Jens Christian Hauge

On 10 April 2012 NRK broadcast a documentary about Hauge —Nasjonens skygge ("the nation's shadow"), part one of two.

In August 2008 signs were found of Hauge having been employed by Office of Strategic Services(OSS). His name was found in a directory of personnel files of employees from 1942 to 1945—released by the US National Archives in 2008, according to Klassekampen. (Other Norwegians on the list were Wilhelm Hansteen, Håkon Kyllingmark and Knut Lier Hansen.)

In 2008 Olav Njølstad said that Tore Pryser and Espen Haavardsholm during the launch of the books, the two went "very far in accusing Hauge of sitting on important information about Holst's death".

On 30 October 2006 he died at a retirement home in Vinderen, Oslo.

"The greatest treasures, were the last that he relinquished. Some where first found", according to Njølstad, when Hauge's two youngest sons and Njølstad, went thru the residence at Bjørnveien [at Slemdal ], autumn of 2005—before it was put up for sale.

During 2004 and most of 2005 he regularly met with biographer Olav Njølstad and the main consultant of the book project, Olav Riste.

His father died in 1940. His mother died in 1957. His second wife Liv Grannes died 30 November 2004. His ex-wife Lillann died on 2 March 2005.

Norway's Resistance Museum received from him documents that he had about his work in Milorg. Later he agreed with Professor Olav Riste—employed at Institute for Defence Studies—that the institute would receive documents about his work as minister of defense. In 2003 Riksarkivet and he agreed about the establishment of Jens Chr. Hauges Privatarkiv, which resulted in more than 60 or 65 hyllemeter ("meters of shelf") of documents.

In January 1997 he refused to testify in an open hearing of the Parliamentary Oversight Committee, regarding the conclusions of the Lund Commission. (Previously Ronald Bye had told the committee that would not testify, if Haakon Lie and Hauge did not.)

On 27 September 1994 two publishers called in a press conference, with the authors of two books about Resistance fighter Kai Holst. The invitation said "Who killed Kai Holst?" and "Was Holst a risk factor? What were they afraid of? Why did he have to die? Why is everyone holding their tongues?"

The September 1987 death of Einar Gerhardsen, according to Njølstad, "marked the beginning of the end of Hauge's political influence within the Labour Party". (Before that, Gerhardsen wrote a letter of reconciliation to Haakon Lie, dated 15 April 1985; Hauge authored its redemptive wording: "For a long time, I [Gerhardsen] have been aware of, that I back then should not have tatt ordet ("taken the word") and said what I said.". (In 1967 at the national convention, according to Hauge, Gerhardsen "broke the staff over Haakon Lie".)

He had contacted officials in the Finance Ministry about the possibility of having changes in law, to allow tax exemption "when social considerations" dictate. (In autumn of 1972, Jens Henrik Nordlie contacted Hauge about converting a corporation (Kioskkompaniet) into a foundation.) In 1973 the financing of Fritt Ord (a foundation) became a reality, and the foundation was established in 1974.

Hauge also became a monumental figure in the Norwegian war industry. He became board member of several state-owned companies, especially within nuclear power and defence systems, including member of board of directors of Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk, and chairman of Statoil 1972–75.

On 1 September 1971 Hauge—vice chairman at Noratom-Norcontrol—was informed that Noratom-Norcontrol [the same year] had purchased three tons of heavy water—at the request of Norsk Hydro—on behalf of Israel. Hauge demanded that the chairman be informed immediately, and that the chairman inform the foreign ministry that the sale had not been preceded by discussions by the board of directors. He resigned from the board of directors, in part because of how the leaders of Noratom and Norsk Hydro had handled the purchase.

By 30 September, the [1971] purchase of heavy water was cancelled.

On 8 April 1961 Hauge was taken to the Negev Desert for a private meeting with then prime minister of Israel.

On 14 April 1961 Hauge conducted Norway's first and only inspection of the shipment of heavy water to Israel, as a result of US' impetus. (This was done at Rehovot.)

In August 1961 then minister of transportation asked him to participate in a Scandinavian committee to deal with the economic crisis in the airline Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS). (In 1946, as minister of defence, he had participated in "picking [national airline] Det Norske Luftselskap (DNL) up from the ground and placing on its feet, after the war".)

On 20 February 1959 the government authorized the deal, by royal decree (kongelig resolusjon). Noratom took possession of [20 tons of] heavy water in the first quarter of 1959—from Britain's Atomic Authority—and it was loaded onto a ship, that departed a British port. (Before being shipped out of Britain, Norwegian authorities saw no need for an export license, since the shipment was outside of Norway's borders.) After sailing out of British jurisdiction, the ship was to be ordered to sail directly for Israel.

The 1959 transaction was uncovered in 1979, by Sverre Lodgaard. Hauge told media that he had made a report to the government after the inspection, and that he declined further comment to the media.

On 10 May 1958 Odd Dahl (the acting director of Noratom) wrote to the Foreign Ministry that the company had authored "a draft for a contract regarding the construction and building of a 40 megawatt heavy water reactor for the production of plutonium". Njølstad says, "Then came the difficult point, that Dahl in no way tried to underplay: Israel wished to follow an independent national direction, regarding the field of atomic energy, and was therefore not set on accepting the strict stipulations of control (kontrollbestemmelsene) that the US" had on their export of heavy water. Furthermore, "For this reason the Israelis preferred "to buy water from Norway at a higher price than it can be bought from the United States"." Furthermore Dahl said that, the Israeli plans were unrealistic, but "hardly unrealistic enough that they can be circumvented with plans of producing atombombs in the foreseeable future". Furthermore, Dahl said that of course one could not rule out that the Israelis one day would want to go in that direction, but the help that Norway eventually might have given Israel to get started "with legitimate civilian applications today, presumably can hardly be viewed in [a] relation to such remote possibilities".

On 21 August 1958 Hauge suggested to chargé d'affaires Miron that Israel might want to buy heavy water from Great Britain. Miron replied that if Noratom purchased the water back from Great Britain, and sold it to Israel—with Norwegian stipulations of control—then that would seem okay, in principle.

On 6 February 1956 his candidacy for vice secretary general of NATO, was shot down by then secretary general. (Previously, French NATO diplomats had insisted that the next vice secretary general must speak French perfectly, which ruled out Hauge.)

After 1955 he never held political office, but "continued to exert influence on political processes—sometimes openly", and sometimes less so.

Hauge attended the 1955, 1956 and the 1957 conference at St. Simons Island, US. According to the official website of the group, he was a member of the steering committee.

At the end of October 1952 Norway's second nuclear reactor (which later was shut down in 1967) was officially opened by dignitaries.

On 5 January 1952 he resigned as minister of defense.

During the first days of 1951, Labour Party opplysningssekretærer ("education secretaries") had already become kommunistovervåkere ("overseers of communists").

General Eisenhower's visit to Oslo in February 1951, according to Hauge, resulted in something that doubtfully otherwise could have occurred: minister Brofoss accepted the doubling of expenses for the Armed Forces.

On 12–13 November 1951, then prime minister forced the party leadership to accept his own upcoming resignation, and he named his replacement, who thereafter was approved: Oscar Torp.

Around 1950 leading Israeli politicians contacted Haakon Lie, wishing to discuss the possibility of Israel becoming a member of NATO. Lie sent them on to minister of defense Hauge, knowing that Hauge would reject the idea.

The Norwegian Base Declaration of 1 February 1949 was created after Soviet signalled that it would not passively watch that the Western Powers established forward bases in Norway.

On 4 April 1949 the North Atlantic Treaty was signed, and Norway became a (founding) member of NATO. (When early in January the same year, "it became clear" that Sweden would not accept Norwegian conditions for a defence union of Denmark, Sweden and Norway——Hauge "became a forceful pådriver (a person who pushes things ahead) for Norway's joining the Atlantic Treaty. - No one person [alone] can be credited" for the joining. (Bergens Tidende has said that then Labour Party secretary and Hauge "were decisive forces behind Norway's entry into NATO - against strong resistance within the Labour Party".)

In the middle of January 1948 he received a secret memo from Vilhelm Evang that stated that the Western military superpowers sensed an increased possibility for war with the Soviet Union.

In January 1948, Koordinasjonsutvalget ("the coordination board") was established, to coordinate and gather information from the intelligence services—military and civil. Its creation is largely credited to Hauge.

On 25 February 1948, a coup in Czechoslovakia was completed, and it was followed by the "Winter Crisis". The same month the Soviet Union proposed to Finland a combined friendship and military pact.

During the first days of March 1948 messages were received from the Foreign Ministry's stations abroad and embassies of Western nations, that Norway could be the next nation to be invaded by the Soviets.

The "Winter Crisis" resulted in a more encompassing political surveillance in Norway, in particular in the Armed Forces, and also within corporations and the civilian administration. On 13 March 1948 a meeting was held in the prime minister's residence, regarding "what could be done to raise the level of preparedness against sabotage and coups within corporations and Norway's administration". (The attendees were Arnfinn Vik, Haakon Lie, Rolf Gerhardsen, Tor Skjønsberg and Hauge [and the prime minister].)

On 11 May 1948 Winston Churchill came to Norway (with Oslo "on its head") and was a guest at Slottsmiddag. (A proposed visit in 1946 was cancelled, in the wake of the Fulton Speech.) After the guests had been excused from the table, Churchill invited the prime minister over, for a conversation, and the prime minister asked Hauge to join. During the conversation, Churchill said that it was in Norway's interest to obtain a security guarantee from the United States. Furthermore, 'You ought not to follow Sweden. Sweden ought to follow Norway.' Furthermore, "Norway interests the Americans because they think a lot about the defense of the Atlantic and about an Atlantic Treaty." (Hauge had conversations with Churchill the next day (at Det runde bords klubb—"the round table club"), and at the farewell dinner held by Britain's ambassador—on 14 May.)

On 17 June 1948 parliament started its deliberations about the Helset Case. Later in 1948 Olaf Helset resigned. (Njølstad says that the military and political opposition that were wishing to evict Hauge from his post as minister—through the Helset Case—ended up tethering him to the same.)

On 13 March 1947 he showed a document to then minister of justice, regarding Knut Rød—who was preparing for trial in the appellate court. (The document was a five-day-old report (to Evang) about Rød's participation in a group that collected intelligence on communists and sympathizers; and about Rød having accepted Norwegian kroner 500 for locating the election lists for the Norwegian Communist Party—pertaining to the last election of parliament and the municipal governments; and about Rød having recruited his brother, for the work [of the group]. (His brother was then a secretary in Kommunikasjonsdirektoratet—a government agency.)

In the spring of 1946 Forsvarets forskningsinstitutt (FFI) was put into service. (In 1945 he suggested measures for preventing Norwegian military scientists from remaining in British service, and in December the cabinet decided to establish FFI.) In December 1945 Otto Ruge resigned as general. In January 1946 Hauge fired then Chief of the Air Force, and the two agreed that the officer would resign at a later date.

On 14 May 1946 parliament decided to establish a brigade of 4000 soldiers to be stationed in West-Germany—in line with the ministry's proposal—Norwegian Brigade Group in Germany. (In 1948 the cabinet decided that the brigade's soldiers were to be issued condoms. 400 000 signatures of protest were collected, and Hauge asked advice from Trygve Bratteli about the possibility of having Labour Party employees do partial checks of the lists, and "Should it be done?". (Municipal elections were scheduled for later in 1948, and Hauge thought that the signatures might harm the election campaign of the Labour Party.) The resulting advice was that the partial checks could be done, but that it was not advisable.

The autumn of 1946 saw the start of the Svalbard Crisis 1946–1947, involving the Soviet Union.

Karl Marthinsen was assassinated on 8 February 1945. (Months earlier, Hauge was authorized by the government in exile, to have Marthinsen killed.)

In 1945 Hauge was asked by Einar Gerhardsen if he would accept a position—after Gerhardsen had formed his cabinet—as a "secretary and judicial advisor at the Office of the Prime Minister". As "Gerhardsen's secretary with responsibility for judicial cases", he became linked to the legal purge of war-time collaborators and the trials against Vidkun Quisling and Knut Hamsun.

On 5 November 1945 he became Defence Minister—the youngest of any [Norwegian] minister until then, 30 years old. (Previously, at the end of October, Andrew Thorne had approved the appointment, in the confidence of foreign minister Lie.)

From October 1944, the contact with Frithjof Hammersen (officer in Wehrmacht), was handled by Ingrid Furuseth, Hauge, and Ole Arntzen. Evidence from Hammersen, was the first trustworthy evidence of cancelled plans for moving Hitler's inner circle members—to Festung Norwegen. (In the last months of the war, Hauge had secret talks with Wehrmacht officers that gave information about the German plans for Norway. These talks facilitated the smooth transition to peace when the Germans surrendered in May 1945.)

A 5 December 1944 directive (direktiv) from SOE, stating "that it must be a prioritized task, for Milorg and NORIC to obstruct German forces from leaving" Norway. (It was Hauge's understanding that, there was a wish for severing the lines of transportation on land, so that the Germans were forced out to sea—were the British were feeling increasingly stronger.)

In January 1943 he was promoted to Stor I—the General Inspector of all Milorg combat groups in the nation.

In May 1943, he traveled to Sweden—his first trip abroad for Milorg. (Njølstad says that Hauge's rapidly increasing influence in Milorg—and later in den samlede hjemmefrontsledelsen—was in part because he never feared traveling abroad. Furthermore, "[M]any Resistance leaders were reluctant to such travel, because they feared that, in practice, it would mean the end of their effort in Norway. Or they calculated that their power to influence was greater when they communicated with utefronten—from Norway, rather than meeting its representatives" abroad.) 7–9 May saw one set of meetings, followed by Hauge's return to Milorg's Council, to be followed by another border crossing for meetings in Sweden's capital. The High Command wanted more operative control of Milorg's units, particularly in the districts. This is in part the reason for the establishment of radio links directly between Milorg's district commands and the High Command, without establishing radio links between Milorg districts; due to security concerns, the districts were only to communicate with each other through Sentralledelsen in Oslo.

In September 1943, he became a permanent member of the Sentralledelsen's top decision making group—The Council (Rådet). "From then on, for all practical purposes, he was Milorg's top chief", according to Njølstad.

He joined Milorg at the beginning of 1942. (His wife and two children were relocated to Vestre Slidre in the middle of March—to a [vacant] cotter home which belonged to Husaker (a mountain farm).)

In the middle of August 1942 he became inspector for (Milorg district) Østlandet—replacing Knut Møyen.

On 3 October 1942 Operation Bittern landed four commandos in Norway. During the meeting where the leader of commandos showed his orders to Hauge, Hauge confiscated the accompanying list of 62 "that SOE wanted to" assassinate. ("In 1941 - 1942 there was a tense relationship between Milorg and" SOE. "An early example of such a conflict, surfaced in the wake of the controversial Operation Bittern in the autumn of 1942", according to Njølstad. SOE expeditions which followed, improved Milorg's relationship to the British: The Chaffinch-, Thrush- and Pheasant Expeditions.)

He was a conscript in Stavern in the summer of 1936, and served 48 days [of recruit training ] at the anti-aircraft regimental recruits' school (Luftvernregimentets rekruttskole), In 1938 he received 15 days of recruit training. He received training as crew on anti-aircraft weapon (luftvernbatterimannskap). In May 1939 he was summoned for the last 14 days of recruit training. He replied to the summons with a medical certificate regarding his varicose veins, adding that he was willing to be checked by military doctors, even though [his schedule] as a magistrate (konstituert sorenskriver) would make it difficult to leave work. He received a medical discharge, according to an annotation dated 10 August 1939, by Hauge.

He finished his final exams to become a lawyer, in autumn of 1937. He worked as a private lecturer (manuduktør) for law students, for the next year. In November 1938 he started as a dommerfullmektig in Kragerø, to perform his period as a judicial "conscript". In January 1940 he again was working as a manuduktør in Oslo. While still a law student he became a member of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights in 1936.

A front page of Norwegian daily Dagbladet insinuated that Hauge had never been a Norwegian soldier, because he in 1936 had been "discarded by den militære legenemd" ("the military board of doctors"). (He had served as a conscript before the war.)

Jens Christian Hauge (15 May 1915 – 30 October 2006) was a Norwegian who was leader within the World War II resistance—and one of the two incumbent Milorg Council members in May 1945. He served as Minister of Defence from 1945-1952 and Minister of Justice from January to November 1955.