Erling Christian Foss (25 February 1897 – 15 June 1982) was a Danish civil engineer, famous for his contributions to the
Danish resistance movement
The Danish resistance movements ( da, Den danske modstandsbevægelse) were an underground insurgency to resist the German occupation of Denmark during World War II. Due to the initially lenient arrangements, in which the Nazi occupation autho ...
. As a result of contacts with
Ebbe Munck and the Danish army's intelligence service, he became involved with the resistance at an early stage of the German
occupation of Denmark
At the outset of World War II in September 1939, Denmark declared itself neutral. For most of the war, the country was a protectorate and then an occupied territory of Germany. The decision to occupy Denmark was taken in Berlin on 17 December ...
. In September 1943, he became a member of the
Danish Freedom Council
The Danish Freedom Council ( da, Danmarks Frihedsråd) was a clandestine body set up in September 1943 in response to growing political turmoil surrounding the occupation of Denmark by German forces during the Second World War.
Background
Techni ...
representing De Frie Danske.
In February 1944, he took up a mission in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
involving arms deliveries to the resistance and negotiations to have Denmark recognised as an Ally. He sent regular reports to
Christmas Møller who draw on them for
BBC broadcasts to Denmark.
After the war, he became active in the
Danish Conservative Party, supporting membership of
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
and relations with
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
.
Erling Christian Foss
from Gravested.DK. Retrieved 20 April 2008.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foss, Erling
Politicians from Copenhagen
Conservative People's Party (Denmark) politicians
Danish resistance members
1897 births
1982 deaths
Danish anti-communists
Burials at Mariebjerg Cemetery