Jon Asbjørn Vislie (8 October 1896 – 9 February 1945) was a Norwegian lawyer who was executed during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. He was born in

Kristiania 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 ...

as the son of educationalist and writer

Vetle Vislie Vetle Vislie (21 September 1858 – 7 February 1933) was a Norwegian educationalist and writer. He was born in Skafså as a son of farmer Gjermund Vetleson Vislie (1825–1903) and Anne Larsdotter Mandt (1818–1904). He made his debut as a playwri ...

and his

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conte ...

n wife Gerda, née Annerlöv. Jon Vislie married and had two children, and the family had settled in

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...

. Vislie had taken an education in law, and was a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

with access to

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

cases. When

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 ...

reached Norway in 1940, Vislie eventually became an economic supporter of the

Norwegian resistance movement The Norwegian resistance (Norwegian: ''Motstandsbevegelsen'') to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began after Operation Weserübung in 1940 and ended in 1945. It took several forms: *Asserting the legitimacy of the exiled government, ...

. He also helped refugees. When the Nazi police leader

Karl Marthinsen Karl Alfred Nicolai Marthinsen (sometimes spelled Karl ''Martinsen'') (25 October 1896 – 8 February 1945) was the Norway, Norwegian commander of Statspolitiet and Sikkerhetspolitiet in Norway during the Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, ...

was assassinated by the Norwegian resistance on 8 February 1945, Vislie was arrested together with thirty-three others, including Carl Ferdinand Gjerdrum, Haakon Sæthre and

Kaare Sundby Kaare Sundby (1 January 1905 – 9 February 1945) was a Norwegian engineer who was executed during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. He was born in Modum as the son of veterinarian Theodor Sundby and his wife Gullaug, née Bjertnes. Su ...

, as a

reprisal A reprisal is a limited and deliberate violation of international law to punish another sovereign state that has already broken them. Since the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (AP 1), reprisals in the laws of war are extremel ...

. Vislie was immediately convicted by a

court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

, and executed on Akershus Fortress on 9 February. His body was lowered in the

Oslofjord The Oslofjord (, ; en, Oslo Fjord) is an inlet in the south-east of Norway, stretching from an imaginary line between the and lighthouses and down to in the south to Oslo in the north. It is part of the Skagerrak strait, connecting the Nor ...

References

1896 births 1945 deaths 20th-century Norwegian lawyers Norwegian people of Swedish descent Norwegian people executed by Nazi Germany Norwegian civilians killed in World War II People executed by Nazi Germany by firing squad Lawyers from Oslo People from Bærum People who were court-martialed {{norway-law-bio-stub