Johannes Kvittingen, sometimes called Johs. Kvittingen (20 February 1906 – 13 January 1996) was a Norwegian bacteriologist and chief physician in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

, and

resistance Resistance may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Either of two similarly named but otherwise unrelated comic book series, both published by Wildstorm: ** ''Resistance'' (comics), based on the video game of the same title ** ''T ...

member 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 ...

. He was a microbacteriologist, and worked at the Bacteriological Laboratory of the Norwegian Army before World War II. When Germany

invaded An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

and occupied Norway in 1940, the laboratory was closed. Kvittingen fled the country to conduct resistance work abroad. In

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

he worked with medicinal services for Norwegians in exile. Among others, he contributed to drastically improve the treatment of

venereal disease Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and oral se ...

s in seamen, reducing the convalescence from months to weeks. Kvittingen had become known among the British when securing the retreat of four British troops gone astray in Norwegian mountains in May 1940. He had experience from 1935 in Italian-occupied Ethiopia, where he led the retreat of a failed Norwegian "expedition". Thus, in the autumn of 1940 he was asked to be head recruiter of Norwegian agents for the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

. He has been credited with recruiting Martin Linge as an SOE agent, but that particular suggestion really came from Olav Rytter in correspondence with Kvittingen. After the war, Kvittingen returned to microbiology, and also expanded his interest to other medical fields. In 1952 he became chief physician at Trondheim Central Hospital. He was decorated with the

HM The King's Medal of Merit The King's Medal of Merit (Norwegian: ''Kongens fortjenstmedalje'') is a Norwegian award. It was instituted in 1908 to reward meritorious achievements in the fields of art, science, business, and public service. It is divided in two classes: gold ...

and the

Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

as well as foreign orders of merit, and died in January 1996.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kvittingen, Johannes 1906 births 1996 deaths Norwegian bacteriologists Norwegian resistance members Norwegian Special Operations Executive personnel Norwegian expatriates in the United Kingdom Recipients of the King's Medal of Merit