View source for Sven Hassel

{{Short description|Danish writer (1917–2012)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox writer
| name         = Sven Hassel
| pseudonym    = Sven Hazel
| birth_name   = Børge Willy Redsted Pedersen
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1917|4|19|df=yes}}
| birth_place  = Nyhuse, [[Frederiksborg County]], Denmark
| death_date   = {{death date and age|2012|09|21|1917|4|19|df=yes}} 
| death_place  = [[Barcelona]], Spain
| occupation   = Author
| period       = 1953–2012 
| genre        = World War II
| notableworks = {{plainlist|
*''[[The Legion of the Damned (novel)|The Legion of the Damned]]'' (1953)
*''Wheels of Terror'' (1958)
*''Comrades of War'' (1960)
*''SS-General'' (1960)
*''March Battalion'' (1962)
*''Assignment Gestapo'' (1963)
*''Monte Cassino'' (1963)
*''Liquidate Paris'' (1967)
*''Reign of Hell'' (1971)
*''Blitzfreeze'' (1973)
*''Court Martial'' (1978)
*''O.G.P.U. Prison'' (1981)
*''The Bloody Road to Death'' (1983)
*''The Commissar'' (1984)
}}
| spouse       = {{marriage|Laura Dorthea Guldbæk Jensen|1951}}
| children     = Michael Hasse Arbing 
| website      = {{URL|http://www.svenhassel.net/}}
}}

'''Sven Hassel''' was the [[pen name]] of the Danish-born '''Børge Willy Redsted Pedersen''' (19 April 1917 – 21 September 2012)<ref name="ritzau">{{cite news|url=http://politiken.dk/navne/doedsfald/ECE1762075/kuloert-dansk-krigsforfatter-er-doed/|title=Kulørt dansk krigsforfatter er død|work=[[Politiken]]|agency=[[Ritzau]]|date=23 September 2012|access-date=24 September 2014|trans-title=Colourful Danish War Author Dies|language=da}}</ref> known for his bestselling novels about German soldiers fighting in [[World War II]]. In Denmark he used the pen name ''Sven Hazel''.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.b.dk/nationalt/millionsaelgende-dansk-forfatter-er-doed|title=Millionsælgende dansk forfatter er død|work=[[Berlingske]]|date=23 September 2012|access-date=9 April 2016|trans-title=Million-selling Danish Author Dies|language=da}}</ref> He is one of the bestselling Danish authors, possibly second only to [[Hans Christian Andersen]].<ref name=litteratursiden>{{cite news|url=http://www.litteratursiden.dk/blogs/ruben-palma/20121021|website=litteratursiden.dk|title=Sven Hazel: dansk litteraturs grimmeste ælling|first=Rubén|last=Palma|date=21 October 2012|access-date=10 April 2017|language=da|trans-title=Sven Hazel: the ugliest duckling of Danish literature|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925180602/http://www.litteratursiden.dk/blogs/ruben-palma/20121021|archive-date=25 September 2017}}</ref><ref name=berlingske_2010>{{cite news|work=[[Berlingske Tidende]]|title=Mordet på den tavse myte|first=Christian|last=Brøndum|date=14 March 2010|language=da|trans-title=The Murder of the Silent Myth}}</ref>

Hassel claimed his authorship was based on being a veteran of the German ''[[Wehrmacht]]'' who had fought in the [[Battle of Berlin]] in 1945 until he surrendered to the [[Red Army|Soviets]]. However, numerous post-war investigations have proven him to be a [[military impostor]] with false claims and outright fabrications. In fact Hassel (as Pedersen) was a Danish criminal who did join the German Army but was incarcerated for having lied about his convictions. He was not captured in Berlin because he was in prison in Denmark. In the post-war period he gave a false testament which led to the arrest and imprisonment of innocent people.

==Biographical details==
Hassel claimed that at the age of 14 he joined the merchant navy as a [[cabin boy]] and worked on ships until his [[military service]] in 1936. He said that he then joined the [[German Army (1935–1945)|German Army]] and served in tank units during World War II.<ref name="self">{{cite web|url=http://www.svenhassel.net/author.html|title=About the Author|date=28 March 2014|access-date=25 September 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160411232552/https://www.svenhassel.com/author.html |archive-date= 2016-04-11 |url-status=dead }}{{Self-published source|date=February 2015}}</ref>

Hassel claimed to have surrendered to Soviet troops in [[Berlin]] in 1945 and to have spent the following years in [[prisoner-of-war camp]]s in various countries.<ref name="self"/> Independent sources state that he was arrested in Denmark in 1945 after the liberation and was held in prison there, first as a suspect and then as a convicted criminal.<ref name=berlingske_2010/> Hassel was released from prison in 1949 after having served four years out of his ten-year prison sentence.<ref name="berlingske_2010" />

After his release, Hassel claimed he planned to join the [[French Foreign Legion]] until he met his future wife.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sven-hassel-soldier-who-won-the-iron-cross-and-wrote-best-sellers-8317043.html|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sven-hassel-soldier-who-won-the-iron-cross-and-wrote-best-sellers-8317043.html|archive-date=25 May 2022|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|title=Sven Hassel: Soldier who won the Iron Cross and wrote best-sellers|date=14 November 2012|website=independent.co.uk|access-date=14 October 2017}}</ref> He and Laura Dorthea Guldbæk Jensen, a divorced film translator from [[Nørre Tranders]] who was four years his senior, married in Copenhagen in January 1951.{{cn|date=February 2023}}

In 1964, he moved to [[Barcelona]], Spain, where he lived until his death.<ref name="ritzau"/>

==WWII author==
In 1953 his [[debut novel]] ''Legion of the Damned'' was published under the pen name ''Sven Hazel'' by [[Grafisk Forlag]]<ref>{{cite web|title=De fordømtes legion&nbsp;— Sven Hazel|publisher=[[Bibliotek.dk]]|url=https://bibliotek.dk/da/work/870970-basis%3A42273252|access-date=27 September 2014|language=da}}</ref> after their consultant ''Georgjedde'' (Georg Gjedde-Simonsen) had abbreviated and rewritten the manuscript.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sven Hazel (1917-2012)|url=http://www.litteraturpriser.dk/aut/HSvenHazel.htm|work=litteraturpriser.dk|date=23 January 2015|access-date=21 February 2015|language=da}}</ref>

Hassel's books are written in the [[Grammatical person|first person]], with Hassel himself as a character, though not necessarily the lead character. The books describe the exploits of a 27th (Penal) Panzer Regiment composed of expendable soldiers&nbsp;– sentenced criminals, [[court-martial]]ed soldiers and political undesirables. In addition to Sven, they include Alfred Kalb, "Legionnaire" (ex-member of the French Foreign Legion); Wolfgang Creutzfeldt, a giant of a man ironically named Tiny (variously Little John in some of the books); barracks fixer and shrewd thief Joseph Porta; older sergeant Willie Beier, "Old Un" or "Old Man"; Julius Heide, a Nazi fanatic, Barcelona Blom, a veteran of both sides of the [[Spanish Civil War]], Gregor Martin, who was a removals man before the war, Chief Mechanic Wolf, and Staff Sergeant Hoffman, a non-commissioned officer. They serve on many fronts, including northern Finland, USSR, Italy (''Monte Cassino''), Greece (''The Bloody Road to Death''), the Balkans, and France (''Liquidate Paris'', set during and after the [[Normandy Invasion]]). Most of the action occurs in the USSR. Due to errors in chronology, the regiment fights in several places, hundreds of kilometres apart, at the same time. In some of the books the 27th Regiment does guard duty for the [[Gestapo]] in [[Hamburg]] (''Assignment Gestapo'') and also at the military prison at [[Torgau]] (''March Battalion''). 

Hassel claimed that, while his novels were essentially works of fiction, his characters were based on real people and some events were related to historical events. His view of war is brutal. In his books, soldiers fight only to survive, with the [[Geneva Convention]] rarely being observed on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern front]]. People are killed by chance or with very little reason. Occasional pleasant events and peaceful meetings are brutally cut short. Unsympathetic Prussian officers constantly threaten their men with [[courts-martial]] and execute them with little provocation. Disgruntled soldiers occasionally kill their own officers to get rid of them. By graphically portraying war as violent and hopeless in such manner, Hassel's books have been said to contain an [[anti-war]] message.

In total he published 14 novels which have been translated into 18 languages.<ref name="ritzau"/> In 1987 his book ''Wheels of Terror'' was made into a film of the same title and also known as ''[[The Misfit Brigade]]''.

Hassel's books are particularly popular in the United Kingdom, where he sold 15 million of the 53 million sold worldwide.<ref name="grauniad">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/02/sven-hassel| title=Sven Hassel obituary| newspaper=The Guardian| date=2 October 2012| access-date=17 March 2014}}</ref> In contrast his books are not deemed suitable for the public libraries in his home country Denmark<ref name=litteratursiden/> where a 2011 opinion piece on literature in ''[[Dagbladet Information]]'' described Hassel as a traitor and his debut novel as the worst book ever with its characters plagiarized from ''[[All Quiet on the Western Front]]''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Jeg læser, til jeg keder mig|url=http://www.information.dk/274642| newspaper=[[Dagbladet Information]]|location=Copenhagen|first=Lasse|last=Ellegaard|date=30 July 2011| access-date=14 December 2014|trans-title=I read till I am bored|language=da}}</ref>

===Works===
English titles:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.librarything.com/author/hasselsven|title=Books by the author|publisher=Librarything.com|date=19 April 1917|access-date=6 July 2012}}</ref>
{{div col}}
*''[[The Legion of the Damned (novel)|The Legion of the Damned]]'' (1953)
*''Wheels of Terror'' (1958)
*''Comrades of War'' (1960)
*''SS-General'' (1960)<ref>Rogers M. Legion of the Damned/Monte Cassino/SS General... (Book). Library Journal. 2003;128(17):103. Accessed July 16, 2025. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lkh&AN=11069879&lang=ru&site=eds-live&scope=site</ref>
*''March Battalion'' (1962)
*''Assignment Gestapo'' (1963)
*''Monte Cassino'' (1963)
*''Liquidate Paris'' (1967)
*''Reign of Hell'' (1971)
*''Blitzfreeze'' (1973)
*''Court Martial'' (1978)
*''O.G.P.U. Prison'' (1981)
*''The Bloody Road to Death'' (1983)
*''The Commissar'' (1984)
{{div col end}}

==Børge Willy Redsted Pedersen==
===Documentary evidence===
On 23 August 1942 the resistance newspaper ''[[De Frie Danske]]'' reported that on 13 August a [[Cadillac]] registered to [[National Socialist Workers' Party of Denmark|DNSAP]] leader [[Frits Clausen]] had crashed in Copenhagen. A "Børge Petersen" involved in the crash first disappeared but was later apprehended and awaited trial. DNSAP subsequently issued a statement that due to his prior convictions Børge Petersen was not and could never be a member of DNSAP. ''De Frie Danske'' opined that if this statement were true there would hardly be any members at all in DNSAP.<ref>{{cite news|title=D.N.S.A.P.: Bilens Sindssyge Kørsel|url=http://www.illegalpresse.dk/#/paper?paper=50&page=530|newspaper=[[De frie Danske]]|date=23 August 1942|page=14|quote=Hele denne Sag giver iøvrigt et udmærket Indblik i det Hof af Svirebrødre, Cykletyve, Dokumentfalsknere, og lignende Lovovertrædere, som Frits Clausen omgiver sig med, og Landsretsagfører Helge Bangsteds Erklæring om, at den i første Omgang forsvundne Passager, Børge Petersen, ikke var og aldrig havde kunnet blive Medlem af D.N.S.A.P. paa Grund af de Straffedomme der var overgaaet ham, maatte hvis den var rigtig, uvægerligt betyde, at det i Forvejen ikke særligt store Parti, faktisk helt vilde forsvinde; for de Par Stykker indenfor D.N.S.A.P., der ikke har været straffet, er i hvert Fald ikke saa mange, at de kan gøre Krav paa at blive kaldt et Parti|access-date=29 December 2014|trans-title=The DNSAP-car's insane driving|language=da}}</ref> The author [[Erik Haaest]] claimed that the criminal record of Børge Willy Redsted Pedersen shows that he was the aforementioned "Børge Petersen" and that he in connection with the car crash impersonated a police officer and that he was living at Høffdingsvej 21<ref name="hazelmystery">{{cite book|title=Sven Hazel mysteriet|first=Erik|last=Haaest|author-link=Erik Haaest|pages=136–139|isbn=978-87-7466-501-4|year=2010|oclc=759883134|publisher=Bogan|trans-title=The Sven Hazel Mystery|language=da}}</ref> with his parents.{{cn|date=February 2023}} Haaest's implication is that Pedersen's claim that he was a naturalized German citizen fighting with the German armed forces is contradicted by his arrest in Copenhagen as a civilian with several prior convictions.<ref name="hazelmystery"/>

===Danish investigations===
On 10 October 1963 journalist [[George Kringelbach]] revealed in his radio programme ''Natredaktionen'' on [[DR P3|P3]] that Sven Hazel was a pen name for the convicted traitor Børge Willy Redsted Pedersen.<ref name="ritzau"/><ref name="litteraturpriser">{{cite web|title=Oplysninger om enkelte personer|url=http://www.litteraturpriser.dk/aut/HSvenHazel.htm|date=31 July 2014|access-date=17 July 2022|language=da}}</ref> Further, Kringelbach claimed that while Pedersen might have been in Germany during the war, it was not in a [[Penal military unit|penal battalion]]. Rather, during the war he had been working for a German intelligence agency which collaborated with [[HIPO Corps|HIPO]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Kunst_og_kultur/Litteratur/Dansk_litteratur/Efter_1940/Sven_Hazel|title=Den Store Danske|at=Sven Hazel|first=Carsten|last=Berthelsen|publisher=[[Gyldendal]]|access-date=20 February 2015|trans-title=The Great Danish|language=da}}</ref> Hassel's publisher Grafisk Forlag subsequently offered all book dealers a refund for his most recent book and ceased collaboration with him. Pedersen therefore formed his own publishing company {{Langnf|la|Bellum|War}}, which published the remainder of his books.<ref name="litteraturpriser"/>

The controversial Danish writer Erik Haaest disputed Hassel's claims for many years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://home.tiscali.dk/haaest/Hassel-Hazel/Texts/English/00table.htm|title=Erik Haaest challenging Hassel's claims|publisher=Home.tiscali.dk|access-date=6 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716224703/http://home.tiscali.dk/haaest/Hassel-Hazel/Texts/English/00table.htm|archive-date=16 July 2012}}</ref> According to Haaest, the author never served on the Eastern front but spent the majority of World War II in occupied Denmark and his knowledge of warfare comes second-hand from Danish Waffen-SS veterans whom he met after the end of the war. Haaest claims that during the war period, Hassel was in fact a member of the [[HIPO Corps]] or ''Hilfspolizei'', an auxiliary Danish police force created by the Gestapo, consisting of collaborators. Haaest also alleges that Hassel's first novel was [[ghostwriter|ghostwritten]] and that, when it became a success, he employed his wife to write the rest of his books.{{cn|date=February 2023}}

In 1976 Hassel threatened Haaest with a lawsuit for defamation in reaction to Haasts' publication of the book {{Langnf|da|Hazel. En Hitler-agents fantastiske historie|''Hazel. A Hitler agent's fantastic story''}}. A review of Haaest's book quotes Hassel's own statements and writes that his sentence of 10 years prison for treason was given primarily because he was an informant for the German occupation force in Denmark and argues that he could not both have been an informant in Copenhagen and been fighting deep inside Soviet territory.<ref>{{cite news|work=[[BT (tabloid)|BT]]|title=Han udnævner Sven Hazel til Hitler-agent, retssag på trapperne|author=Bris|page=14| date=24 August 1976|language=da}}</ref>

===Fraud exposed===
In 2010 the Danish [[public service television]] channel [[DR2]] dedicated one of its five episodes on scandals in Denmark to Hassel. The program explained that he at first was wildly popular among his Danish readers and celebrated as a Danish [[Ernest Hemingway]], until in 1963 he was exposed as a fraud with a dubious wartime past. He became an outcast and had go into exile to continue publishing. The national Danish Radio which aired the exposure were subsequently forced to issue a retraction after Hassel provided corroborating documentation of his wartime service.{{cn|date=February 2023}} With more than 50 million books sold, he is the most sold Danish author ever but never received recognition or forgiveness.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dr.dk/presse/dr2-tager-seerne-bag-om-skandalen|website=[[dr.dk]]|title=Sven Hazel: forfatteren der blev kulturelt landsforvist|date=16 March 2010|access-date=10 April 2017|language=da|trans-title=Sven Hazel: the author who was culturally exiled}}</ref>

In March 2010, ''[[Berlingske Tidende]]'' gave a detailed account of Hassel's exposure as a fraud and his post-war prison sentence. In 1963 the radio journalist George Kringelbach had participated in a reception Hassel gave to celebrate his ten years as a vastly successful writer. The reception saw participation by numerous dignitaries including ambassadors and envoys of six foreign countries. Until then the public was under the impression that Hassel was a real person and that his books were autobiographical. When during his late night radio programme Kringelbach subsequently revealed that Sven Hassel was a fictitious person and that the author was a convicted traitor, a major scandal ensued. The national radio of Denmark and Hassel reached a settlement, which at the time was seen as a retraction by the national radio. The settlement enraged Kringelbach's colleagues and Kringelbach subsequently left his employer. According to ''Berlingske'', the settlement actually acknowledges that Hassel was affiliated with the German intelligence agency E.T., the intelligence-gathering branch of [[HIPO Corps|HIPO]]. Based on the settlement, ''Berlingske'' went on to detail the 1947 sentence of Hassel. The sentence does indeed state that Hassel served in an armoured regiment of the German Wehrmacht. However, the newspaper goes on to explain that the author Haaest in 1976 had interviewed Hassel's defence attorney, member of parliament and mayor of Copenhagen [[Edel Saunte]]. According to Haaest, Saunte had explained that in court Hassel had insisted that the charges against him should be extended with a clause that he had also served as a German soldier, although he had obviously never done that. After insisting several times, the judge ended the discussions with a statement to the effect that she could no longer bear his insistence on this nonsensical front line service, but that he would also be convicted for that, although it would not add to or detract from his prison sentence. ''Berlingske''{{`s}} account ends with a statement from Haaest, that what actually happened is still a matter of belief, as well as a statement from Hassel's son who refers to the official retraction from the national radio and said that his aging father had nothing more to add.<ref name=berlingske_2010/>

In 2012 the Danish World War II historian [[Claus Bundgård Christensen]] was quoted for his assertion that Hassel never served on the Eastern front and that his books are a fraud and not based on his personal experiences. The historian went on to speculate that Hassel got his information from his contacts in the German intelligence service.<ref name=litteratursiden/>

During the last five years of his life Hassel acknowledged the controversy in his home country over his authorship with a statement in Danish that ''In Denmark Sven Hassel has been put down'' (''I Danmark er Sven Hazel blevet rakket ned''), which he compares to the worldwide sale of his books in 53 million copies.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.svenhazel.com/|title=Sven Hazel|date=4 March 2007|access-date=26 September 2017|language=da|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070304074120/http://www.svenhazel.com/|archive-date=4 March 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.svenhazel.com/|title=Sven Hazel|date=21 May 2012|access-date=26 September 2017|language=da|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120521110316/http://www.svenhazel.com/|archive-date=21 May 2012}}</ref>

In September 2023 another book about Børge Willy Redsted Pedersen was published by Danish former police officer Martin Q Magnussen. ''Den Falske Løjtnant'' asserts that documents about Pedersen had been stolen by an employee of the Danish national state archive and only returned by his widow in 2017. These documents include detailed court case paperwork from Pedersen's post-war prosecution (he was sentenced to 10 years and served about 2) and Pedersen's own diary. The book concludes that Pedersen had attempted to join the Waffen SS in 1941 and had been rejected because of his criminal record in Denmark (bicycle thefts, posing as an army officer - hence the title). He did successfully join the Wehrmacht in 1942 under a false name, where he did indeed serve in Ukraine in a panzer unit, and that he was indeed sent to a penal battalion for pretending to have been a veteran of the Spanish Civil War. After serving his sentence with the penal battalion he then absconded from the Wehrmacht while on leave in Copenhagen and served (under other aliases) as a guard and then in the Hipo corps, where he committed various acts of torture. After his identity was eventually discovered he managed to escape custody again but was eventually recaptured and remained imprisoned until the end of the war when he was accidentally released. The book also asserts that he was involved in various dishonest and subversive activities associated with the Danish legal follow-up to the war, which led to innocent people being prosecuted.

==Death==
On 21 September 2012 Hassel died, aged 95, in Barcelona. He was survived by his son.<ref name="ritzau"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{official|http://www.svenhassel.net}}
*[https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/books/sven-hassel-novelist-who-depicted-nazi-soldiers-lives-dies-at-95.html?_r=0 Paul, Vitello, "Sven Hassel, Novelist Who Depicted Nazi Soldiers' Lives, Dies at 95," New York Times, October 6, 2012.]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hassel, Sven}}
[[Category:1917 births]]
[[Category:2012 deaths]]
[[Category:Danish emigrants to Germany]]
[[Category:German emigrants to Spain]]
[[Category:Danish male novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Danish sailors]]
[[Category:German Army officers of World War II]]
[[Category:Military humor]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of Germany]]
[[Category:20th-century Danish novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Danish male writers]]
[[Category:Danish Waffen-SS personnel]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of Denmark]]