Johnny Pevik (1913–1944): The Resistance Fighter Who Was Betrayed and Tortured

Resistance fighter Johnny Pevik paid a heavy price for his service to his country.

Several of those who lost their lives in the struggle against the German occupation forces are buried in the cemetery surrounding Nidaros Cathedral. One of them is Johnny Pevik.

He was born in the United States in 1913 but grew up in Trøndelag. Trained as a carpenter, he volunteered for military service when Germany invaded Norway in 1940 and fought, among other places, at Værnes and Narvik.

After Norway’s capitulation, Pevik continued the struggle in secret. He worked as a courier between Trondheim and Stockholm, became involved in Operation Lark, and later travelled to England, where he was enlisted in the Norwegian Independent Company No. 1, better known as the Linge Company. In 1943 he returned to Norway and took part in smuggling weapons to the resistance movement in Trøndelag. That same autumn, he also participated in an unsuccessful attempt to abduct and eliminate Henry Oliver Rinnan.

Shortly afterwards, Johnny Pevik was arrested by the Gestapo as the result of a tragic misunderstanding. The Norwegian resistance movement suspected him of being one of Rinnan’s agents. They attempted to verify his identity through the Norwegian Legation in Stockholm but were mistakenly informed that no Norwegian resistance operatives were supposed to be operating in the area. Consequently, Johnny was reported to the local sheriff, who in turn contacted the German authorities.

While in captivity, he was subjected to brutal torture. Pevik was probably the prisoner who endured torture for the longest period in Rinnan’s notorious headquarters, known as the “Bandit Monastery” (Bandeklosteret). The Gestapo knew that he possessed important information about the resistance movement, but Pevik refused to reveal the names of those with whom he had worked.

On 19 November 1944, he was secretly hanged at the Mission Hotel (Misjonshotellet) in Trondheim. He was probably the only Norwegian executed by hanging by the Gestapo on Norwegian soil.

His body was buried in secret in the forests of Strinda, but after the liberation it was discovered and reinterred at the Cathedral Cemetery. He was posthumously awarded the St. Olav Medal with Oak Branch. A road near Havstein Church bears his name, and together with his brother Arthur, he has a mountain in Antarctica named in his honour.

Johnny Pevik never lived to see the free Norway for which he fought.