegianminister until then, 30 years old. (Previously, at the end of October, Andrew Thorne had approved the appointment, in the confidence of foreign minister Lie.Njølstad p.290)

In the spring of 1946 Forsvarets forskningsinstitutt (FFI) was put into service.Njølstad p.299 (In 1945 he suggested measures for preventing Norwegian military scientists from remaining in British service, and in December the cabinet decided to establish FFI.Njølstad p.299) In December 1945 Otto Ruge resigned as general.Njølstad p.354 In January 1946 Hauge fired then Chief of the Air Force, and the two agreed that the officer would resign at a later date.Njølstad p.356

Chief of Defence Halvor Hansson resigned in 1946.Njølstad p.354

A Norwegian brigade to British-occupied Germany

On 14 May 1946 parliament decided to establish a brigade of 4000 soldiers to be stationed in West-GermanyNjølstad p.299—in line with the ministry's proposal— Norwegian Brigade Group in Germany. (In 1948 the cabinet decided that the brigade's soldiers were to be issued condoms.Njølstad p.309 400 000 signatures of protest were collected, and Hauge asked advice from Trygve Bratteli about the possibility of having Labour Party employees do partial checks of the lists, and "Should it be done?".Njølstad p.309 (Municipal elections were scheduled for later in 1948, and Hauge thought that the signatures might harm the election campaign of the Labour Party.Njølstad p.309) The resulting advice was that the partial checks could be done, but that it was not advisable.Njølstad p.309

Svalbard Crisis

The autumn of 1946 saw the start of the Svalbard Crisis 1946–1947, involving the Soviet Union.Njølstad p.310

The Rød Case

On 13 March 1947 he showed a document to then minister of justice, regarding Knut Rød—who was preparing for trial in the appellate court.Njølstad p.387 (The document was a five-day-old report (to Evang) about Rød's participation in a group that collected intelligence on communists and sympathizers; and about Rød having accepted Norwegian kroner 500 for locating the election lists for the Norwegian Communist Party—pertaining to the last election of parliament and the municipal governments; and about Rød having recruited his brother, for the work f the groupNjølstad p.387 (His brother was then a secretary in '' Kommunikasjonsdirektoratet''—a government agency.Njølstad p.387)

Olav Njølstad, and fired from the police force."Njølstad p.387

Increased possibility of war sensed

In the middle of January 1948 he received a secret memo from Vilhelm Evang that stated that the Western military superpowers sensed an increased possibility for war with the Soviet Union.Njølstad p.326

In January 1948, '' Koordinasjonsutvalget'' ("the coordination board") was established, to coordinate and gather information from the intelligence services—military and civil.Njølstad p.381 Its creation is largelyNjølstad p.381 credited to Hauge.

After the coup in Czechoslovakia

On 25 February 1948, a coup in Czechoslovakia was completed,Njølstad p.329 and it was followed by the " Winter Crisis".Njølstad p.345 The same month the Soviet Union proposed to Finland a combined friendship and military pact.Njølstad p.329

During the first days of March 1948 messages were received from the Foreign Ministry's stations abroad and embassies of Western nations, that Norway could be the next nation to be invaded by the Soviets.Njølstad p.330

A front page of Norwegian daily Dagbladet insinuated that Hauge had never been a Norwegian soldier, because he in 1936 had been "discarded by ''den militære legenemd''" ("the military board of doctors").Njølstad p.367 (He had served as a conscript before the war.)

The "Winter Crisis" resulted in a more encompassing
political surveillance in Norway, in particular in the Armed Forces, and also within corporations and the civilian administration.Njølstad p.336 On 13 March 1948 a meeting was held in the prime minister's residence, regarding "what could be done to raise the level of preparedness against sabotage and coups within corporations and Norway's administration".Njølstad p.336 (The attendees were Arnfinn Vik, Haakon Lie, Rolf Gerhardsen, Tor Skjønsberg and Hauge nd the prime ministerNjølstad p.336)

On 11 May 1948 Winston Churchill came to Norway (with Oslo "on its head"Njølstad p.344) and was a guest at '' Slottsmiddag''. (A proposed visit in 1946 was cancelled, in the wake of the Fulton Speech.Njølstad p.345) After the guests had been excused from the table, Churchill invited the prime minister over, for a conversation, and the prime minister asked Hauge to join.Njølstad p.346 During the conversation, Churchill said that it was in Norway's interest to obtain a security guarantee from the United States.Njølstad p.346 Furthermore, 'You ought not to follow Sweden. Sweden ought to follow Norway.'Njølstad p.346 Furthermore, "Norway interests the Americans because they think a lot about the defense of the Atlantic and about an Atlantic Treaty."Njølstad p.347 (Hauge had conversations with Churchill the next day (at Det runde bords klubb—"the round table club"), and at the farewell dinner held by Britain's ambassador—on 14 May.Njølstad p.347)

On 17 June 1948 parliament started its deliberations about the Helset Case.Njølstad p.367 Later in 1948 Olaf Helset resigned. (Njølstad says that the military and political opposition that were wishing to evict Hauge from his post as minister—through the Helset Case—ended up tethering him to the same.Njølstad p.372)

The Norwegian Base Declaration of 1 February 1949 was created after Soviet signalledNjølstad p.425 that it would not passively watch that the Western Powers established forward bases in Norway.Njølstad p.425

Founding member of NATO

On 4 April 1949 the North Atlantic Treaty was signed, and Norway became a (founding) member of NATO. (When early in January the same year, "it became clear" that Sweden would not accept Norwegian conditions for a defence union of Denmark, Sweden and Norway——Hauge "became a forceful ''pådriver'' (a person who pushes things ahead) for Norway's joining the Atlantic Treaty. - No one person lonecan be credited" for the joining.Njølstad p.406 (Bergens Tidende has said that then Labour Party secretary and Hauge "were decisive forces behind Norway's entry into NATO - against strong resistance within the Labour Party".)

Olav Njølstad