Bjørn Westlie
Norwegian journalist, historian, university college lecturer and non-fiction writer
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Bjørn Petter Westlie (born 23 July 1949) is a Norwegian journalist, historian, university college lecturer and non-fiction writer.
Bjørn Westlie | |
|---|---|
Photo from 2014 | |
| Born | 23 July 1949 |
| Occupations | Journalist, historian, university college lecturer and non-fiction writer |
| Spouse | Anne Hege Simonsen |
| Awards | Brage Prize (2008) |
Career
In 1995, as a journalist for the newspaper Dagens Næringsliv, Westlie published a major article about the looting of the Norwegian Jews during the Second World War.[1] In many cases the survivors were not able to reclaim any valuables, businesses or properties.
Together with historian Bjarte Bruland’s research this article started a public settlement process ending with the Government giving financial compensation and issuing a public apology.[citation needed]
In most of his books Westlie has focused on the Second World War. Maktens ansikt (The Face of Power) from 1991 is a portrait of Milorg leader and later politician Jens Chr. Hauge. In 2002 he published Oppgjør: I skyggen av Holocaust (Revisitation – In the Shadow of the Holocaust). Fars krig (My Father’s War) from 2008 told the story about his father, who was an SS volunteer.[1] This book received the Brage Prize for non-fiction for 2008,[2] and was later translated into Ukrainian.[1]
His book, Fangene som forsvant. NSB og slavearbeiderne på Nordlandsbanen (The Disappeared Prisoners. NSB (Norwegian State Railways) and the Slave Labourers on the Nordland Line) came out in 2015.[1]
In 2019 he published the book Det norske jødehatet: propaganda og presse under okkupasjonen.[1]
Radicalism
For about ten years, from 1974 and onward, Bjørn Westlie was a member of the Workers' Communist Party. In interviews he has described his activism mainly as a reaction to the Vietnam War. According to himself, Westlie has repeatedly been rethinking his own embrace of extreme political movements when trying to decipher his father’s choices.[3]
Personal life
Westlie was born on 23 July 1949.[1]
Bjørn Westlie lives in Oslo.[citation needed] He is married to researcher, journalist, university college lecturer and writer Anne Hege Simonsen.[3] As of 2013 he had two daughters and one grandchild.[3]
Selected works
- 1988: I grenselandet: når forskning flytter grensen mellom liv og død.,[1] Universitetsforlaget
- 1991: Maktens ansikt: et portrett av Jens Chr. Hauge[1] – with Alf Ole Ask, Gyldendal
- 1995: Drømmen om det perfekte mennesket. Fra arvehygiene til genhygiene, Gyldendal
- 1996: Coming to terms with the past: The process of restitution of Jewish property in Norway, Institute of the World Jewish Congress
- 2002: Oppgjør – I skyggen av Holocaust, Aschehoug[1]
- 2008: Fars krig, Aschehoug[1]
- 2012: Hitlers norske budbringere, Aschehoug[1]
- 2015: Fangene som forsvant. NSB og slavearbeiderne på Nordlandsbanen, Spartacus
- 2019: Det norske jødehatet - propaganda og presse under okkupasjonen, Res Publica[1]
- 2022: Mørke år. Norge og jødene på 1930-tallet, Res Publica