Josef Monsrud (29 May 1922, in

Lunner Lunner is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hadeland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Roa, Norway, ...

Oppland Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The ...

– 12 December 2009) was a Norwegian forester and resistance member 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 ...

. He hailed from

Harestua Harestua is a town in Lunner, Lunner kommune, Akershus, Akershus county, Norway. It has 2318 inhabitants. Harestua is located 46 kilometeres north of Oslo, and functions as a commuter town to the capital. It is served by Harestua Station on the Gj ...

. At the age of twenty he joined the resistance

Osvald Group The Osvald Group was a Norwegian organisation that was the most active World War II resistance group in Norway from 1941 to the summer of 1944. Numbering more than 200 members, it committed at least 110 acts of sabotage against Nazi occupying fo ...

. He went through some initial training and performed sabotage missions in

Hadeland Hadeland () is a traditional district in the southeastern part of Norway. It is centered on the southern part of the large lake Randsfjorden in Innlandet and Akershus counties. The district consists of the municipalities Gran in Innlandet cou ...

before being hired as a guard in 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 ...

. The party was strictly illegal, and had a secret base in

Hemsedal Hemsedal is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Buskerud Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hallingdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Trøym ...

. On 30 October 1942 the guard hut was attacked by German soldiers and Monsrud and fellow resistance fighter Finn Eriksen were captured. Monsrud was incarcerated at

Grini Grini is a district in northeastern Bærum, Norway. Concentration camp The name Grini is best known from the concentration camp of the same name, but this camp lay further west and had no actual connection to the Grini area. History The name ...

from 2 to 24 November, then at

Møllergata 19 Møllergata 19 is an address in Oslo, Norway, where the city's main police station and jail was located. The address gained notoriety during the German occupation from 1940 to 1945, when the Nazi security police kept its headquarters here. This ...

until February 1943. He went through torture, but survived. Finn Eriksen, who had suffered a gunshot wound, died of the trauma three months later. The Osvald Group later split with the Communist Party, and Monsrud joined

Milorg Milorg (abbreviation of militær organisasjon – military organization) was the main Norwegian resistance movement during World War II. Resistance work included intelligence gathering, sabotage, supply-missions, raids, espionage, transport of ...

, working for the

Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (MI numbers, Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of Human i ...

with the illegal radio transmitter ''Gullfaks''. Named after

Gullfaxi Gullfaxi (Old Norse: ) is a horse in Norse mythology. Its name means "golden mane". It was originally owned by Hrungnir, and was later given to Magni by Thor as a reward for lifting off the leg of Hrungnir, which lay over the unconscious Thor an ...

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

, ''Gullfaks'' was operated from different places in Bærumsmarka and

Nordmarka Nordmarka is the mostly forested region which makes up the northern part of Oslo, Norway. Nordmarka is the largest and most central part of Oslomarka. The area called Nordmarka also extends into the municipalities of Hole, Ringerike, Lunner, ...

until the liberation of 8 May 1945. For his efforts the mountain Monsrudnabben in the Heimefrontfjella range in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

was named in his honour. After the war Monsrud took forester's education at

Kongsberg Kongsberg () is a historical mining town and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The city is located on the river Numedalslågen at the entrance to the valley of Numedal. Kongsberg has been a centre of silver mining, arms production and fo ...

. In 1949 he started working as a forester for Oslo municipality. He was eventually promoted to municipal consultant for wild game. He lived in

Maridalen Maridalen is a valley in the north of Oslo, Norway, just above the suburb of Kjelsås. Considering that Maridalen is within the Oslo city limits, this area has a very low population density. The valley consists of forests, lakes and agricultural ...

. He struggled throughout his life with nightmares caused by war and torture, and died in December 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monsrud, Josef 1922 births 2009 deaths People from Lunner Norwegian foresters Norwegian resistance members Osvald Group Norwegian torture victims Grini concentration camp survivors