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JEANNE D’ARC OF THE NORTH
Director(s):
Fredrik HORN AKSELSEN – Writer(s): Fredrik HORN AKSELSEN
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Liv Grannes, Norway's highest decorated woman nicknamed «Jeanne D`Arc of the North», operated as a British agent during World War II.
Northern Norway was under German occupation during World War II. Stalin demanded the Allies open a new front against Germany in the north through a military invasion. Winston Churchill asked for detailed plans for an Allied D-Day invasion of the Norwegian coast, code-named Operation Jupiter.
Liv Grannes had joined the resistance movement and worked actively with the British SOE (Special Operations Executive). As a secretary at the local police station, she forged passports, removed letters with sensitive information, and ran an extensive messaging service. The Gestapo suspected her and put her under surveillance. Her life was in danger.
Nearly 150,000 German soldiers remained in Northern Norway to prevent the invasion. This led to fewer troops in Normandy and made the Allied landing in France easier to carry out.
Liv fell in love with a mysterious Swedish operations leader, Birger Sjøberg. After the Gestapo got on the trail of the SOE group, Liv barely managed escape to England…where she married Birger Sjøberg who soon returned to Norway. He was shot during a German offensive.
After the war, Liv discovered that Sjøberg was not a Swede, but a Norwegian swindler under investigation for several serious fraud charges! Several years after the war, she married one of the most powerful politicians of the post-war period. He had to make sure that the story of Sjøberg, and with it Liv's story, would remain secret.
Today, Liv’s son, Jørgen Hauge, brings to light his mother’s story, sharing photos, private letters and new and hitherto unknown documentation.