Jan Dahm

Jan Dahm (5 April 1921 – 16 February 2013) was a Norwegian resistance member during World War II. He was among the first group of people to be subject to court-martial during the German occupation of Norway, and later initiated and headed the Secret Intelligence Service group Theta, which operated in Bergen from December 1941 to June 1942.

German court-martial

At the German attack on Norway in April 1940 Jahn Dahm was a nineteen-year-old engineering student at Bergens Tekniske Skole. He had been an eager radio amateur and a member of Bergen Radio Relé Liga for years, and at home he also had a workshop for building radios.^[1] On 25 June 1940, while he had an examination at the school, he was fetched and brought to the Gestapo office in Bergen, where he was confronted with equipment taken from his home, and told he would be charged for espionage. On 28 June he was transported by bus from Bergen to Oslo together with ten other arrestees, and taken to Møllergaten 19.^[2] The German court-martial started in Oslo on 22 August 1940. The court in Oslo consisted of 3rd Senate of Deutsches Reichskriegsgericht in Berlin, and the prosecutor had proposed death sentence to the six defendants, according to paragraphs 2 (espionage) and 89 (treason) of the German penal code.^[3] On 28 August three of the six defendants were sentenced to death, while Jan Dahm and another defendant were set free, as the charges could not be proved. This was the first court-martial in Norway after the German occupation, and the first death sentences in Norway since 1876. The convicted were travelling agent Konrad Rendedal, Colonel Gabriel Lund and doctor Odd Solem, while policeman Erling Staff was sentenced to five years in prison. The death sentences were later changed to five years imprisonment (German: Festungshaft). Jan Dahm could go back home, but had to report to Gestapo every second week.^[1]

SIS radio station Theta

Dahm continued his studies at Bergens Tekniske Skole, but placed under Gestapo supervision. He noticed that he was often observed by unknown persons, but eventually learned how to escape his shadows. He got contacts among undercover resistance members, such as physicist and radio expert Helmer Dahl, and district leader of the Bergen department of Milorg, Mons Haukeland. Along with some friends he also started to prepare a secret room in a building at Bryggen, which could be used as a working room and cover. As the group had expertise on radio transmission, the next step was to establish contact with allied forces. Group member Bjarne Thorsen travelled by boat to Lerwick, and managed to establish contact with the Secret Intelligence Service in London. Thorsen returned to Bergen bringing a radio transmitter, secret codes and schedules. The station was called Theta, and started its operation in December 1941.^[4] Among the notable messages transmitted by Theta, was a report on the battleship Tirpitz.^[5] The Theta group operated until June 1942, when group member Kristian Ottosen was arrested. Following this arrest, Dahm fled to Sweden via Bodø, Fauske and Junkerdalen, together with Theta member Wenche Stenersen.^[6] Dahm was further fetched to Britain for briefing. He was later trained as radar officer, and eventually served at the naval base in Shetland.^[7]

Post war

Dahm graduated from Bergens Technical School in 1947, and ran an engineering company in Bergen from 1950.^[8] He died in February 2013.^[9][10]

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