Otto Sverdrup Engelschiøn (30 October 1902 – 8 May 1982) was a Norwegian marketer, businessperson, resistance member and genealogist. He was born in

Kristiania 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, an ...

as a son of consul-general Søren Dass Brodtkorb Sverdrup Engelschiøn (1867–1909) and Janka Hansen (1869–1935). In 1928 he married Gudrun Irgens Garmann. Engelschiøn finished his secondary education in 1922 and graduated from the

Royal Frederick University The University of Oslo (; ) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick University, the university was established in 1811 as the de facto Norwegian conti ...

with the

cand.jur. Candidate ( or ) is the name of various academic degrees, which are today mainly awarded in Scandinavia. The degree title was phased out in much of Europe through the 1999 Bologna Process, which has re-formatted academic degrees in Europe. The de ...

degree in 1926. He was an attorney from 1927, and also director of I. Sverdrup Engelschiøn which had the rights to distribute Swedish Tomten products in Norway. In 1929 it was merged with

Norsk Barnengens Tekniske Fabrik Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *Norwegian language, including the two ...

. Engelschiøn spent the rest of his career in the company, from 1929 as director of the sales and marketing department and from 1948 to 1968 as co-owner. In the 1930s he was a member of

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 ...

. He left the party in the 1937 party split, continuing though in the '' Ragnarok'' group around national socialist Hans S. Jacobsen, and edited the magazine ''Ragnarok'' in 1940. In 1940, however, Norway was

invaded An invasion is a military offensive of combatants of one geopolitical entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory controlled by another similar entity, often involving acts of aggression. Generally, invasions have objectives of co ...

and occupied by Nazi Germany. Engelschiøn joined the resistance movement and was the head of intelligence in

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 ...

's District 13, Division 3 (

Asker Asker (), also called Asker proper (''Askerbygda'' or ''gamle Asker'' in Norwegian), is a district and former Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus, Norway, located approximately 20km southwest of Oslo. From 2020 it is part of the ...

and

Bærum Bærum () is a list of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Akershus County, Norway. It forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a populatio ...

) from 1943 to 1945. He received the

Defence Medal 1940–1945 The Defence Medal 1940–1945 () is the award rewarded to those military and civilian personnel who participated in the fight against the German invasion and occupation of Norway between 1940 and 1945. The Defence Medal 1940–1945 can be award ...

with rosette. Engelschiøn chaired the Norwegian Genealogical Society from 1957 to 1968, and thereafter served as deputy chairman. He was also a

bibliophile A bookworm or bibliophile is an individual who loves and frequently reads or collects books. Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Bibliophiles may have large, specialized book collections. They may highly value old editions, aut ...

, chairing Bibliofilklubben twice as well as the contest jury for the Most Beautiful Book of the Year. Engelschiøn also issued a crime novel under a pseudonym. He resided in Bærum. He died in 1982 and was buried at

Haslum Haslum is a district in the municipality of Bærum, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Engelschioen, Otto Sverdrup 1902 births 1982 deaths Businesspeople from Oslo University of Oslo alumni 20th-century Norwegian lawyers Norwegian marketing people 20th-century Norwegian businesspeople Members of Nasjonal Samling Norwegian magazine editors Norwegian resistance members Norwegian crime writers Norwegian genealogists Norwegian bibliophiles People from Bærum 20th-century Norwegian novelists 20th-century Norwegian writers 20th-century Norwegian historians