Hedvig Delbo
{{use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Hedvig Delbo
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1908|9|13|df=y}}
| birth_place = Norway
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1944|3|13|1908|9|13|df=y}}
| death_place = Vesterbro, Copenhagen, German-occupied Denmark
| death_cause = Assassination by gunshot
| nationality =
| other_names = Mrs. Dam{{sfn|Lampe|2011|pp=95–97}}
| occupation = Dressmaker
| years_active =
| known_for = Informing on Danish resistance fighters to the Nazi Gestapo during World War II
| notable_works =
}}
Hedvig Delbo (13 September 1908 – 9 March 1944) was a Norwegian agent for the Gestapo during World War II.
Personal life
Hedvig Delbo was a Norwegian dressmaker.{{sfn|Thomas|1976|pp=201–209}} Her fiancé, Max Pelving was also a Gestapo agent.{{Cite news |date=1945-06-01 |title=Arrest Max Pelving |pages=12 |work=The Kingston Whig-Standard |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kingston-whig-standard-arrest-max-pe/127849044/ |access-date=2023-07-08}}
Gestapo agent
Delbo supplied lodging for underground (resistance) fighters in 1943 after she got them to trust her.{{sfn|Goldberger|1987|p=150}}{{sfn|Lampe|2011|p=87}} She then informed on them and they were arrested by the Gestapo.{{Cite news |date=1944-05-21 |title=Executions in Denmark |pages=8 |work=The Decatur Daily Review |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-decatur-daily-review-executions-in-d/127848070/ |access-date=2023-07-08}} For instance, she informed on Svend Otto Nielsen (codename John) and Jens Lillelund (Finsen) of the Holger Danske resistance group for which she received 20,000 Danish kroner.{{sfn|Thomas|1976|pp=201–209}}{{sfn|Lampe|2011|pp=87–88}} The Gestapo came for Nielsen after he left Delbo's apartment. Nielsen was wounded, arrested, and tortured.{{sfn|Thomas|1976|pp=201–209}}{{sfn|Goldberger|1987|p=150}} Jens Lillelund, code name of Finn, tried to kill her for being an informer. He failed and fled to Sweden. Delbo escaped to Norway, but later returned to Copenhagen and operated a dressmaking shop under an assumed name,{{sfn|Thomas|1976|pp=201–209}} Mrs. Dam.{{sfn|Lampe|2011|pp=95–97}}
Ella von Cappeln, a former nun who worked for the resistance movement, had won Delbo's trust and gained access to her apartment, and then helped two comrades gain entry.{{cite web |url=http://denkorteavis.dk/2014/kvinde-i-modstandskampen/ |title=Kvinde i Modstandsbevægelsen |date=2016-10-27 |archive-date=2016-10-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028083550/http://denkorteavis.dk/2014/kvinde-i-modstandskampen/ |url-status=dead }}
In March 1944, it was reported in the Dagens Nyheter, that Delbo and Pelving had been arrested and wounded. Delbo was then shot dead, also in the month of March 1944,{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/499728245/?clipping_id=127846027 |title=Swedes Thwart Gestapo | newspaper=The Province | location=Vancouver, British Columbia | date=13 March 1944 |page=2|via=newspapers.com }} in her apartment on Sankelmarksgade at Vesterbro, Copenhagen by two men.{{Cite news |date=1944-03-30 |title=Gestapo Agent |pages=5 |work=Den Danske Pioneer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/den-danske-pioneer-gestapo-agent/127849420/ |access-date=2023-07-08}} They were resistance fighters from the Holger Danske resistance group.{{sfn|Lampe|2011|pp=94–97}}
Delbo also owned an apartment on Saxogade. Max was arrested in May 1945 for his work for the Gestapo.
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{Cite book |last=Goldberger |first=Leo |url=http://archive.org/details/rescueofdanishje0000ugol |title=The rescue of the Danish Jews : moral courage under stress |date=1987 |publisher=New York : New York University Press |isbn=978-0-8147-3010-2 |pages=148–149}}
- {{Cite book |last=Lampe |first=David |url=http://archive.org/details/hitlerssavagecan0000lamp |title=Hitler's savage canary : a history of the Danish resistance in World War II |date=2011 |publisher=Barnsley, S. Yorkshire : Frontline Books ; New York : Skyhorse Pub. |isbn=978-1-84832-574-6}}
- {{cite book| url=https://archive.org/details/giantkillersstor0000thom/page/n11/mode/1up?q=%22Svend+Otto+Nielsen%22 |title=The giant-killers : the story of the Danish resistance movement, 1940-1945
|last1=Thomas | first1=John |year=1976 | location=New York| publisher=Taplinger Publishing Company }}
{{Danish resistance movement}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Delbo, Hedvig}}
Category:Assassinated Norwegian people
Category:Deaths by firearm in Denmark
Category:Executed Gestapo informants
Category:Executed Norwegian collaborators with Nazi Germany