Johan Cappelen
Johan Cappelen (25 February 1889 – 18 October 1947) was a Norwegian lawyer and politician for the Conservative Party. He was born in Skogn Municipality[2] as a son of physician Johan Christian Severin Cappelen (1855–1936) and Katharina M. Steen (1859–1915). He had one sister and one brother. He was a nephew of physician Axel Hermansen Cappelen.[3] He graduated from the Royal Frederick University with cand.jur. degree in 1911. He worked as a deputy judge,[citation needed] and from 1915, attorney in Trondhjem. He was barrister[4] with access to work with Supreme Court from 1922.[2] As a politician Cappelen was elected to Trondhjem city council, serving as mayor from 1931 to 1934. In 1940 he was appointed County Governor of Sør-Trøndelag. However, due to the German occupation of Norway Cappelen was removed in the autumn of 1940.[2] In 1942 he joined the "Five Man Committee" in Trøndelag which was going to build the resistance group Sivorg. He was a close contact of Ferdinand Schjelderup in Kretsen. In 1943 he was denounced by Henry Rinnan when the Thingstad Group was discovered.[5] He was arrested in March 1943 and imprisoned in Vollan and Falstad.[6] After falling ill he was transferred to Innherred Hospital, where he managed to continue his resistance work with contacts to Trondheim.[5] However, in March 1945 he was transferred to Grini concentration camp and remained there until the war's end.[6] When the occupation ended in 1945, Cappelen was appointed Minister of Justice and the Police in the non-partisan coalition government Gerhardsen's First Cabinet. This cabinet lasted from June to November 1945, when a general election was held and the Gerhardsen's Second Cabinet assumed office. Cappelen was then reinstated as County Governor of Sør-Trøndelag, a post he held until his death in 1947.[2] References
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