Flemming Helweg-Larsen
Danish murderer (1911–1946)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Flemming Helweg-Larsen (20 July 1911 – 5 January 1946) was a Danish man convicted of the murder of Carl Henrik Clemmensen.[1] He was subsequently executed in the first application of the capital punishment in Denmark in 54 years.[1]
Flemming Helweg-Larsen | |
|---|---|
| Born | 20 July 1911 |
| Died | 5 January 1946 (aged 34) |
Cause of death | Execution by firing squad |
| Occupations | Writer, translator, ranch hand, soldier |
Biography
Born on St. Croix to the governor of the Danish West Indies, Helweg-Larsen has been described as having an adventurous spirit with "remarkable wordcrafting abilities".[2][3] In the 1930s he traveled to Argentina.[4] During this trip to South America, Helweg-Larsen worked for three years as a ranch hand.[2] During the same decade, his political interests began to drift into alignment with fascism, though he never joined the National Socialist Workers' Party of Denmark.[3] In the early 1940s he produced a Danish translation of the Ernest Hemingway novella The Torrents of Spring, which was published by Thaning & Appel in 1941 and which was used as the basis for a second Danish translation of the work in 1960.[2]
Following the German occupation of Denmark, Helweg-Larsen joined the Waffen SS, in which he served with a "propaganda unit in the Arnhem area to fire off material at British troops".[5] In 1943, Helweg-Larsen, Søren Kam, and a third Danish man, seized Carl Henrik Clemmensen – a Danish "anti-Nazi newspaper editor" – from his home.[6] Clemmensen's body was later found "riddled with bullets".[6] Following the war, Helweg-Larsen was convicted of the murder and executed by firing squad.[1][6]
While being held in prison during trial, Helweg-Larsen wrote a memoir of his life during the period of 1941 to 1945.[7] It was published by Gyldendal in 2008 under the title Dødsdømt: Flemming Helweg-Larsens beretning ("Death Sentence: Flemming Helweg-Larsen's Account").[7][8] In a review of the book, Berlingske concluded it was well-written and an "exciting reading".[3]