Johan Bernhard Hjort (25 February 1895 – 24 February 1969) 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 ...

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 ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicit ...

. Having joined the law firm of

Harald Nørregaard Harald Nørregaard (30 May 1864 in Vestre Aker – 5 April 1938) was a Norwegian supreme court advocate (''høyesterettsadvokat''), i.e. a lawyer with the right to appear before the Supreme Court of Norway. He founded the law firm now known as A ...

in 1932, he continued the firm after

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

as Advokatfirmaet Hjort, which today is one of Norway's leading law firms. Hjort was also noted for his involvement with the

fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

party,

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 ...

, in the 1930s, but left the party in 1937 and became an active member of the anti-Nazi resistance during World War II. He was imprisoned by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

and is credited with saving the lives of many prisoners through his involvement with the

White Buses White Buses was a Swedish humanitarian operation with the objective of freeing Scandinavians in German concentration camps in Nazi Germany during the final stages of World War II. Although the White Buses operation was envisioned to rescue Scan ...

. After World War II, he rose to become one of Norway's preeminent lawyers, and was noted for his defence of

gay rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , ...

and controversial artists, as chairman of the Riksmålsforbundet language society, and as a liberal public figure.

Background

He was the son of marine biologist,

oceanographer Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

, and director of

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, ...

, Johan Hjort.

Political involvement in the 1930s

On 17 May (Norway's annual celebratory holiday) 1933, with

Vidkun Quisling Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling (, ; 18 July 1887 – 24 October 1945) was a Norwegian military officer, politician and Nazi collaborator who nominally list of heads of government of Norway, headed the government of Norway during t ...

he founded the

, a political party based on Germany's Nazi Party. He and Quisling devised a programme of mostly very right-wing policies that included the outlawing of revolutionary parties (such as those funded by foreign bodies like Comintern), the suspension of the voting rights for people in receipt of social welfare, agricultural debt relief and an audit of public finances. Hjort became leader of the Hirden, the paramilitary wing of the Nasjonal Samling party that was modeled on the German

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; literally "Storm Detachment") was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi ralli ...

, the Nazi "Brownshirts". In 1937 Hjort broke with Quisling and left Nasjonal Samling.

Resistance during World War II

After the German occupation in 1940, Hjort held lectures in the German-controlled

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the larges ...

, alongside individuals like

Albert Wiesener Albert Wiesener (3 January 1902 – 27 June 1986) was a Norwegian lawyer. He graduated with the cand.jur. degree in 1925, he studied in Berlin from 1926 and 1927. He joined the Norwegian Fascist party Nasjonal Samling (NS), which was establish ...

, Jonas Lie, and Ranik Halle. Dahl, Hans Fredrik (1978) (in Norwegian). ''"Dette er London". NRK i krig 1940–1945''. Oslo: Cappelen. p. 185. . He was arrested by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

in 1941 on the orders of

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 E ...

, the German Reichskommissar for Norway, after Hjort published a scholarly article in a journal of Norwegian law that openly criticised the

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...

. He was imprisoned, first 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 ...

and then in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

. After being released, Hjort and his family carried out important resistance work in Germany, playing a crucial role in the first stages of the

operation. It is estimated that this operation saved 15,345 prisoners from death in concentration and prisoner

camps Camps may refer to: People *Ramón Camps (1927–1994), Argentine general *Gabriel Camps (1927–2002), French historian *Luís Espinal Camps (1932–1980), Spanish missionary to Bolivia * Victoria Camps (b. 1941), Spanish philosopher and professo ...

; of these, 7,795 were

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and S ...

n. In particular, 423

Danish Jews The history of the Jews in Denmark goes back to the 1600s. At present, the Jewish community of Denmark constitutes a small minority of about 6,000 persons within Danish society. The community's population peaked prior to the Holocaust at whi ...

were saved from the

Theresienstadt concentration camp Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination ca ...

inside German-occupied territory of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, contributing significantly to the fact that the casualties among Danish Jews during the Holocaust were among the lowest of the occupied countries of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Post-war career

After the war, Hjort fought as a supreme court lawyer for the artistic freedom of controversial artists and for the natural legal rights of

homosexuals Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

. In 1957, in one of the most famous and widely debated court cases in Norwegian post-war history, Hjort was the defense lawyer for novelist

Agnar Mykle Agnar Mykle (8 August 1915 – 15 January 1994) was a Norwegian author. He became one of the most controversial figures in Norwegian literature in the 20th century. Early life Born in Norway's third largest city, Trondheim, Mykle was often ...

, who was accused of

immoral Immorality is the violation of moral laws, norms or standards. It refers to an agent doing or thinking something they know or believe to be wrong. Immorality is normally applied to people or actions, or in a broader sense, it can be applied to gr ...

and

obscene An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be us ...

writing in his books. Hjort was a long-term leader of Riksmålsforbundet, an association that fought for the free evolution of the

Norwegian language Norwegian ( no, norsk, links=no ) is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Norway, where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and r ...

, in the direction of

Riksmål (, also , ) is a written Norwegian language form or spelling standard, meaning the ''National Language'', closely related and now almost identical to the dominant form of Bokmål, known as . Both Bokmål and Riksmål evolved from the Danish wri ...

. He was a prolific writer and lecturer and a frequent contributor to public debate. Among his books are ''Justismord'' (1952), ''Dømt med rette?'' (1958), and ''Demokrati og statsmakt'' (1963). He also translated Kipling's ''

Just So Stories ''Just So Stories for Little Children'' is a 1902 collection of origin stories by the British author Rudyard Kipling. Considered a classic of children's literature, the book is among Kipling's best known works. Kipling began working on the ...

'' into

References

* Ivo de Figueiredo (2002): ''Fri mann'', Aschehoug (''Free Man'', in Norwegian); a biography of Hjort that won the

Brage Prize The Brage Prize (Norwegian: ''Brageprisen'') is a Norwegian literature prize that is awarded annually by the Norwegian Book Prize foundation (''Den norske bokprisen''). The prize recognizes recently published Norwegian literature. The Brage Priz ...

(comparable in Norway to a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...

) *

(1984): ''Hver fredag foran porten'', Gyldendal (''Every Friday at the gate'', in Norwegian), German edition (1989) ''Jeden Freitag vor dem Tor'' Schneekluth ; Hjort's daughter's story about the war years, the tracking down of concentration camps, and the planning and execution of the

operation that successfully saved thousands of prisoners from the camps * Erling Kvamme (2007): ''The Bernadotte Operation, in the light of Johan Bernhard Hjort's forgotten role as its initiator'' (in Norwegian); ''Historie'' 1-07, pp. 34–39.

External links