Björn Björnsson

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Björn Björnsson (1933)

Björn Björnsson (born October 15, 1909 as Björn Sveinsson Björnsson , † April 14, 1998 ) was an Icelandic propagandist of the Waffen SS in World War II and the son of President Sveinn Björnsson .

Björn Björnsson was born to Sveinn Björnsson and his wife Georgía Hoff-Hansen. After visiting Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík and studying music, he went to Germany in the early thirties , where he found work at an Eimskip branch in Hamburg . Impressed by National Socialism , he became a member of the Waffen SS after the start of the war in 1941. As a war correspondent and propagandist, he was a member of the 5th SS Panzer Division "Wiking" in the war against the Soviet Union . After he had achieved the rank of SS-Unterscharfuhrer , he was the only Icelander to be sent to the SS Junker School in Bad Tölz at the end of 1942 . He then continued to write propaganda material for Kurt Egger's SS standard and came to occupied Copenhagen in 1943 . As SS-Untersturmführer he was in charge of a newspaper and a radio station for the Germans and was jointly responsible for recruiting volunteers for the SS; in the late phase of the war he received the Iron Cross 2nd class . In April 1945 Björn Björnsson, as a member of an SS court, was jointly responsible for the death sentence of a Danish SS group leader for desertion and theft.

Björn Björnsson was arrested in Denmark at the end of the war; he was released in 1946 and sent back to Iceland after presumably political pressure from his father. He then lived as a businessman in the USA , Argentina and Scandinavia . He later published an autobiography and denied all his life that he was involved in the acts of the Nazi regime .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Elías Þórsson: The Story That Could Never Be Told: Iceland's First Son, The SS Officer. In: The Reykjavík Grapevine Magazine. Fröken Ltd., August 24, 2017, accessed on February 13, 2018 (English): "Björn first joined the SS in October 1941 and enjoyed a successful career with the organization, reaching the rank of SS Untersturmführer, or second lieutenant."
  2. ↑ Sonur forsetans dæmdi mann til dahða. In: Fornleifur. October 25, 2015, Retrieved February 4, 2018 (Icelandic).
  3. ^ Helga Hrafn Guðmundsson: Björn Sv. Björnsson: Hinn "óaðfinnanlegi" íslenski nasisti. In: Lemurinn. February 19, 2013, accessed February 4, 2018 (Icelandic).
personal data
SURNAME Björn Björnsson
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Björn Sveinsson Björnsson (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Icelandic propagandist of the Waffen SS
DATE OF BIRTH October 15, 1909
DATE OF DEATH April 14, 1998