Knut Haugland

Knut Magne Haugland (born September 23, 1917 in Rjukan , † December 25, 2009 in Oslo ) was a Norwegian resistance fighter , member of the Linge Company . In 1947 he was one of the six participants in the " Kon-Tiki Expedition" and its last survivor. Most recently he was director of the Kon-Tiki Museum , Oslo.

Life

The carpenter's son Olaf Olsen Haugland (1886-1944) and his wife Gunhild (born Vegheim, 1891-1977) graduated in 1937 with a high school exam artium on what allowed the examination. In 1938 he began a career as an officer in the telecommunications system of the Norwegian army in Oslo. He became a sergeant in October 1939, took a leave of absence and worked as a radio operator on the MT Haugar until he was posted to service in the mountain artillery battalion No. 3 in Setermoen in February 1940 . As commander of the telecommunications train, he served in the battle for Narvik before going underground. As a skilled worker at Høvding Radiofabrikk in Oslo, where he worked from September 1940, he also acquired a 1st class marine radio certificate . He was arrested on August 7, 1941, but escaped and reached Great Britain via Sweden in December of the same year, where he joined Linge Company.

Because of his local and specialist knowledge, he became a radio operator for "Operation Grouse", the precondition for the demolition of the Norsk Hydro Rjukan hydrogen factory : four Norwegians were parachuted onto the Hardangervidda plateau and reached their destination, an alpine hut, in November 1942. After the The first blasting operation could not take place because the intended British team did not arrive, the four had to winter in the highlands. Six more Norwegians did not arrive until the end of February, which enabled the planned sabotage to be carried out successfully. Haugland had a further two months in Fjell remain held under difficult conditions radio contact with England, trained Einar Skinnarland by and then went to Oslo to ship radio operator for the underground group Milorg train. He went back to England to get equipment. He returned to Norway with Gunnar Sønsteby , continued his work and set up several radio stations. After he was headed by the Gestapo in the attic of a women's clinic, he had to shoot his way free on April 1, 1944. He then went to England, where he in again Thame on Thor Heyerdahl arrived, he already then it vorschwärmte, with a raft down the Pacific to cross, if his theories about the possible colonization of Polynesia from America by the "rauschebärtigen scientists" will not soon would be accepted. Haugland spent the rest of the war years in Great Britain, where he was busy building a broadcasting network that would include 110 stations. After the end of the war, it was Haugland, now adjutant to the inspector general of the telecommunications force, who successfully approved Heyerdahl's application for dismissal.

In 1947 he then took part as a radio operator on the Kon-Tiki expedition after he had been given leave of absence for this trip. In cooperation with American radio amateurs , he (along with Torstein Raaby ) mainly took care of radio contact and transmitted meteorological and hydrographic data.

His telegram received in Norway on King Håkon's 75th birthday received special attention from radio operators , including the answer: The transmitter's output was less than four watts .

The “Kon-Tiki” experiment was a success that initially impressed the public, but ultimately also the archaeological experts. Haugland had contributed quite a bit to this. After the expedition he resumed his service and was initially stationed in Germany until 1949. He was accepted into the Air Force in 1952, where he headed a training unit for radio operators. He became a major in 1954 and a lieutenant colonel in 1977.

Out of ambition, soon after the expedition he set up the Kon-Tiki Museum, which he then headed for almost 45 years. Furthermore, he was in 1962 with the establishment of the resistance museum Norges Hjemmefrontmuseum concerned, he also managed. In 1963 he took a permanent leave of absence for this until he retired in 1983.

He was awarded the highest Norwegian order, the War Cross with Two Swords , and also received the important British awards DSO and Military Cross , the French Croix de guerre with palm , Légion d 'honneur (both in 1948) and became a Knight of Saint Olav Order (1988). Since 1969 he has given its name to the Hauglandtoppen , a nunatak in the Antarctic .

Haugland was married to the librarian Ingeborg (born Prestholdt, * 1921) since 1951.

Sources and Notes

1. ↑ Norsk Biografisk Leksikon; Kon-Tiki; Ragnar Kvam jr .: Biography Heyerdahl, p. 368: Kvam interviewed Haugland. Killing one's opponent at close range seems to have been a great burden afterwards and one of the reasons to take part in the expedition to get other thoughts.
2. ↑ Kvam p. 288f
3. ↑ Ragnar Kvam pp. 290f; P. 315f.
4. ↑ Kvam, p. 389 and a., Kon-Tiki p. 219: The device was an NC-173. ( Memento of the original from September 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

Works

• Bergartilleribataljon nr. 3's radiotropp i fred og krig february-june 1940, Narvik 1995 (Norwegian)

Web links

• Kon-Tiki-Museum (Norwegian; partly English)
• Norsk Biografisk Leksikon (Norwegian)