Harry Vestli

Harry August Vestli (10 May 1918 – 2 September 1942) was a Norwegian trade unionist who was imprisoned and died during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany.

Harry Vestli was born in Sande i Vestfold as the son of Petter Rikard Vestli and his Swedish wife Emma Kristine. He had gone through middle school,[1] and worked at the factory Lilleborg, where he was the union steward.[2]

On 9 September 1941, the so-called milk strike occurred in Oslo. The Nazi German occupants of Norway ordered a harsh crackdown on the striking workers, and martial law was declared the next day. A local union leader, Rolf Wickstrøm, and chief jurist in the Confederation of Trade Unions, Viggo Hansteen were executed immediately.[3] Arrested on 12 September,[1] Harry Vestli was sentenced to death together with Ludvik Buland and Josef Larsson, but the three were later reprieved, and instead given a lifelong jail sentence.[3] Vestli was imprisoned at both Grini and Akershus Fortress, before being sent to Germany on 16 October 1941. While imprisoned here he contracted tuberculosis. He died in September 1942 at a hospital in Hamburg.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ording, Arne; Johnson, Gudrun; Garder, Johan (1951). Våre falne 1939-1945 4. Oslo: Grøndahl. p. 478.
  2. ↑ Paulsen, Helge (1976). "Melkestreiken". Pax leksikon. Pax. Retrieved 13 February 2009.
  3. 1 2 Pryser, Tore (1995). "melkestreiken". In Dahl, Hans Fredrik. Norsk krigsleksikon 1940-45. Oslo: Cappelen. Retrieved 13 February 2009.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, May 20, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.