Gunnar Dyrberg

Who is Gunnar Dyrberg?

Gunnar Dyrberg was a member of the Danish resistance movement during World War II. Dyrberg headed the Holger Danske, a Danish resistance group, from 1943 to 1945 using the code name, "Herman," to disguise his identity during the German occupation of Denmark.

As head of the Holger Danske, Dyrberg had a very close working relationship with two of the more famous members of Danish resistance group, Bent Faurschou-Hviid and Jørgen Haagen Schmith. The 2008 Danish film, Flame & Citron, starring Thure Lindhardt and Mads Mikkelsen, was based on the Holger Danske members. Dyrberg admitted after the war that he was behind the killing of several German informants and soldiers, though the number has never been publicly revealed.

Dyrberg became a businessman after the war. He then became a writer, recalling his accounts of his time in the Danish resistance movement in several books, novels, and memoirs. From 1971 until 2012, Dyrberg owned an operated the Lillesøgård in Høsterkøb, North Zealand.

Gunnar Dyrberg died at his home in Hørsholm following a long illness on 8 January 2012, at the age of 90.