Michelsen Bjørn & Astrid (Stokke); Father: August

Michelsen, Björn Michelsen-Stokke, Astrid Harriet Michelsen, August Björn Michelsen, living in Oslo with his wife Astrid, was a member of the Norwegian Underground, “Milorg”. With the start of the arrests of Jewish men in the capital on October 26, 1942, John Jakobson contacted Astrid, a friend of his from the time they were both living in Trondheim, telling her of his fear of arrest. Astrid immediately arranged a car to pick him up as well as for his wife Chesne and three of his relatives, Adolf Bekker, Bernhard Playdal (Plesansky), and Rosa Plesansky and bring them to her home in Oslo. Due of lack of space in the Michelsen’s apartment, some of them were taken a few days later to the home of Dr. August Michelsen, Björn‘s father. Later that year, probably with the help of the Underground, all five were smuggled into neutral Sweden. Astrid was harassed by the Gestapo a number of times on suspicion of underground activity. Björn himself was arrested in February 1943 for belonging to the Underground. In September that year he was interned in the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp in Alsace, where he died in April 1944. On October 23, 2001, Yad Vashem recognized Björn and Astrid Harriet Michelsen-Stokke as well as his father, August Michelsen, as Righteous Among the Nations.