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| Osvald Group | |
|---|---|
| Leaders | Asbjørn Sunde |
| Dates of operation | 1940–1944 |
| Active regions | Norway |
| Size | Around 150 saboteurs and helpers (1944) |
| Allies | Communist Party of Norway, Milorg, XU, SOE, 2A |
| Opponents | Nazi Germany, Nasjonal Samling |
| Battles and wars | Sabotage, assassinations |
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.[1][2][3] Numbering more than 200 members, it committed at least 110 acts of sabotage against Nazi occupying forces and the collaborationist government of Vidkun Quisling.[1][4][note 1] The organisation is perhaps best known for conducting the first act of resistance against the German occupation of Norway, when on 2 February 1942, it detonated a bomb at Oslo East Station in protest against Quisling's inauguration as Minister-President.
The Osvald Group was originally the Norwegian branch of the "Organisation Against Fascism and in Support of the USSR", better known as the Wollweber League, an anti-fascist group founded in 1936 by German communist Ernst Wollweber, with the support and direction of the Soviet secret police, the NKVD. Norwegian communist Martin Rasmussen Hjelmen was its first leader, whose pseudonym Osvald became the group's namesake.[5] Following Hjelmen's arrest in 1938[dubious – discuss] by Swedish authorities, Asbjørn Sunde, who used Osvald as a cover name, led the group through the end of the German occupation. The Osvald Group became independent in 1940 after the Wollweber League dissolved following Wollweber's arrest.[5]
- ^ a b Lars Borgersrud (2013-11-13). "I spissen for sabotasjekampen". Aftenposten. p. 5.
- ^ Borgersrud, Lars (1995). "Osvald-gruppen". In Hans Fredrik Dahl (ed.). Norsk krigsleksikon 1940-45 (in Norwegian). Oslo: Cappelen. pp. 319–320. ISBN 82-02-14138-9. Archived from the original on 2010-01-05. Retrieved 2008-09-15.
- ^ Borgersrud, Lars (1995). "Sunde, Asbjørn". In Hans Fredrik Dahl (ed.). Norsk krigsleksikon 1940–45 (in Norwegian). Oslo: Cappelen. pp. 404–405. ISBN 82-02-14138-9. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2008-09-15.
- ^ Guri Kulås (2015-02-16). "Rettssaka mot Asbjørn Sunde har vorte tema for ny dramadokumentar: Kaldkrigsdrama". Klassekampen. p. 24.
- ^ a b Uklart om likvidasjoner
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