Harry August Vestli (10 May 1918 – 2 September 1942) was a Norwegian trade unionist who was imprisoned and died during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany.
Harry Vestli was born in Sande i Vestfold as the son of Petter Rikard Vestli and his Swedish wife Emma Kristine. He had three siblings. He had gone through middle school,[1] and worked at the factory Lilleborg, where he was the union steward.[2]
On 9 September 1941, the so-called milk strike occurred in Oslo. The Nazi German occupants of Norway ordered a harsh crackdown on the striking workers, and martial law was declared the next day. A local union leader, Rolf Wickstrøm, and chief jurist in the Confederation of Trade Unions, Viggo Hansteen were executed immediately.[3] Arrested on 12 September,[1] Harry Vestli was sentenced to death together with Ludvik Buland and Josef Larsson, but the three were later reprieved, and instead given a lifelong jail sentence.[3] Vestli was imprisoned at both Grini and Akershus Fortress, before being sent to Germany on 16 October 1941. While imprisoned here he contracted tuberculosis. He died in September 1942 at a hospital in Hamburg.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c Ording, Arne; Johnson, Gudrun; Garder, Johan (1951). Våre falne 1939-1945. Vol. 4. Oslo: Grøndahl. p. 478.
- ^ Paulsen, Helge (1976). "Melkestreiken". Pax leksikon. Pax. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 13 February 2009.
- ^ a b Pryser, Tore (1995). "melkestreiken". In Dahl, Hans Fredrik (ed.). Norsk krigsleksikon 1940-45. Oslo: Cappelen. Archived from the original on 10 June 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2009.