PQ magazine recently came across a film on Nexflix, Number 24 (or Nr24), all about Norwegian WWII resistance fighter Gunnar Sonsteby.
The film follows the most highly decorated citizen in Norwegian history – he is the only person to have been awarded the War Cross with three swords, Norway’s highest military decoration.
What a lot of people don’t know, he was working as an accountant when the Germans occupied Norway in 1940. As a key part of the resistance, he was high on the Gestapo list of wanted men, but they couldn’t find him. Sonsteby was a master of disguise, operating under 30 to 40 different names and identities.
They were never able to capture him and he attributed this to an entirely ordinary appearance which meant no-one noticed him riding through Olso on his bike.
Sonsteby also had 30 places where he spent the night, many for only one night at a time, and never used them for more than a couple of months.
A real accountancy hero then.
