Erling Rudolf Anthonsen 1900 - 1945

Born 30.7.1900 in Oslo
Died 16.1.1945 in Melk

Biography

Erling Rudolf Anthonsen was born on 30 July 1900 in Oslo. He was the youngest of eight siblings. His mother died when he was just two years old. He grew up in the Kampen district of Oslo, where he also went to school. In 1926 he married Mathilde Wang, with whom he had a daughter in 1937.

Erling Rudolf Anthonsen trained as a printer. He worked for several years for the renowned Rich. Andvord company. During these years, he was the main person responsible for the printing presses at the firm.

Erling Rudolf Anthonsen was a very active member of society. He was club chairman of the printing shop within his firm, a member of the control committee of the Norsk Centralforening for boktrykkere (Norwegian Trade Union of Printers), and a leader in the Oslo og Akershus faglige Samorgaisasjon (Oslo and Akershus Union Organisation). Likewise he was among the party leadership of the Arbeiderparti in Oslo and also a deputy in the party’s central leadership at state level.

On 13 February 1942 he was arrested for activities involving the Fri Fagbevegelse newspaper.[1] First he was imprisoned in Oslo’s largest prison, Møllergata 19. Then he was transferred to the Grini prison camp and, on 15 February 1943, deported to Sachsenhausen. There he was taken to the Falkensee subcamp. In June 1944 he was transferred to Natzweiler concentration camp in France as a Nacht-und-Nebel (‘Night and Fog’) prisoner and remained there until the evacuation of the camp at the beginning of September 1944. He was then deported to Dachau, Mauthausen and, finally, to its subcamp Melk in Austria.

Erling Rudolf Anthonsen died on 16 January 1945 in Melk.

 

Liv Kristensen, daughter

 

Translation into English: Joanna White

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[1] Translator’s note: the Fri Fagbevegelse, which translates as ‘Free Union Movement’, was an illegal newspaper during the German occupation of Norway.

 

Itinerary:

Anthonsen, Erling Rudolf (Rudi), printer, Oslo, born 30 July 1900; 13 February 1942 imprisoned in Møllergaten 19; 23 April 1942 transferred to Grini, no 2748; deported to Sachsenhausen, arrived 5 February 1943, no 61105; 14. June 1944 transferred to Natzweiler, arrived 18 June 1944, no 17455; transferred to Dachau, arrived 6 September 1944, no 100772; 14 September 1944 transferred to Mauthausen, arrived 16 September 1944, no 97537; 24 September 1944 transferred to Melk, died 16 January 1944 in Melk.

Øystein Sørbye, Head of the Norwegian Natzweiler and the Dachau Committee, was able to reconstruct the exact detention routes of Erling Rudolf Anthonsen.

Location In room