Svein Lavik Blindheim (29 August 1916 – 17 March 2013) was a Norwegian military officer, known for his resistance work 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 ...

Personal life

Blindheim was born in

Voss Voss () is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality and a Districts of Norway, traditional district in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Vossevangen. Other villages inclu ...

as a son of educator Severin Nicolai Blindheim (1890–1925) and teacher Ragna Lavik (1891–1976). He was a maternal grandson of Andres Lavik, and thus a grandnephew of

Andreas Andreas () is a name derived from the Greek noun ἀνήρ ''anēr'', with genitive ἀνδρός ''andros'', which means "man". See the article on Andrew for more information. The Scandinavian name is earliest attested as antreos in a runeston ...

, Dore and Johannes Lavik and nephew of Nils Lavik. From 1945 to 1970, he was married to British citizen Joan Mary Tindale.

Career

Before the Second World War he took education in

Askim Askim () is a town and a former municipality in (from January 1, 2020) Indre Østfold municipality in the county of Østfold, Norway. The administrative centre of the Askim municipality was the town of Askim. Askim was established as a municip ...

, and competed in middle-distance running and skiing for the local sports club Askim IF. He took military education at Terningmoen. He participated in the Battle of Fossum Bridge of the Norwegian Campaign, and was later a member of the

Special Operations Executive Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local Resistance during World War II, resistance movements during World War II. ...

branch Norwegian Independent Company 1. In 1944, he initiated and was the first leader of the sabotage group Aks 13000. He was decorated with the War Cross with Sword and the War Medal with one Star for his war contributions. Politically he aligned with the Liberal Party in the post-war period. In the 1961 parliamentary election he was a minor ballot candidate for the party. In 1966, he was released from the Armed Forces after having criticized Norway's nuclear politics. In 1978, he was convicted to 75 days imprisonment for revealing espionage operations in the Soviet Union during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, even though the revealed information was made public by Finnish agents in a Finnish newspaper years before Blindheim.

Selected works

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References

1916 births 2013 deaths People from Voss Norwegian male middle-distance runners Norwegian Army personnel of World War II Norwegian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Norway Norwegian Special Operations Executive personnel Recipients of the War Cross with Sword (Norway) Sportspeople from Vestland 20th-century Norwegian sportsmen {{Norway-mil-bio-stub