Kai Holst

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Kai Holst bigraphy, stories - Norwegian resistance leader

Kai Holst : biography

24 February 1913 – 27 June 1945

Kai Christian Middelthon Holst (24 February 1913 – 27 June 1945) was a Norwegian seaman, fur farmer and resistance fighter during World War II.Fra varm til kald krig, 89–92 When the leadership of Milorg was torn up by the Gestapo in 1942 he acquired a leading role in the organisation and participated in re-establishing the central leadership (Sentralledelsen, SL) of Milorg together with Jens Christian Hauge."After this severe draining of the central leadership in SL there were only one connection between the council and all sections within O, namely Kai Holst. There were no horizontal connections, so very much were dependent on him.", Milorg 1941–43, 23 Holst had to flee from Norway in the autumn of 1943"In August 1943 Kaka crossed the border and by that concluded a unique intensely effort in occupied Norway.", from Rapport om mitt arbeid under okkupasjonen, 134"But during the summer a range of important colleagues had to travel due to razzias and warnings. From Grini there came a warning that Gestapo were on the trail of Kaka (Kai Holst), and in August he went over the border to Sweden, where he soon got important tasks at the Norwegian military office in Stockholm. It was with heavy heart Hauge let him go. Kaka’s bravery, unselfishness (selvoppofrelse) and contagious activism had made him a close friend and a rare valueable colleague. But the dangersigns were after a while so many that both Hauge and Holst realized that it was best to give up while he could.", from Jens Chr. Hauge : fullt og helt, 149 and stayed in Sweden until the liberation of Norway in 1945.

For posterity Holst is known both for his work with the Norwegian resistance and for the circumstances surrounding his death in Stockholm in 1945. Holst’s demise was so much talked of at the time that the Milorg leadership issued a statement in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten in July 1945.Milorg-leadership statement regarding Kai Holst’s death, of 19 July 1945: "Due to the sensation that has emerged concerning Kai Holst’s death we want, after Swedish and Norwegian police have made thorough investigations, give the statement below: Kai Holst very early entered the work with establishing the resistance forces. He was connected to the leadership (Sentralledelsen), where his work was of invaluable use. His strong and good character, his bravery, clear intelligence and charm made him unusually well fit for this work. In 1943 he was ordered to leave the country, after he had been heavily sought by the Gestapo. In Sweden he was immediately employed by the Norwegian legation in Stockholm, where he continued his outstanding work to support the resistance forces. When peace arrived, it was natural that he got a responsible task in connection with winding down the large structure that had been established in Sweden. Under the whole of the fight for freedom Kai Holst used all his strength. He worked day and night without thought of himself, and without taking into consideration that he had been through a severe illness that he had won over, but that had given him a severe physical handicap. When he after all managed the enormous workload through several years, it was the satisfaction he felt by submitting his outmost. One has been able to follow Kai Holst from day to day, and in the last time perid from hour to hour and on basis of this can state that there has not been found any proof (holdepunkt) for that assumption that there is a murder. Neither has there been found anything that hint at that he – even few minutes before his death – had plans about taking his own life, and any motive for such an act can not be seen that he had. All his dispositions did on the contrary show that he calculated on living. This is also in line with the impression his friends that talked with him got, also under his last travel from Norway back to Sweden. In the last weeks and days under and after the capitulation, the workload Kai Holst had, got such a degree of intensity that is went above what a human could manage. He wear himself out in the fight for the liberation of the country.