Petter Moen

Petter Moen

Petter Moen (born February 14, 1901 in Drammen , † September 8, 1944 in Skagerrak ) was a Norwegian actuary who was involved in the illegal newspapers Free Press , Rex Rotary and Nytt London during the German occupation of Norway and was therefore arrested. He was known for his engraved diaries, which he wrote in the prison at Møllergata 19 in Oslo and which were found in the ventilation shaft there after the Second World War .

Life

Moen was born as the son of Erik Moen (* 1860) and Hansine Johann (* 1867) in Drammen and grew up in a pietistic family . He studied mathematics in Christiania - as Oslo was called at the time - and graduated successfully in 1920. He then worked for the insurance company Idun in Oslo, where he later also became an actuary . In 1940 he married Bergliot Svanhild Fjeld Gundersen (* 1908), the daughter of Bernhard Glaser Fjeld Gundersen and Mathilde Karoline Jacobsen Seveland, in his diary he called her "Bella".

In prison Møllergata 19

During the German occupation from 1940 he participated in the production and distribution of the illegal newspapers Free Press, Rex Rotary and Nytt London. The latter was the largest illegal newspaper of which he became the editor. He also led a group that started the auditorium fire in Oslo in the fall of 1943. In February 1944 the illegal printing company was discovered, he was arrested and first put in solitary confinement and then in a triple cell at Møllergata 19 . There he wrote an unauthorized diary on toilet paper using a metal pen. He pricked letters on individual sheets of paper, rolled up five and surrounded them with a sixth protective sheet, which he consistently numbered. He threw it irrevocably through the grille of the ventilation flap into the invisible ventilation shaft of the cell and nothing more he could correct afterwards. This resulted in around two hundred authentic snapshots; which deal with interrogation, torture, fears, pain, betrayal, reproaches, self-doubt, loneliness, longing for "Bella", his wife, questions and screams for the silent God and the dreary everyday life, the harassment of the guards and the meager food in the Jail turned. Some entries have similarities with the biblical book of Job .

Moen made the first entry in his diary on the 7th day of his imprisonment at Møllergata 19 on Thursday, February 10, 1944, and it read: I have been interrogated twice. Was whipped. Revealed Vic ... (remainder missing). I am weak. Deserve contempt. I am terrified of pain. But don't be afraid of death. I have to think of Bella tonight. Cried because I did so much evil to Bella. If I stay alive, Bella and I must have a child.

On the 11th day in prison, February 14th, Moen wrote: I will be 43 years old today. I have abused my life and I deserve the punishment that now falls upon me from the hand of the unjust. With my thoughts today I roam the periphery of the question of happiness. I've never been happy in my life - not for a single day. But I was often unhappy, up to the point of suicide. From now on I want to look for happiness. Maybe it's in faith, in sacrifice, in prayer? I can kneel down now and pray. Not that I believe, but I pray for faith. Strange, strange - that this is me. Where is this going to lead?

One of the last entries was on the 210th day, Thursday, August 31, 1944, and read: The pigeon flew out and did not return to our ark. The rainbow lights up in the crevices of the cloud cover. Praise! Praise! to the invisible king !! Don't I wanna live Oh! God! Yes - I want to live! Let the sun shine again on a path where I can walk with my beloved on my arm ... I look down at my own fate. I hide my real face again - speak with the wrong tongue again and - live and want to live.

One of the scrolls found next to the diary contains the following note: Petter Moen drove to Germany today. At 3 o'clock they came and got him, it was sad to be sent there now. Today is 9/6/44. OBR

Death on the ship Westphalia

After seven months in prison, he was sent to Germany on the Westfalen ship . Shortly before, the diary broke off. The ship hit a mine and sank in the Skagerrak on September 8, 1944. 45 of the 50 Norwegian prisoners drowned, including Moen. He had previously told one of the five survivors about his diary and its location. When the war was over, this survivor reported the secret, as yet unknown location to the Norwegian police, who were able to find and decipher the diary intact in the ventilation shaft.

Moen was buried at Gamle Aker Church in Oslo in autumn 1945 .

plant

Petter Moens Dagbok , 1949 edition

Petter Moen's diary was first published in 1949, had several editions and has been translated into various languages. It was published in German by the writer and journalist Edzard Schaper :

• Edzard Schaper (ed.): The lonely person - Petter Moens diary . Written in the Gestapo prison (original title: Petter Moens Dagbok translated by Edzard Schaper), Nymphenburger, Munich 1950 and Arche, Zurich 1950 DNB 575156562 ; As paperback: Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1959 DNB 453422969 .

Web links

• Petter Moen in the store norske leksikon (Norwegian)
• Biography of Petter Moen in Norsk biografisk leksikon (Norwegian)
• Petter Moens diary on gisela-schneemann.de

Individual evidence

1. ^ Arnfinn Moland : Petter Moen . In: Hans Fredrik Dahl , Guri Hjeltnes , Berit Nøkleby , Nils Johan Ringdal , Øystein Sørensen (eds.): Norsk krigsleksikon 1940–45 . JW Cappelen, Oslo 1995, ISBN 82-02-14138-9 , pp. 275 (Norwegian, online ( Memento of May 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) [accessed May 27, 2014]). Petter Moen ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Det store pressekrakket . In: Voksø, Per (ed.): Krigens Dagbok ( Norwegian ). Det Beste, Oslo 1984, ISBN 82-7010-166-4 , p. 400.
3. ^ Petter Moens dagbok ( Norwegian ). Cappelen, Oslo 1949.
4. ↑ The Diary of Petter Moen to the home of Gisela Snowman