Women of Resistance: Sonja Wigert

 

Would you do anything to save your family? Norwegian actress Sonja Wigert agreed to become an Allied spy (code name Bill) to secure the release of her father from a Nazi prison. Born in the lakeside town of Notodden, Norway to a military family, Sonja began acting as a child on stage. She transitioned to film at the age of twenty-one, then relocated to Sweden in 1939 to further her career. She would eventually star in nearly three dozen movies until her retirement.

Sonja was sent back to Norway where her assignment was to uncover information about the German officers stationed there. She was specifically instructed to get close to Joseph Terboven, the Reichskommissar of occupied Norway. His fascination with actresses made him an easy target, and he was quickly enamored with her beauty and intelligence. She convinced him that she could use her contacts to spy on Sweden, and he took her up on the offer, thereby solidifying her role as a double-agent feeding him controlled disinformation.

Her father was eventually released from Grini concentration camp, along with several other political

prisoners. Her work for the military continued, and she managed to identify the Gestapo’s highest-ranking operative and the networks of German agents stationed there. Additional reports from her included the exposure of leaks in Swedish security that enabled the German infiltration. She collaborated with the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (precursor to the CIA) in their attempts to expel Nazi agents from Sweden.

By 1944, the Nazis had determined that Sonja was only providing information approved by the resistance. In retribution, they spread the word that she was a collaborator. Despite repeated efforts to clear her name, the public could not be convinced. After the war was over, she returned to the movie industry, but her reputation was besmirched, and she was never as successful as her pre-war career. She would later say in an interview, “All of it was horrible. It was torment to go on the stage and to make films whilst this farce was ongoing. However, the worst thing was the icy coldness I felt from my friends.” Sonja completed her last film in 1960 and withdrew from the industry. She moved to Spain in 1969, passing away in 1980.

Sadly, she would not receive vindication until 2005, twenty-five years after her death, when the Swedish Intelligence agency released its war archives to the public, and her activities and loyalties revealed. Based on historian Iselin Theien’s biography Sonja Wigert: A Double Life, Swedish director Jens Jonsson’s dramatized biopic, The Spy, was released in 2019.

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Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances and

women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she explores the history of this great state, immerses herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors, and drinks copious amounts of tea.

 
Norwegian Nights

Can their marriage endure a debilitating injury, a devastating loss, and a world war?

The second anniversary of Germany’s occupation of Norway has passed with no end in sight, so Gustav Westgard and his wife are still exiled on Shetland. He’s convinced Oda’s miscarriage would have been prevented back in Norway and decides he must return to his homeland to do whatever possible to rid the country of its invaders. Will he live to see liberation?

Grieving the loss of her baby, Oda turns toward her heavenly Father as Gustav retreats inside himself. Rather than try to stop him after she discovers he plans to join the Norwegian resistance, she stows away onboard the ship taking him home. Can she convince him that they are better united in a cause than apart?

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/bwl5qv


Sources:
https://skbl.se/en/article/SonjaWigert
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonja_Wigert
https://www.filmreviewdaily.com/all-reviews/the-spy
https://grokipedia.com/page/Sonja_Wigert

Photo Credits:
Sonja Wigert: By Nostalgia - Swedish publicity/press still, photographer unknown, Public Domain.
Sonja Wigert still from the 1941 movie Love and Friendship.
Movie Poster: imdb

Stockholm, Sweden: Casablanca of the North

Shortly after the United Kingdom declared war on Germany in September 1939, Sweden announced its neutrality, a stance they’d held since the Napoleonic wars. However, with its continued business relationships with Germany, the allowance troop transports through the country, and “less than friendly” policies toward Jews and refugees, scholars disagree as to whether the Sweden was truly neutral.

If you’ve watched the 1942 classic Warner Bros. movie “Casablanca,” you have a sense of what Stockholm, Sweden was like during the war, and more than a few sources refer to the city as “Casablanca of the North.” Every major intelligence service of the war was represented, some with agents, most with double agents. Germans, Americans, Britons, and Russians lived, worked, and played side by side. Official legations employees (both Axis and Allied) mingled with members of the Abwehr, Office of Strategic Services, and Special Operations Executive trying to ferret out information to aid their cause.

An intriguing aspect is the number of women who on the surface were singers, actresses, dancers, journalist, secretaries, and housekeepers, but in reality, were spies. Of the Allied female spies, many served to bring Germany to its knees or to make money while others were backed into it to save relatives left behind in an occupied country. The women observed, infiltrated, and reported their findings using any means necessary to obtain the information.

Another “piece of the pie” is the use of downed British and American airmen.

Crews from Allied planes that crashed in neutral Sweden were required to register, then interned in one of several areas within the city. However, these men had run of the city as long as they adhered to curfew and a host of other rules. A large percentage of them were given jobs with their legation that included administrative tasks and handling the logistics of tracking the hundreds (and eventually thousands) of airmen.

However, given their freedom of movement, more than a few of the crew members were recruited by the OSS and SOE to act as agents (which, of course went against the rules, but who said those in war played fair?). There is a reason Churchill’s SOE was called the Department of Ungentlemanly Warfare, and America’s OSS referred to as the Department of Dirty Tricks.

Rather than involve the airmen in sabotage, they were generally acted as messengers and observers who reported the comings and goings and conversations of the Germans. Liberty Lady is a well-written biographical account of author Pat DiGeorge’s father whose plane crashed in Sweden and ultimately found himself assigned to becoming friends with Swedish “businessman” John Lonnegren who was eventually arrested, then convicted of unlawful intelligence activities and sentenced to two years of hard labor.

____________________

Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about

second chances and women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII and a former trustee for her local public library. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she explores the history of this great state and immerses herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors.

The American World War II Home Front in 29 Objects:

Unlike Europe the American mainland escaped physical devastation during World War II as it was not subjected to full-scale invasions. However, that didn’t mean the United States wasn’t impacted by the war. The ramifications of large economic, cultural, and societal changes forced Americans to reconsider entrenched beliefs and traditions.

Artifacts collected from across the nation tell the stories of the American people whose lives were shaped by this second “war to end all wars,” World War II.

Purchase link: https://books2read.com/u/47pLxR

Photo credits:

Map of Sweden: Encyclopedia Britannica

Georgia Rebel, first American plane to crash in Sweden: National Archives

John Lonnegren: National Archives

Sources:
https://wwv.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206061.pdf
Liberty Lady, Pat DiGeorge, Beaver’s Spur Publishing, 2016
https://journals.openedition.org/diacronie/4709
https://www.sverigesradio.se/artikel/3230619
https://reveal.world/sv/story/german-counter-espionage-bureau-wwii