Sven Hassel facts for kids

Sven Hassel was the pen name of Børge Willy Redsted Pedersen (born April 19, 1917 – died September 21, 2012). He was a Danish author famous for his novels about German soldiers during World War II. In Denmark, he used the pen name Sven Hazel. He is one of the most successful Danish authors, possibly second only to Hans Christian Andersen.

Hassel claimed his books were based on his own experiences as a soldier in the German army. He said he fought in the Battle of Berlin in 1945 and then surrendered to the Soviets. However, many investigations after the war suggested his claims might not have been true. Instead, it was found that Pedersen was a Danish person who did join the German Army but was later imprisoned in Denmark.

About Sven Hassel

Sven Hassel, whose real name was Børge Willy Redsted Pedersen, was born in Denmark in 1917. He claimed that when he was 14, he started working on ships as a cabin boy. He said he continued this work until 1936, when he joined the German Army. He stated that he served in tank units throughout World War II.

Hassel also claimed that after the war, he spent several years in prisoner-of-war camps. However, other sources say he was arrested in Denmark in 1945. He was held in prison there and was released in 1949.

After leaving prison, Hassel said he planned to join the French Foreign Legion. But he changed his mind when he met Laura Dorthea Guldbæk Jensen. She was a film translator, and they got married in Copenhagen in 1951. In 1964, he moved to Barcelona, Spain, where he lived until he passed away.

Writing About War

In 1953, Sven Hassel published his first book, Legion of the Damned. He used the pen name Sven Hazel. His books became very popular.

Hassel's books are written from the first-person point of view. This means the author, Sven Hassel, is a character in the stories. The books tell about a special group of soldiers in the 27th (Penal) Panzer Regiment. These soldiers were often criminals or those who had been in trouble. They included characters like Alfred Kalb, "Legionnaire," Wolfgang Creutzfeldt (nicknamed Tiny), Joseph Porta, Willie Beier ("Old Un"), Julius Heide, and Barcelona Blom.

These characters fight on many different battlefields. They are in places like northern Finland, the USSR, Italy (at Monte Cassino), Greece, the Balkans, and France. Most of the action in the books happens in the USSR. Sometimes, the stories show the regiment fighting in different places far apart at the same time. This shows that the books are works of fiction.

Hassel said that while his novels were mostly made-up stories, his characters were based on real people. He also said some events were similar to real historical events. His books show war as a very harsh and brutal experience. Soldiers often fight just to stay alive. The rules of war, like the Geneva Convention, are rarely followed, especially on the Eastern front. People are killed by accident or for small reasons. Any peaceful moments are quickly ended by violence.

In his books, officers often threaten their men with punishment. Soldiers sometimes even kill their own officers. By showing war as violent and without hope, Hassel's books are thought to have an anti-war message.

Sven Hassel wrote 14 novels in total. These books have been translated into 18 different languages. In 1987, his book Wheels of Terror was made into a movie. It was also known as The Misfit Brigade.

Hassel's books were very popular in the United Kingdom. He sold 15 million copies there out of 53 million sold worldwide. However, in his home country of Denmark, his books were not always seen as suitable for public libraries. Some people in Denmark even called him a "traitor."

Sven Hassel's Books

Here are the English titles of his books:

Controversies About His Past

For many years, there were questions about Sven Hassel's claims of being a World War II veteran. In 1963, a journalist named George Kringelbach said that Sven Hassel was actually Børge Willy Redsted Pedersen, who had been convicted of crimes. Kringelbach suggested that Pedersen might have been in Germany during the war, but not as a soldier in a penal battalion.

Another Danish writer, Erik Haaest, also questioned Hassel's stories. Haaest claimed that Hassel never fought on the Eastern Front. He suggested that Hassel spent most of World War II in Denmark. Haaest believed Hassel learned about warfare from Danish veterans he met after the war. He also claimed that Hassel's first novel might have been written by someone else.

In 2010, a Danish TV program looked into the controversy. It explained that Hassel was very popular at first. But then, in 1963, he was revealed to have a different wartime past. This made him an outcast in Denmark, and he had to move away to keep publishing his books. Even though he sold over 50 million books worldwide, he never fully received recognition or forgiveness in Denmark.

In 2012, a historian named Claus Bundgård Christensen stated that Hassel never served on the Eastern Front. He said Hassel's books were not based on his own experiences. The historian thought Hassel might have gotten his information from people he knew in German intelligence.

Towards the end of his life, Sven Hassel acknowledged the arguments in Denmark about his writing. He once said, "In Denmark, Sven Hazel has been put down." He compared this to the huge number of books he sold around the world.

More recently, in 2023, a new book suggested that Pedersen did join the German army in 1942. It claimed he served in a tank unit in Ukraine. It also said he was sent to a penal battalion for pretending to be a veteran of the Spanish Civil War. After this, he reportedly left the army and worked for a Danish police force that helped the Gestapo.

Death

Sven Hassel passed away on September 21, 2012, in Barcelona, Spain. He was 95 years old. He was survived by his son.