Johannes Henrik Schiøtz

Who was Johannes Henrik Schiøtz?

Johannes Henrik Schiøtz was a Norwegian military officer and historian.

He was born in Hamar as a son of banker Jonas Schanche Kielland Schiøtz. He was a brother of Carl Schiøtz and nephew of Hjalmar August Schiøtz, both professors of medicine, and also a nephew of geologist Oskar Emil Schiøtz. He lived at Skøyen.

He first marked himself as a military historian. His grandest work was a history of Denmark-Norway's involvement in the Great Northern War, released in three volumes between 1936 and 1955. From 1934 to his death he edited the journal Norsk Militært Tidsskrift. From 1954 to 1956 he was the director of the Army Museum. He was also a military officer, and reached the rank of Colonel in 1939. He was involved in the fighting of the Norwegian Campaign in 1940. During the subsequent German occupation of Norway he was arrested by the Nazi authorities as a hostage on 17 January 1942. He was incarcerated at Grini concentration camp, was then sent to Schildberg on 30 December 1942, where he sat as a prisoner-of-war until the camp was liberated.