Kristian Welhaven

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Kristian Welhaven
Kristian Welhaven, ca. 1930–40
Born(1883-10-11)11 October 1883
Kristiania
Died27 July 1975(1975-07-27) (aged 91)
Oslo
Occupation(s)Chief of Police
Jurist
Known forChief of Police in Oslo for 27 years
Spouse
Margit Aagaard
​
(m. 1917)​
Relatives
Order of Dannebrog
Sweden Order of Vasa
Sweden Order of the Polar Star

Kristian Welhaven (11 October 1883 – 27 July 1975) was a Norwegian police officer. He was chief of police of Oslo for 27 years, from 1927 to 1954.[1] He was a leading force in establishing an organized Norwegian intelligence service before World War II, and in re-establishing it after the war. During the war years Welhaven was arrested by the Germans and imprisoned in both Norway and Germany, before spending the remainder of the war as a civilian internee in Bavaria.

Personal life

Welhaven was born in

Georg Ossian Sars, Ernst Sars and Eva Nansen). In addition to these three he was a first cousin of Hjalmar Welhaven. He died in Oslo in 1975.[2]

Pre-war career

Welhaven

cand.jur. degree in 1907. He worked in Tana, Tromsø and Kristiania until he was appointed Chief of Police in Rjukan in 1916. He became Chief of Police of Oslo in 1927, and held this position until 1954, except for the war years.[2]

He was chairman of Statens Idrettsråd from 1936 to 1940.[2]

One of Welhaven's keen interests was surveillance and intelligence gathering, and he was central in establishing the Oslo police force's surveillance department before the war.[3] Amongst the people that Welhaven wanted to keep under surveillance was the Norwegian communist Viggo Hansteen.[4] Another group deemed as worthy of surveillance was the Romani, Welhaven responding to a pre-war request from the Gypsy registry in Vienna that as soon as a national registry had been established in Norway it would be sent to Vienna.[5]

World War II

Early phase

At the outbreak of

Hague Conventions on the laws of war. The same announcements warned that francs-tireurs taking part in irregular fighting would be punishable by death in a court-martial. The concern of Welhaven and the other dignitaries was that Norwegians would not know the regulations of the Hague Conventions nor understand the concept of being francs-tireurs, and be then court martialled by the Germans [13] Among Welhaven's other actions following the German invasion was to order the Norwegian surveillance archives destroyed by burning.[14]

Under German occupation

During the occupation, Welhaven refused to cooperate with the

Gross Kreutz outside Berlin by Johan Bernhard Hjort, whose family had also been interned in Germany during the war years, and in April they were brought to Sweden as part of the White Buses operation.[23][24]

"It has been my life to be the chief of this corps!
(Welhaven at the day of his retirement as the chief of the Oslo police force.).[quote 1][2]"

Post-war career

After World War II Welhaven worked with rebuilding the police force of Oslo, being its leader until his retirement in 1954.[25] Welhaven used his influence to ensure that the post-war purge of the Norwegian police force was as gentle as possible.[26]

In addition to ordinary police work he was instrumental in the establishment of a national surveillance organization. In the early post-war days surveillance operations were carried out by individuals outside of government control, and by Western intelligence services.[3] The national organization that Welhaven built together with chief of surveillance Asbjørn Bryhn was based around the Oslo police service and led by Welhaven himself.[27]

He was decorated as a Commander of the

Order of Dannebrog and the Swedish Order of Vasa and Order of the Polar Star.[2]

Notes

  1. ^ Norwegian: Det har vært mitt liv å være sjef for dette korps!

References

  1. Store norske leksikon
    (in Norwegian). Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Jørgensen, Jørn-Kr. "Kristian Welhaven". In Helle, Knut (ed.). Norsk biografisk leksikon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  3. ^
    ISBN 82-02-12930-3
    .
  4. ISBN 82-03-26002-0
    .
  5. ISBN 82-03-26101-9
    .
  6. ISBN 82-521-3931-0
    .
  7. ISBN 82-05-10553-7
    .
  8. ^ Bjørnson 1977: 251
  9. ^ Bjørnson 1977: 192
  10. ^ Bjørnson 1977: 251-252, 290
  11. ISBN 82-7009-289-4
    .
  12. ISBN 82-00-21564-4
    .
  13. ISBN 82-02-03929-0. Kringkastingen ble tatt i bruk med skrekkmeldinger om at 'enhver franktirør vil i framtida bli uoppholdelig dømt og skutt', fulgt av utførlige sitater fra bestemmelsene i Haag-konvensjonens landkrigsreglement signert for anledningen av riksadvokat Haakon Sund, ordfører Trygve Nilsen og politimester Welhaven. {{cite book}}: External link in |quote= (help
    )
  14. ISBN 82-02-14138-9
    .
  15. ISBN 82-03-16155-3
    .
  16. ^ Seip, Didrik Arup (1946). Hjemme og i fiendeland (in Norwegian). Oslo: Gyldendal. p. 116.
  17. ISBN 82-7010-166-4
    .
  18. ISBN 82-00-22372-8
    .
  19. ^ Giertsen, Børre R., ed. (1946). "654. Welhaven, Kristian". Norsk fangeleksikon. Grinifangene (in Norwegian). Oslo: Cappelen. p. 25.
  20. ^ Ottosen 1995: 63
  21. ISBN 82-02-14138-9
    . Retrieved 30 January 2010.
  22. ^ Seip 1946: pp 487-489
  23. ^ Seip 1946: pp. 591-592
  24. ^ Heger, Wanda (1995) [1984]. Hver fredag foran porten (in Norwegian) (2 ed.). Oslo: Gyldendal. p. 191.
  25. ^ Andersen 1992: 240
  26. ISBN 82-456-0627-8
    .
  27. ^ Andersen 1992: 239-240
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kristian_Welhaven&oldid=1194057253"