basement level where the heavy water was collected and stored.
(ON, 4/07, p.5)
1943 Gustav Vigeland (b.1869),
Norwegian sculptor, died. His major life's work was the creation of
212 sculptures of 600 figures in an Oslo park named Vigeland Park.
(SSFC, 6/22/03, p.A1)
1944 Jan 23, Edvard Munch
(b.1863), Norwegian painter and hopeless alcoholic, died. His work
included “Kiss by the Window" (1892), “The Scream" (1893) and “Self
Portrait With Cigarette" (1895). He had a breakdown in 1908 and
retreated to Ekely, where he painted for his remaining years. He
left behind a collection 1,008 paintings at his estate outside Oslo.
In 2005 Sue Prideaux authored “Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream."
(WSJ, 4/16/02, p.D7)(SSFC, 12/18/05, p.M2)(Sm,
3/06, p.60)(WSJ, 2/25/09, p.D7)
1944 Feb 20, A time-bomb
planted by Norwegian commando Knut Haukelid sank the Lake Tinn ferry
Hydro, which carried heavy water canisters from the Vemork plant
destined for Germany. 12 German soldiers and 14 civilian passengers
drowned. Rescuers saved 23 Norwegians and 4 Germans.
(ON, 4/07, p.5)
1944 Nov 12, The RAF sank the
German battleship Tirpitz at Troms Fjord, Norway. Great Britain so
feared the Tripitz, that any hint of its use caused escort ships to
flee their convoys.
(HN, 11/12/98)(MC, 11/12/01)
1944 Odd Nerdrum, Norwegian
figurative artist, was born. He made haunting oils of eerily
(WSJ, 3/19/97, p.A16)(www.oddnerdrum.com)
1945 Feb 9, The German
submarine U-864 with a crew of 73 sank about 2 1/2 miles off Fedje,
Norway. It was on a desperate mission to supply Japan with advanced
weapons technology and carried a poisonous cargo of 70 tons of
mercury. Leakage of the mercury posed a severe threat in 2006 and
plans were made to encase the wreck. In 2007 Norway’s government
said it would be buried in special sand to protect the coastline.
(AP, 12/20/06)(AP, 2/13/07)
1945 May 9, Norwegian Nazi
collaborator Vidkun Quisling was arrested.
1945 Sep 10, Vidkun Quisling
was sentenced to death in Norway for collaborating with the Nazis.
He was executed by firing squad in October 1945.
1945 Oct 24, Vidkun Quisling,
Norway's wartime minister president, was executed by firing squad
for collaboration with the Nazis.
1946 Scandinavian airlines
began as a co-operative venture between the airlines of Denmark,
Norway and Sweden. In 1951 they merged. Marcus Wallenberg Jr.
(1899-1982), tennis champion, sold out of railways to concentrate on
airplanes. Wallenberg helped to establish the Scandinavian Airlines
System and controlled companies that employed one of every eight
10/14/06, p.73)(Econ, 5/19/12, p.74)
1946-1953 Trygve Lie of Norway served as the
Secretary-General of the UN.
(SFC, 12/14/96, p.A1)
1947 Apr 28, Norwegian
anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl (d.2002) and five others sailed from
Peru aboard a balsa wood raft named the Kon-Tiki on a 101-day, 4,300
nautical mile journey across the Pacific Ocean to Polynesia. They
wanted to prove that Peruvian Indians could have settled in
Polynesia. Heyerdahl published "Kon-Tiki" in 1950.
(AP, 4/28/97)(WSJ, 5/22/97, p.A13)(HN,
4/28/99)(SFC, 4/19/02, p.A2)
1947 "Kon Tiki" by Thor
Heyerdahl of Norway was published by Rand McNally.
(SSFC, 11/18/01, p.A28)
1949 Apr 4, The (NATO) North
Atlantic Treaty Organization pact was signed by the US, Great
Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy,
Portugal, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Canada. It provided for
mutual defense against aggression and for close military
1952 Feb 19, Knut Hamsun
(b.1859), Norwegian writer, died. He won the Nobel Prize in
literature in 1920. His work included "From the Cultural Life in
Modern America" (1889), "Hunger," "The Growth of the Soil,"
"Victoria," and "An Overgrown Path." A film portrait of his life was
produced in 1997. In 2009 Ingar Sletten Kolloen authored “Knut
Hamsun: Dreamer and Dissenter."
(SFEC, 4/20/97, DB p.47-49)(Econ, 11/7/09, p.79)
1952 Dec 11, The outbound
Norwegian ship Fernstream was sliced open by the inbound SS Hawaiian
Rancher under heavy fog inside the Golden Gate. The Fernstream sank
in 30 minutes but all passengers escaped.
