Asbjørn Johan Bryhn (24 August 1906 – 21 January 1990) was a Norwegian police officer, known for his resistance work during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and later head of the Norwegian Police Surveillance Agency.

Personal life

Bryhn was born in

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such as Konne ...

as the son of teacher Johannes Bryhn and teacher Inga Marie Helgesen. He married teacher Karen Sørensen in 1938. He died in Oslo in 1990.

Career

Bryhn studied law at the

Royal Frederick University The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

from 1925, graduating in 1930. While being a student he was a member of the

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

and pacifist organization Clarté. From 1930 he worked in

Svolvær Svolvær () is the administrative centre of Vågan Municipality in Nordland County, Norway. It is located on the island of Austvågøya in the Lofoten archipelago, along the Vestfjorden. The town has a population (2018) of 4,720 which gives t ...

for two years, and later with the police in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) 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 ...

. After the

German occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...

, Bryhn served as assistant of Chief of Police of

Kristian Welhaven 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. He was a leading force in establishing an organized Norwegian intelligence service before World W ...

. When Welhaven was removed from his position, Bryhn and others started undercover intelligence work within the police corps. He was dismissed from the police in December 1941. From 1942 he became a leader of the police group of the undercover resistance group ''2A'', and cooperated closely with

Asbjørn Sunde Asbjørn Edvin Sunde (12 December 1909 – 23 April 1985) was a Norwegian politician for the Communist Party of Norway, communist partisan during the Spanish Civil War, saboteur against the Nazi occupation of Norway during the Second World Wa ...

. He fled to Sweden, where he built up surveillance and security service at

Norwegian legation in Stockholm The Norwegian Legation in Stockholm played a significant role during the Second World War. Until 9 April 1940 the legation consisted of four persons, and at the end of the war about 1,100 persons were connected to the legation. Refugee cases wer ...

. His main task was to control refugees and couriers from Norway, and he eventually became a controversial person at the legation. He was assistant secretary ( no, byråsjef) at the Ministry of Justice in the Norwegian exile government in London from 1943 to 1945. When the war ended in 1945 he became leader of the department which was responsible for the investigation of German criminals of war in Norway. From 1945 to 1957 he was a police inspector in Oslo. From 1957 to 1966 he was head of the Police Surveillance Agency ( no, Politiets Overvåkningstjeneste, POT). After a controversy with leader of the

Norwegian Intelligence Service The Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS) or Etterretningstjenesten (E-tjenesten) is a Norwegian military intelligence agency under the Chief of Defence and the Ministry of Defence. History Olav Njølstad says that the "stay-behind cooperation ...

Vilhelm Evang Vilhelm Andreas Wexelsen Evang (9 November 1909 – 5 January 1983) was a Norwegian military officer. He headed the military intelligence in Norway for almost twenty years, from 1946 to 1965. Personal life Evang was born in Aker as the son of ...

, when Bryhn arrested Evang's secretary and charged her for espionage for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, both Bryhn and Evang had to leave their positions. After Bryhn had left the service, Gunnar Haarstad became the next head of POT. Bryhn was Chief of Police of Bergen from 1967 to 1976.

Biography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryhn, Asbjoern 1906 births 1990 deaths People from Drammen University of Oslo alumni Norwegian resistance members Norwegian police chiefs Directors of government agencies of Norway