Johan Bernhard Hjort
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Johan Bernhard Hjort (25 February 1895 – 24 February 1969) was a Norwegian
supreme court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
lawyer. He is known for co-founding
Nasjonal Samling The Nasjonal Samling (, NS; ) was a Norway, Norwegian far-right politics, far-right political party active from 1933 to 1945. It was the only legal party of Norway from 1942 to 1945. It was founded by former minister of defence Vidkun Quisling a ...
in 1933, his later resistance work against
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
, including his work to help Scandinavian prisoners, as well as for his role as one of the country's leading defense attorneys after the war. Hjort joined Harald Nørregaard's law firm in 1932 and after 1945 continued the firm as Advokatfirmaet Hjort. He was deputy leader of Nasjonal Samling from 1933, and from 1935 he served as the leader of
Hirden ''Hirden'' (the ''hird'') was a uniformed paramilitary organisation during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, modelled the same way as the German Sturmabteilungen. Overview Vidkun Quisling's fascist party Nasjonal Samling frequently use ...
, the party's paramilitary wing. However, he broke with the party in 1937 and was arrested by the
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
in 1941. He was then sent to Germany, where he was interned at the Gross Kreutz estate together with Didrik Arup Seip, and carried out resistance work that saved the lives of many Scandinavian prisoners. Among other things, the group at Gross Kreutz collected lists of names of Scandinavian prisoners, and these formed the basis for the rescue operation with the white buses. After the war, he was notable as a defender of homosexual rights and as a defender of controversial artists' freedom of expression, as in the so-called Red Ruby controversy. From 1961 until his death, he was chairman of Riksmålsforbundet. As a public figure, he stood for a liberal worldview, sharply criticizing the Labor Party governments of the 1950s and 1960s.


Family and background

He was the son of marine biologist, oceanographer, and director of
fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farm ...
, Johan Hjort and his wife Wanda Maria von der Marwitz. His mother was of Prussian nobility. During Johan's childhood, the family lived in Bergen, and his parents divorced when he was in his teens. The children moved with their mother to Bestum in Oslo. In 1920, he married Anna Cathrine Holst. His two sisters Astrid and Wanda soon after married German men: the two brothers
Rüdiger Rüdiger (English ''Ruediger'', ''Rudiger'', Roger) is a German given name. The meaning comes from Old High German: ''hruod'' (fame) and ''ger'' (spear). The name became popular because of the character Rüdiger von Bechelaren from '' Nibelung''. ...
and Georg Conrad Graf von der Goltz, and moved to Germany. Astrid's husband, Rüdiger von der Goltz, was from 1936 a member of the Reichstag for the
NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor, the German Workers ...
. The sisters' father-in-law was the prominent General Rüdiger von der Goltz, who led the Freikorps in the Baltic States and the German intervention in the
Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of the country between Whites (Finland), White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland) during the country's transition fr ...
. Hjort had six children with his wife: social worker and resistance member Wanda Hjort Heger, Supreme Court lawyer Johan Hjort, doctor, professor and politician Peter F. Hjort, engineer Helge Hjort, pianist Kirsti Hjort and psychologist Haldis Hjort. He is the grandfather of publisher Anders Heger and district court judge Kim Heger.


Early life and career

Hjort began studying law and graduated in 1919 with a cand.jur., equivalent to a master's degree. Shortly after graduating, Hjort was employed by the law firm Bredal, Fougner and Schjødt, which at the time was one of Oslo's leading firms. After a year, he was asked to leave in order to gain more experience as a temporary judge. Hjort then worked for a year in Aker before joining the Union of Norwegian Cities (, now KS) as a legal consultant. Following the First World War, Norway experienced significant economic troubles. Through his position at the Union of Norwegian Cities, Hjort gained in-depth knowledge of the poor finances of the municipalities and the state. Together with his friend Trygve Hoff (later editor of Farmand), Hjort prepared an alternative state budget in 1923 to improve the budget overview. As a result, he was eventually tasked with an investigation assignment for Johan Egeberg Mellbye in the Farmers' Party and a position as an advisor for the Lykke government under Finance Minister Fredrik Ludvig Konow. As Hjort prepared his economic reports, focused on the state's poor finances and the politicians' inability to balance the budget deficit, his confidence in the existing non-socialist parties weakened. In 1927, Hjort joined the Fatherland League and was elected to the Aker county council for the Conservative Party. In the 1930 parliamentary elections, Hjort campaigned for a non-socialist victory, and attacking revolutionary aspects of the Labour Party. Responding to an article by Edvard Bull Sr. (Labor Party politician and later
Foreign Minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...
) in the journal Vor Verden, Hjort argued that one could not give power to an admitted revolutionary party even if it won the election, as this would be tantamount to "bolshevism by parliamentary means" (). Though the non-socialists won the election in 1930, the economic crisis (now global in the form of the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
) was becoming increasingly serious and unemployment was rising. In the spring of 1931, this led to a major lockout by employers. The crisis and what Hjort perceived as a weak response from the establishment parties lead him towards the more radical right-wing. In 1932, Hjort was admitted as a partner in Harald Nørregaard's law firm, which was subsequently renamed Nørregaard & Hjort. Nørregaard was regarded as one of Norway's leading supreme court lawyers of his time. Hjort's biographer, Ivo de Figueiredo, writes: "In Nørregaard he found a role model. The elderly lawyer was known for his eloquence in court. It was said of him that he dominated the courtroom with his presence, and that his warm voice wrapped itself around the Court of Appeal like velvet." Nørregaard died after six years of partnership in 1938. Nørregaard and Hjort had a somewhat distant family relationship - Nørregaard's grandmother was married to Hjort's great-grandfather.


Involvement with Nasjonal Samling


Beginning

Hjort was in contact with a circle of concerned establishment figures, to which
Vidkun Quisling Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling (; ; 18 July 1887 – 24 October 1945) was a Norwegian military officer, politician and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, Nazi collaborator who Quisling regime, headed the government of N ...
had also been invited. From the spring of 1930, they met for dinner at Frederik Prytz's house at Hafrsfjordsgaten 7. In May 1931, Quisling was appointed
Minister of Defense A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...
in Peder L. Kolstad's government, formed by the Farmers' Party. During the throne speech in April 1932, Quisling gave a speech in the
Storting The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The Unicameralism, unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list propo ...
in which he accused the two socialist parties (the Labor Party, DNA, and the
Communist Party of Norway The Communist Party of Norway (, NKP) is a communist party in Norway. The NKP was formed in 1923, following a split in the Norwegian Labour Party. It was Stalinist from its establishment and, as such, supported the Soviet government while oppo ...
, NKP) of treasonous connections with 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 ...
. The circle around Prytz attempted to use the speech to promote Quisling's political position and weaken the socialist parties. In May 1932, the circle from Hafrsfjordsgate formed an informal group called "Polkom"; from Hjort's office, this group worked to exploit Quisling's accusations and information against the two socialist parties. This marked the start of Hjort's period of close collaboration with Quisling. Polkom's work was aimed at getting the non-socialist parties to declare DNA and NKP illegal, as they aimed to overthrow the system. During the summer and fall, Hjort developed a plan, based on constitutional theory, for a
coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...
carried out by the government against the Storting. Under this plan,
parliamentarism A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of the legisl ...
was to be abolished and the threat from the socialists neutralized. Hjort's basis for taking such drastic action was his sense of crisis. As Hjort saw it, the plan was constitutionally legitimate, and he saw a unifying anti-socialist leader in Vidkun Quisling. To showcase the constitutional legality of the coup d'état plan, Hjort referred to
1814 Events January * January 1 – War of the Sixth Coalition – The Royal Prussian Army led by Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher crosses the Rhine. * January 3 ** War of the Sixth Coalition – Siege of Cattaro: French gar ...
, 1884 and 1905; three major years in Norwegian political history. However, the success of the plan depended on broad support, and to ensure this, a meeting was held on 26 October 1932 at the home of landowner Carl Otto Løvenskiold at Bærums Verk. Present at this meeting were the leaders of various non-socialist parties and organizations. The meeting later became known as the "Wednesday meeting". Hjort introduced and presented the plan, but it was negatively received by the old Conservative prime minister Jens Bratlie, and it also led to prominent supporter Johan Throne Holst (noteworthy industrialist and CEO of Freia) withdrawing. Over the course of the fall and winter, the plan collapsed as Quisling and new Prime Minister Jens Hundseid clashed over the pacifist Captain Kullmann in what became known as the "Kullmann case". This was the first blow to Hjort's faith in Quisling.


Founding of Nasjonal Samling

Jens Hundseid's government fell in March 1933, and Polkom - in which Hjort played a central role - explored the possibility of a broad non-socialist coalition that would include the Farmers' Party, the Fatherland League, and others. However, a lack of interest in this front meant that on 17 May, in the newspaper
Tidens Tegn ''Tidens Tegn'' (Norwegian: ''Sign of the Times'') is a former Norwegian newspaper, issued in Oslo from 1910 to 1941. Editors The founder and first editor-in-chief of ''Tidens Tegn'' was Ola Thommessen, who edited the newspaper until 1917. Th ...
, Quisling presented a program for a separate party, Nasjonal Samling. As de facto deputy leader of the new party, Hjort threw himself into the election campaign for the 1933 general election, in which his wife Anna Cathrine also participated. The newly founded party did not get any MPs. Hjort lamented about Quisling's leadership style, which he felt was unclear and amateurish. In the spring of 1934, NS made a new attempt at non-socialist cooperation, led by Hjort. However, these negotiations were unsuccessful, and in March 1935 the Labor Party formed a government with the support of the Farmers' Party. In addition to his legal practice, Hjort continued to work organizationally for NS. He also investigated how laws and the Constitution must be amended to meet "the demands of the new era". He also put forward a proposal in the spring of 1935 to reintroduce the "
Jew clause The Jew clause (Norwegian language, Norwegian: ) is the colloquial name of the second paragraph of the Constitution of Norway from 1814 to 1851 and from 1942 to 1945. The clause, in its original form, banned Jews from entering Norway, and also ...
" (a historical ban excluding Jews from Norway) in the Constitution. Despite the fact that Hjort was a co-founder and de facto deputy leader of NS, his ideas about the organization of the state were in theory within the limits of democracy. Hjort was also not a supporter of a
planned economy A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, ...
, and he distanced himself from German
National Socialism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequ ...
. In March 1935, Hjort took over the leadership of Hirden, who partly acted as security guards at NS meetings, but whose primary task was to discipline and educate its members. Hirden was modeled after the German (SA). With his Prussian background, sergeant training from the
Armed Forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a ...
and natural authority, Hjort was made for the role. Hirden was the activist core of NS, with a couple hundred members. At a meeting in
Gjøvik Gjøvik () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Gjøvik (town), town of Gjøvik. Some of the villages in Gjøvik include Biri, Norway, Biri, Bybrua, ...
on
Ascension Day The Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ (also called the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, Ascension Day, Ascension Thursday, or sometimes Holy Thursday) commemorates the Christian belief of the bodily Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. It ...
1936, Hjort addressed several thousand attendees and opened with "Countrymen, traitors, monkeys and others". The meeting ended in chaos and street fighting, the so-called Torgslaget.


Internal struggle and break with NS

Johan Bernhard Hjort had little patience with people he regarded as "fools" or amateurish, and he believed there were many of them in NS. In addition, Hjort was an able organizer, and a good speaker. Quisling's lack of these qualities was very problematic for the party. A battle for the leadership of NS was therefore inevitable. In the summer of 1936, Hjort traveled to Germany to seek support for NS. Probably with the help of his German brothers-in-law, he met
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...
, among others. He was well received, but received no financial support. However, Himmler offered to link NS to the German SS, which Hjort is said to have rejected. Back in Norway, he became involved in the NS action against
Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...
. Hirden broke into Konrad Knudsen's house in
Hønefoss __NOTOC__ Hønefoss is a town and the administrative center of the municipality of Ringerike in Buskerud county, Norway. Hønefoss is an industrial center of inner Østlandet, containing several factories and other industry. As of 1 January 2022 ...
, where Trotsky lived, and took a number of documents that Hjort handed over to the police. The case attracted enormous attention and was for NS a successful provocation. NS's fight against
communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...
and
Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
took center stage, and Trotsky was eventually expelled. In the election campaign before the 1936 general election, Hjort gave everything. At the same time, he was under pressure from internal intrigues in NS and the knowledge that he was neglecting his family in favor of politics. However, NS had a poor showing in the election and was once again left without MPs. In the internal dispute that followed, Hjort proposed far-reaching organizational changes. Hjort's proposals were rejected, and in the fall of 1936 the conflict between him and NS intensified. In February 1937, he left the party, and several other key figures left NS at this time as well.


Prelude to war

On 14 June 1937, Himmler visited the lawyer Rüdiger von der Goltz (Hjort's brother-in-law) to meet Hjort and be briefed on the National Socialist movement in Norway. The years of hectic political activity had a negative effect on Hjort's law practice; his finances had been supported by his wife's uncle Johan Throne Holst, a debt he now had to work to pay off. Hjort kept in contact with other NS breakaways, and he wrote for the right-wing, nationalist and NS-critical journal Ragnarok. The
Kristallnacht ( ) or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilia ...
of 9 November 1938 shocked Hjort; "Germany's friends are looking for an honorable defense and a reasonable motive for all this. They refuse to believe that German order and discipline have come to an end and that the German state must give the people this kind of circus performance for the sake of domestic peace." At the same time, Hjort had accepted the
Nuremberg Laws The Nuremberg Laws (, ) were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on 15 September 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. The two laws were the Law ...
and argued in the autumn of 1938 that a race war was looming, with the " Nordic tribe in the world decreasing in numbers, while other races multiply like rats". In September 1939,
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 ...
broke out, and in November the
Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...
began with the Soviet Union's attack on Finland. Germany had signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviets and therefore remained passive, which was a hard blow for Hjort. Several of Hjort's friends, including his father, traveled to Finland as
volunteers Volunteering is an elective and freely chosen act of an individual or group giving their time and labor, often for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergenc ...
. He considered going himself, but decided against it for the sake of his family. Up until 1940, Hjort was engaged in strengthening the armed forces, and he and his two sons received voluntary military training themselves.


German invasion

On 9 April 1940, Germany invaded Norway. Hjort was a conscripted sergeant and reported for duty, but like so many others, he was told to wait. In the evening, he heard his former colleague Vidkun Quisling declare on the radio that a new national government had taken over. Greatly provoked, Hjort contacted other pro-German Norwegians: Victor Mogens, Per Imerslund, Albert Wiesener, Otto Sverdrup Engelschiøn and Hans S. Jacobsen. Hjort's plan was to contact the Germans to stop Quisling's coup attempt. On 14 April, the
Administrative Council Administrative Council () was a part of Council of State (Kingdom of Poland), Council of State of the Congress Poland. Introduced by the Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland in 1815, it was composed of 5 ministers, special nominees of the Tsar, Ki ...
was established, and Quisling's coup attempt had failed. During the spring, Hjort began working to help and release the Norwegian prisoners of war. By the end of May 1940, 11,000 Norwegian prisoners of war had been released. However, the work came at a price, as the officers had to swear an oath not to take up arms against the occupying forces. Hjort was later criticized for this, and a number of officers, led by Otto Ruge, chose captivity instead. Hjort was also an active writer in ''Tidens Tegn''. He was most outspoken in ''Ragnarok'', where he wrote that one had to be optimistic and build the country; as "then both Norway's independence and a friendly relationship with our kindred people in the south will come as a matter of course." In the unclear situation after the invasion, Hjort was well suited as a middleman as he was both a respected Supreme Court lawyer and fluent in German. Hjort also dealt with finding work for the released prisoners and with insurance settlements after the fighting through the War Injury Insurance Fund. During the summer of 1940, Hjort was constantly involved in the various negotiations between the German and Norwegian sides. These culminated in Terboven's proposal for a . Hjort was open to a position on this council, but withdrew when Terboven demanded that NS be represented. As late as August 1940, Hjort attempted to bring the major parties together, and he had meetings with representatives of the Conservative Party, the Labor Party, the Liberal Party and the Farmers' Party. He was not alone in his desire to make the best of the situation. Einar Gerhardsen had similar ideas, but they were quickly torpedoed by the Germans when Terboven declared on 25 September that Nasjonal Samling was Norway's only legal political party.


Imprisonment

With clear lines drawn after Terboven's speech, Hjort withdrew from party politics for the last time and devoted all his time to law. With his knowledge of German affairs, he was a resource for other Norwegian lawyers. There were many cases when Norwegian resistance fighters needed defence counsel. It was a legal voyage through increasingly troubled waters; the Supreme Court was dismissed, and the occupation forces were constantly pushing for lawyers to adapt to the new conditions. He also held lectures in the German-controlled
Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...
, alongside individuals like Albert Wiesener, Jonas Lie, and Ranik Halle. Dahl, Hans Fredrik (1978) (in Norwegian). ''"Dette er London". NRK i krig 1940–1945''. Oslo: Cappelen. p. 185. . In January 1941, the Norwegian Bar Association was pressured to include an article in the Norwegian Legal Gazette on "The development of constitutional law in Norway" by Rudolf Schiedermair, Terboven's legal adviser. Hjort took it upon himself to write a response with the assistance of other Norwegian lawyers and Frede Castberg. Hjort's response was diplomatic in form, but nevertheless ruthless when Hjort concluded that the Germans had violated
international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...
by their conduct during the occupation, and that Quisling had committed a coup d'état. Hjort must have known what such public criticism of the occupying forces would lead to, and he was arrested on 21 October 1941. Hjort was first detained at Møllergata 19 (Oslo's main police station at the time) and then transferred to the Grini prison camp in December 1941. The time in
solitary confinement Solitary confinement (also shortened to solitary) is a form of imprisonment in which an incarcerated person lives in a single Prison cell, cell with little or no contact with other people. It is a punitive tool used within the prison system to ...
at Møllergata 19 was a difficult period for Hjort, but the community at Grini with many acquaintances made his imprisonment easier. In fact, many of the most important of the Norwegian social elite were at Grini. After the liberation, it was seen as a badge of honor to have been imprisoned there. From then on, Johan Bernhard Hjort was definitely considered to have been on "the right side" of the war. In Germany, his brothers-in-law tried to get him released, and Rüdiger was allowed to meet Terboven in November 1941. But the German Reichskommissar was outraged and stated: "The pig sits down and writes an article" (.) Hjort's attempts to speak out against the occupation forces were not taken kindly. At the same time, his arrest was also linked to his brother-in-law Johan Holst's escape to Sweden. On 6 February 1942, Hjort was sent to Germany on the prison ship "Donau" and placed in the prison at Alexanderplatz in Berlin. Hjort's brother-in-law Rüdiger approached Himmler, and the SS commander was open to an agreement that resulted in Hjort being released, but having to stay in Germany with his family until the end of the war. In May, Rüdiger was allowed to meet Hjort to explain the conditions, but Hjort's family in Norway, Anna Cathrine and the six children were reluctant to settle in Germany. Anna Cathrine Hjort was allowed to meet her husband in Berlin, but she and the children were equally dismissive. There were rumors and many people believed that Hjort was now willing to cooperate with the occupiers. Hjort was released, but in so-called civilian internment. Rüdiger got him a job as a legal consultant in the oil company Continentale Oehl Gesellschaft in Berlin. By October, after strong German pressure, the family had given in and settled on the Gross Kreutz estate in the village of the same name 20 km west of
Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
. The estate was owned by Hjort's cousin Bodo von der Marwitz.


Resistance work

While they were in their "open captivity" as civilian internees in Germany, the Hjort family tried to make the best of the situation. In consultation with the Norwegian seaman priests in
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
, Arne Berge and Conrad Vogt-Svendsen, their daughter Wanda took the initiative to visit Norwegian prisoners. She began with a visit to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Prison camps were visited, and the prisoners were given parcels, and messages and names were smuggled out. The first prisoner Wanda visited was Didrik Arup Seip, who was eventually released and interned on the same terms as Hjort. He moved with his family to the Gross Kreutz estate near Potsdam, where Hjort and his family also lived and joined in the work for the prisoners. From January 1944, the family established contact with the Norwegian diplomat Niels Christian Ditleff in
Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
. Through Swedish diplomatic channels, they sent him around 50 reports with lists of names. Seip and his children were the leaders in this prisoner work, but Hjort himself also became involved as a defender of Norwegian prisoners in Germany. Among the prisoners he assisted were members of the Wollweber group. On 26 October 1944, Ditleff received a memo from Hjort requesting that the Norwegian prisoners be taken to Sweden, and shortly afterwards Ditleff sent a memo reporting German plans to liquidate all prisoners before the end of the war. These notes were crucial to the Swedish rescue operation known as the White Buses. It is estimated that this operation saved 15,345 prisoners from death in concentration and prisoner camps; of these, 7,795 were
Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...
n. In particular, 423 Danish Jews were saved from the
Theresienstadt concentration camp Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination c ...
inside German-occupied territory of
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
, contributing significantly to the fact that the casualties among Danish Jews during the Holocaust were among the lowest of the occupied countries of
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
. In February 1945,
Folke Bernadotte Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (2 January 1895 – 17 September 1948) was a Swedish nobleman and diplomat. In World War II, he negotiated the release of about 450 Danish Jews and 30,550 non-Jewish prisoners of many nations from the Nazi ...
came to
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
to meet German leaders, including Himmler. This initiative was intended to rescue the Scandinavian prisoners, and Bernadotte also met with the circle from Gross Kreutz. Hjort and Vogt-Svendsen had made sketches of the camps and a note on how the collection of the prisoners in Neuengamme could be done in practical terms, and Bernadotte used this as a basis for his action. By the end of April, most of the Norwegian prisoners had been transported home, but Johan Bernhard Hjort and his son Helge remained at Gross Kreutz. They would not leave Germany until the last Norwegian prisoners were out. There were still 1,100 Norwegian officers left; Hjort had already met them in February and promised General Ruge to act as liaison until the prisoners could be sent home. The Hjort family's overview of the Norwegian prisoners was the basis for the repatriation office in Hamburg (under the leadership of Bulukin) to pick up General Ruge and other Norwegian officers from
Luckenwalde Luckenwalde (; Upper Sorbian language, Upper and , , ) is the capital of the Teltow-Fläming district in the state of Brandenburg in eastern Germany. It is situated on the Nuthe river north of the Fläming Heath, at the eastern rim of the Nuthe-Ni ...
around 12 May 1945. The Norwegian officers were transferred from Schildberg to Luckenwalde in February 1945. Luckenwalde was captured by Soviet forces in April 1945 and General Ruge was sent to
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
.


Liberation and purge

Soviet forces reached Gross Kreutz at the end of April or beginning of May. The German farm manager was beaten to death by the Eastern European forced laborers on the estate. After Germany's capitulation, the Soviet forces decided that the Norwegian officers should be sent home via Murmansk, but Hjort and other Norwegians found the prisoners and ensured that they were sent directly home to Norway. In early June, Hjort himself was back in Norway after almost three years in Germany. The return home was hardly exactly what Johan Bernhard Hjort had imagined. The period after liberation proved to be difficult for him. Despite his great efforts on behalf of Norwegian prisoners, his own imprisonment and his defiant article in the Norwegian Legal Gazette, many people were still skeptical about other aspects of his past. Hjort's actions up until 25 September 1940 could be interpreted as an attempt to find a third way, between Quisling's treason and the London government's resistance to the German occupiers. The mood after the liberation was not sympathetic, and several of his supporters from 1940 were convicted in the treason trial. Hjort vigorously defended himself against accusations of a lack of "national attitude". He wrote about the articles from 1940 that they had to be seen in the light of the special situation. Because of his past in the NS and his connection to the administrative council, he had to withdraw from a proposed position in the bar association. Hjort's friend Gustav Heiberg was appointed chairman of the "Commission of Inquiry of 1945" (), and Hjort asked Heiberg for a statement in his favor. Heiberg first acknowledged Hjort's work for the resistance, but then wrote about the election in the lawyers' association: "As far as you are concerned, it would be enough for me not to vote for you that you had been a member of NS as late as 1937 and that you had still been so German-oriented (by which I do not mean odious) in the early days of the war as your statements in Tidens Tegn indicated." () Johan Bernhard Hjort was not convicted, but on the contrary was given full redress by the Lawyers' Association. But something remained: His actions before the war and in 1940. As late as 1954, he spoke out in Verdens Gang, where he wrote about his past in NS: "Is it not written somewhere that there should be greater joy over one sinner who repents than over many who never had the need for repentance?". In his view of the settlement, Hjort was in line with Johannes Andenæs and the newspaper Morgenbladet in what became known as the "silk front".


Post-war career

After the war, Hjort fought as a supreme court lawyer for the artistic freedom of controversial artists and for the natural legal rights of
homosexuals Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...
. In 1957, in one of the most famous and widely debated court cases in Norwegian post-war history, Hjort was the
defense lawyer A criminal defense lawyer is a lawyer (mostly barristers) specializing in the defense of individuals and companies charged with criminal activity. Some criminal defense lawyers are privately retained, while others are employed by the various ...
for novelist Agnar Mykle, who was accused of immoral and
obscene An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin , , "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Generally, the term can be used to indicate strong moral ...
writing in his books. Hjort was a long-term leader of Riksmålsforbundet, an association that fought for the free evolution of the
Norwegian language Norwegian ( ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken mainly in Norway, where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelli ...
, in the direction of
Riksmål (, also , ) is an unofficial written Norwegian language form or spelling standard, meaning the ''National Language'', closely related and now almost identical to the dominant form of Bokmål, known as . Both Bokmål and Riksmål evolved from t ...
. He was a prolific writer and lecturer and a frequent contributor to public debate. Among his books are ''Justismord'' (1952), ''Dømt med rette?'' (1958), and ''Demokrati og statsmakt'' (1963). He also translated Kipling's '' Just So Stories'' into Norwegian.


See also

* Wanda Hjort Heger, Hjort's eldest daughter


References

* Ivo de Figueiredo (2002): ''Fri mann'', Aschehoug (''Free Man'', in Norwegian); a biography of Hjort that won the
Brage Prize The Brage Prize (Norwegian: ''Brageprisen'') is a Norwegian literature prize that is awarded annually by the Norwegian Book Prize foundation (''Den norske bokprisen''). The prize recognizes recently published Norwegian literature. The Brage Pr ...
(comparable in Norway to a
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
) * Wanda Hjort Heger (1984): ''Hver fredag foran porten'', Gyldendal (''Every Friday at the gate'', in Norwegian), German edition (1989) ''Jeden Freitag vor dem Tor'' Schneekluth ; Hjort's daughter's story about the war years, the tracking down of concentration camps, and the planning and execution of the White Buses operation that successfully saved thousands of prisoners from the camps * Erling Kvamme (2007): ''The Bernadotte Operation, in the light of Johan Bernhard Hjort's forgotten role as its initiator'' (in Norwegian); ''Historie'' 1-07, pp. 34–39.


External links


The Hjort law firm
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hjort, Johan Bernhard 1895 births 1969 deaths Members of Nasjonal Samling Norwegian resistance members 20th-century Norwegian lawyers Nazi concentration camp survivors Norwegian LGBTQ rights activists World War II civilian prisoners