(born Müller; 3 September 192024 August 1988) was an Icelandic merchant who was arrested by the Gestapo in Oslo in 1942. He was a prisoner in Sachsenhausen concentration camp in , until he was freed in the White Buses operation in 1945.
wrote the autobiographical book () about his time as a prisoner of the Nazis, which was among the first books published about the Holocaust in 1945. In 1988, 's accounts of 's memoirs, (), were published.
Early life was born in Reykjavík on . His parents, Lorentz H. Müller and , were of Norwegian descent. He had two sisters; , born in 1916, and , born in 1913. His parents owned and ran , a sporting goods store on in Reykjavik, in a house that has since been demolished.
Because had a stutter growing up, he grew up mainly speaking Norwegian at home, which affected his Icelandic.
When was seven years old, he went to , a Catholic private school, and then continued his education at . After graduating in 1937, he worked in his parents' store for one year until he was sent to Norway in 1939 to study.
Life in Norway
was sent to Oslo in 1938 to study at , as he was meant to eventually take over the family's sporting goods store. He took a course in Copenhagen in 1939, before returning to his studies in Oslo in the fall of the same year. Norway was occupied by the Nazis in April 1940.
Arrest In October 1942, invited and his friend, , for coffee. They revealed their plans to escape occupied Norway to , telling him that they had both applied for permission to travel to Sweden under the pretext that they were going to study there. They revealed to that their plan was to travel to the United Kingdom, and to Iceland from there. Shortly after the meeting, and were granted permission to travel to Sweden. Most likely, informed Gestapo of the plan shortly after this meeting.
, a family friend, Nazi collaborator, and a member of , was also told of the plan.
was arrested by the in Oslo on 21 October 1942, and taken to Victoria Terrasse where he was interrogated.
Møllergata 19
Interrogated and imprisoned , where he was held until he was transferred in January 1943.
Grini detention camp
On 23 January 1943, was moved to Grini detention camp (, ).
concentration camp
was transported from on 28 June 1943 and taken to in Denmark on board MS Monte Rosa, where he was then transported via train to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, outside of Berlin. He was assigned the camp identification number 68138, designated as a political prisoner and made to wear a red inverted triangle badge.
met , an Icelandic man who died in , the day before he died from pneumonia in March 1944.
In , he was assigned to remove gold dental fillings from the bodies of killed prisoners before they would be burned.
said about the camp brothel at that, at the time, he had thought that "the brothel was not a step down. But when... [he looked back]he realised the humiliation that this involved."
Rescue
was freed in the White Buses operation through in March 1945, and spent about a month in the Neuengamme concentration camp () in northern Germany. From there the prisoners were transported to Sweden at the end of April 1945, with a stop at the Frøslev Prison Camp (, ) in Denmark. On the way to Denmark, the bus convoy was attacked by an air raid.
On 24 June 1945, reached Oslo and flew home to Iceland on 7 July 1945.
After the war went to Norway to witness the trial of , which found that Holmboe had not betrayed . Holmboe was found guilty of other crimes and served time in prison, before moving to Iceland and gaining citizenship.
, then the Minister for Foreign Affairs (), pressured the Norwegian government to extradiate to Iceland, where he only served 72 days in prison before being released.
He once saw , the man who most likely betrayed him, but avoided meeting him or talking to him. Following pressure from the Icelandic government, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Norway but was released after three months. Today it is generally accepted that it was who betrayed .
Published works
See also
List of Sachsenhausen prisoners List of Grini prisoners
Notes
References