Conrad Vogt-Svendsen

Conrad Vogt-Svendsen (born March 6, 1914 in Kristiania / Oslo ; † December 1, 1973 ) was a Norwegian seaman's pastor who, during World War II , looked after Norwegian prisoners from Hamburg, most of whom had been convicted by Wehrmacht courts for acts of resistance against the German occupying forces . Through his information, 735 prisoners were included in the rescue operation of the White Buses .

Work in Hamburg

Conrad Vogt-Svendsen finished his school education in 1933 with the "Examen Artium", which entitles them to study. He began studying theology at the University of Oslo and graduated in 1940. From 1942 to 1945 he worked as an assistant pastor together with Arne Berge at the Norwegian Seaman's Church in Hamburg and from there looked after Norwegian prisoners in German penal institutions.

In October 1942, the number of Norwegian prisoners incarcerated in the Fuhlsbüttel prison had peaked at 469. After a long effort, the management of the prisons now allowed the Norwegian seafarers' pastors in Hamburg to visit the prisoners “as representatives of the relatives”. As with all other detainees, these visits were monitored by guards. It was supposed to prevent discussions about the course of the war, but also pastoral activities. Hiltgunt Zassenhaus was employed as a linguistically competent letter censor and from May 1943 as the only guardian of visitors to Norwegian prisoners . The latter, however, cooperated with the seaman's pastors, tolerated the exchange of messages and pastoral activities and actively helped them smuggle in writing materials, medicines, tobacco and food.

After the heavy bombing of Hamburg many Norwegian prisoners were moved, for example in the prison Glasmoor in the prison Bützow , to Rendsburg and Neumünster, to work in the external commands Büchen and Schülp bei Nortorf , from 1944 even after Cottbus and Bautzen . Female civil prisoners were imprisoned in the Lübeck correctional facility (“Lauerhof”) or in Kiel. Vogt-Svendsen researched the places to which his protégés had been relocated and undertook long journeys under difficult circumstances in order to be able to look after them. Towards the end of the war he passed on his information about Norwegian and Danish prisoners in German camps and penal institutions to the Swedish Red Cross. This information enabled 735 prisoners to be included in the rescue operation.

The "unique, systematic, a whole group of prisoners comprehensive aid and resistance activity" was widely recognized. Conrad Vogt-Svendsen was awarded the St. Olav Order .

After the war

From 1945 to 1947 Conrad Vogt-Svendsen worked as a seaman's pastor in Mobile (Alabama) , then in Genoa until 1951 in the same position . He then took over the management of a home for the deaf in Nordstrand (Oslo) ; In 1968 he was called to provide spiritual care for all deaf people in Norway. He promoted the development of a sign language for the deaf and was involved in numerous national and international organizations.

Web links

Flyer for the traveling exhibition of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial The invisible helpers - Hiltgunt Zassenhaus from Hamburg and the Norwegian Seamen's Mission in action for the Norwegians imprisoned in Fuhlsbüttel 1940–1945

Individual evidence

↑ Christoph Bitterberg; "... that the activities of the clergy mentioned only have to extend to pure pastoral care." The Norwegian seaman's pastors and Hiltgunt Zassenhaus as reflected in the German penal records. In: Help or Trade? Rescue efforts for victims of Nazi persecution (Articles on the History of National Socialist Persecution in Northern Germany, Issue 10) Bremen 2007, ISBN 978-3-86108-874-5 , p. 117.

↑ Sune Persson: Last Minute Salvation. Folke Bernadotte and the liberation of thousands of concentration camp prisoners through the "White Buses" campaign (Swedish first edition 2002) Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-938844-19-9 , p. 254.

↑ so Christoph Bitterberg; "... that the activities of the clergy mentioned only have to extend to pure pastoral care ..." In: Help or trade? Rescue efforts for victims of Nazi persecution . Bremen 2007, ISBN 978-3-86108-874-5 , p. 108.

personal data
SURNAME	Vogt-Svendsen, Conrad
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Norwegian seaman pastor
DATE OF BIRTH	March 6, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kristiania / Oslo
DATE OF DEATH	1st December 1973

[1] Christoph Bitterberg; "... that the activities of the clergy mentioned only have to extend to pure pastoral care." The Norwegian seaman's pastors and Hiltgunt Zassenhaus as reflected in the German penal records. In: Help or Trade? Rescue efforts for victims of Nazi persecution (Articles on the History of National Socialist Persecution in Northern Germany, Issue 10) Bremen 2007, ISBN 978-3-86108-874-5 , p. 117.

[2] Sune Persson: Last Minute Salvation. Folke Bernadotte and the liberation of thousands of concentration camp prisoners through the "White Buses" campaign (Swedish first edition 2002) Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-938844-19-9 , p. 254.

[3] so Christoph Bitterberg; "... that the activities of the clergy mentioned only have to extend to pure pastoral care ..." In: Help or trade? Rescue efforts for victims of Nazi persecution . Bremen 2007, ISBN 978-3-86108-874-5 , p. 108.