Harald Viggo Hansteen (13 September 1900 – 10 September 1941) 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 ...

lawyer. He was executed during the

Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany 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 ...

Biography

Harald Viggo Hansteen was born 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 of ...

, Norway. As a student he was a part of the establishment of the political organization Mot Dag. When cooperation between Mot Dag and the Norwegian Communist Party came to an end in 1929, he stayed in the Communist Party. He became a Supreme Court of Norway, Supreme Court advocate in 1933 and judicial consultant for the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions in 1936. In 1940 he went with the Norwegian Resistance#Asserting legitimacy of exiled Norwegian government, government in exile to London, but came back to Oslo in June. He contributed strongly to the prevention of the Nasjonal Samling's attempt to gain control of the Confederation of Trade Unions. Hansteen was executed on 10 September 1941 during the state of martial law which followed the so-called milk strike, Milk Strike (). The reason for the strike was that food supplies had become increasingly worse by September 1941. Also executed at the same time was labour activist Rolf Wickstrøm, who was the union steward and chairman for the union workers at the Skabo Jernbanevognfabrikk in Oslo. Hansteen and Wickstrøm were the first two Norwegian citizens executed by the German officials during the five-year occupation of Norway (1940–1945). After the liberation of Norway in 1945, Hansteen and Rolf Wickstrøm were buried in Vår Frelsers gravlund. Viggo Hansteen and Rolf Wickstrøm were honored by the naming of a section of road around Oslo which bears their names. In 1948, a memorial was erected in granite with a bronze relief at the site of Hansteen's execution at Årvoll in the Bjerke (borough), Bjerke district of

. The memorial was directed by Norwegian sculptor Nic Schiøll (1901–1984). It bears the following inscription:

Personal life

In 1930, he married Kirsten Hansteen (1903–1974). In 1945, she was appointed Minister of Social Affairs in Einar Gerhardsen's coalition government. She was Norway's first female cabinet member.

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External links

Photograph gallery at Oslo Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansteen, Viggo 1900 births 1941 deaths Communist Party of Norway politicians Norwegian communists People executed by Nazi Germany by firing squad Burials at the Cemetery of Our Saviour Deaths by firearm in Norway Norwegian civilians killed in World War II Norwegian people executed by Nazi Germany Executed Norwegian people Resistance members killed by Nazi Germany Mot Dag