Reidun Røed

Who was Reidun Røed?

Reidun Røed, née Hjartøy was a Norwegian resistance member.

She was born in Rjukan, but the family moved to Jar in her youth, and she finished her secondary education at Stabekk Upper Secondary School. She studied chemistry at the University of Oslo, but this ended when the university was closed by the Nazi occupiers of Norway following the 1943 University of Oslo fire. She worked as an assistant at the Norwegian Radium Hospital until 1944, when she was hired as a secretary for the leader of Milorg's District 13 based in Norway's capital.

She started working for Major Oliver H. Langeland, the first leader of D13. In July 1944 Langeland received orders from London to leave the country, and travelled to England via Sweden, and Lorentz Brinch took over as the new leader of D13. Hjartøy was one of district leader Brinch's closest helpers. Brinch, Hjartøy and Andreas Tømmerbakke were the three people usually present at the district's main office, where sub-leaders came in to file reports during the day. As the highest-serving woman in the district she was often called "Milorg D 13's first lady".