Ferdinand Schjelderup

Ferdinand Schjelderup (8 March 1886 – 30 July 1955) was a Norwegian mountaineer, Supreme Court Justice and resistance member during the German occupation of Norway.

Personal life He was born in Kristiania as the son of Thorleif Frederik Schjelderup and Inga Berven. He was the brother of Gunnar Schjelderup, He married American singer Anne Brown.

The new Nazi authorities found him to be the most objectionable among the Supreme Court Justices, as Schjelderup at one occasion had insulted a picture of Vidkun Quisling. As the Supreme Court Justices collectively laid down their posts in December 1940, Schjelderup emerged as one of the most prominent members of the Norwegian civil resistance. According to historians, this was "completely unexpected". With his influence over Paal Berg, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court before 1940, Schjelderup recruited Berg to the inner circle Kretsen in 1941, which had direct contact with the Norwegian government-in-exile in London. Schjelderup was later the messenger between Kretsen and the so-called Coordination Committee in the Norwegian resistance. In addition, he attended meetings in the secret military organisation Milorg. In 1943 he personally wrote the letter Partisanbrevet, addressed from Kretsen to the Norwegian government-in-exile. Approaching the winter of 1944, Schjelderup was no longer safe in Norway. He fled to Sweden. Norway is a mountainous country, and during this time tourism and expeditions were becoming more widespread.

Ferdinand Schjelderup was among the first ascenders of several mountains. In the summer of 1910 he and his companions conducted first ascendancies of several mountains of Nordland county: Stedtinden, Svolværgjeita, Store Rørhopstinden, Navern, Klokketind and Festhæltind, as chronicled in an article in the book Norsk Fjeldsport 1914.