Harald Damsleth (August 16, 1906 – March 1, 1971) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

and ad-man. He is best known for his posters for

Nasjonal Samling Nasjonal Samling (, NS; ) was a Norwegian far-right political party active from 1933 to 1945. It was the only legal party of Norway from 1942 to 1945. It was founded by former minister of defence Vidkun Quisling and a group of supporters such a ...

(NS) 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 opposin ...

Early life and work

Born in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, Harald Damsleth had a Norwegian father and German mother. His father soon returned to Norway to work at Fredrikstad Mekaniske Verksted, whereas Harald Damsleth lived with his mother until the age of eleven. Upon his mother's death in 1917, Damsleth moved to Norway to grow up with his godfather, bank director

Erling Sandberg Erling Sandberg (3 August 1879 – 30 June 1956) was a Norwegian banker and politician. He was born in New York City. He was an office manager in the Bank of Norway from 1918 to 1919 and deputy chairman from 1919 to 1920. He became chief executiv ...

. During a study tenure in Germany from 1929 to 1931, Damsleth met the German citizen Liselotte Friedmann, whom he engaged to marry. She did not move to Norway until 1935. During his younger days, Damsleth was primarily a professional in the field of advertising. He worked for several

advertising agencies An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally ...

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 of ...

before taking over ''Myres reklamebyrå'' and in 1939 ''Heroldens annonsebyrå''. In addition to advertising, he drew book covers, postcards, posters for the

Norwegian Mountain Touring Association The Norwegian Trekking Association ( no, Den norske turistforening, DNT) is a Norwegian association which maintains mountain trails and cabins in Norway. The association was founded on 21 January 1868 with the scope "to help and develop tourism i ...

and more. However, Damsleth did nurture antipathies for socialism, and was a Norwegian nationalist. His illustrations were inspired by the Norwegian scenery and healthy, blonde people (

Arne Skouen Arne Skouen (18 October 1913 – 24 May 2003) was a Norwegian journalist, author, film director and film producer. Biography Arne Skouen was born in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway. His parents were Peder Nikolai Skouen (1883-1978) and Jenny ...

once described him as a "specialist on

Aryan Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...

facial traits"). On the other hand, he was to a degree inspired by

modernist art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the trad ...

. He was involved in

Fedrelandslaget The Fatherland League ( no, Fedrelandslaget) was a Norwegian right-wing, anti-communist political organisation in the interwar period. Founded in 1925, the movement aimed to unite all centre-to-right forces against the rise of the revolutionar ...

for some time, and joined

, the Norwegian Fascist Party, already in 1933, its foundation year. He did not actually pay the membership fee until 1939, but upon the

German invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week afte ...

that year, he invigorated his support for the party, and paid the fees for the years 1933 to 1939.

World War II

Norway was invaded by Germany in 1940, and

occupied ' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October 2 ...

for the following five years. Erling Sandberg was eventually appointed to

Josef Terboven Josef Terboven (23 May 1898 – 8 May 1945) was a Nazi Party official and politician who was the long-serving ''Gauleiter'' of Gau Essen and the ''Reichskommissar'' for Norway during the German occupation. Early life Terboven was born in Essen ...

Council of State A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...

, and Harald Damsleth began receiving assignments for

public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...

s in April 1940, shortly after the German invasion of Norway. From October the same year ''Herolden'' was given a monopoly on state announcements. Damsleth also designed nearly all

stamp Stamp or Stamps or Stamping may refer to: Official documents and related impressions * Postage stamp, used to indicate prepayment of fees for public mail * Ration stamp, indicating the right to rationed goods * Revenue stamp, used on documents to ...

s issued in Norway between 1940 and 1945. Among the stamps designed by Damsleth were the three stamps of the shipwreck series commemorating civilian Norwegian passenger ships lost to allied attack. The ships portrayed on the stamps were SS ''Barøy'', SS ''Irma'' and SS ''Sanct Svithun''. His monopoly was not only caused by the national socialist sympathies nurtured by employees in ''Herolden'', but also because other advertising agencies boycotted the occupant regime. At the same time, Damsleth lost his professional contact with

publishing house Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

s. Damsleth prolifically produced

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

posters, almost 200 in all. He drifted away from modernism, a style considered "

degenerate Degeneracy, degenerate, or degeneration may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Degenerate (album), ''Degenerate'' (album), a 2010 album by the British band Trigger the Bloodshed * Degenerate art, a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party i ...

" by national socialists, and painted in a more naturalistic style. At the beginning of the war, his posters depicted normal, working people. However, near the end of the war, the posters began expressing military and war themes, including strong

Russophobic Anti-Russian sentiment, commonly referred to as Russophobia, is dislike or fear of Russia, the Russians, Russian culture. or Russian policy. The Collins English Dictionary defines it as intense and often irrational hatred of Russia. It is the ...

sentiments. Damsleth was also a war reporter for

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

, and had a stay at the Eastern Front in 1942.

Post-war career

Damsleth was tried in a court on 15 May 1945, only a week after the

liberation 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 the ...

. He pleaded not guilty of treason. He was unaware of the actions conducted by national socialist authorities. In 1950, Damsleth was

sentenced Sentenced was a Finnish gothic metal band that played melodic death metal in their early years. The band formed in 1989 in the town of Muhos and broke up in 2005. History Early years (1988–1991) Sentenced started in 1988 as Deformity and c ...

to five years of hard labor for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

committed during World War II, but was pardoned after two years served. After the War, Damsleth returned to politically neutral work, illustrating book covers and

postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...

s, including many with '' nisse'' motifs. The books covers ranged from Christian books,

pulp novels Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

, and collection items called ''glansbilder''. He also experimented with

psychedelic art Psychedelic art (also known as psychedelia) is art, graphics or visual displays related to or inspired by psychedelic experiences and hallucinations known to follow the ingestion of psychedelic drugs such as LSD, psilocybin, and DMT. The word "p ...

. He died in 1971.

References

External links

Comprehensive biography and overview of Damsleth's work as an illustrator
{{DEFAULTSORT:Damsleth, Harald 1906 births 1971 deaths Fatherland League (Norway) Members of Nasjonal Samling Norwegian cartoonists Norwegian people of German descent Artists from Bremen War correspondents of World War II Norwegian war correspondents Recipients of Norwegian royal pardons People convicted of treason for Nazi Germany against Norway 20th-century Norwegian writers