Hans Thomas "Hassa" Horn (2 October 1873 – 21 April 1968) was a Norwegian road engineer, industrialist, sports official and politician for the
Conservative Party.
Personal life
He was born in
Christiania as a son of civil servant
Hassa Horn Sr. (1837–1921) and Alette Gram (1844–1933). In 1905 he married Helga Birch-Reichenwald (1882–1909), a daughter of
Peter Birch-Reichenwald. After her death he married anew, in 1910 to Sigrid Steen (1883–1956), a daughter of
Johan Steen[1] and sister of
Erling Steen.[2] Through his older sister Dorothea, Hassa Horn was an uncle of national housewives' leader
Alette Nicolaysen.[3]
Together with the editor of the yearbook of the Association for the Promotion of Skiing,
Kristian Vilhelm Amundsen, Horn was also a Norwegian delegate to the
International Ski Commission. He chaired it from 1914 to 1924, but just ahead of the
1924 Winter Olympics, where he would have led the Norwegian squad and also been present at the foundation of the
International Ski Federation, he withdrew. The reason was a fallout between the skier
Thoralf Strømstad and the board of the Association for the Promotion of Skiing. The Association tried to bar Strømstad's Olympic participation, but was overruled in this matter by the
Confederation of Sports. Thus, Horn and Amundsen withdrew from both the Olympic preparations and from international skiing governance.[1][5]
As a politician, Horn was elected as a deputy representative to the
Parliament of Norway in
1912. The running mate of
Nils Yngvar Ustvedt in the constituency
Uranienborg, they carried 8,543 votes and won in a landslide as the closest challenger only had 1,544.[6] In
1915 Horn was the running mate of
Jens Bratlie, winning with an even larger margin; 12,960 votes against 1,888 for the closest challenger.[7] From 1916 to 1918 Horn served one term in Kristiania city council. He was also vice president of the
Norwegian Engineer Association and president from 1915 to 1919, having also co-founded the sub-group for road engineers.[1]
From 1921 to 1929 he served as the director-general of
Kristiania Gas- og Elektricitetsverker. He resigned in protest after the government disapproved of Oslo Municipality's purchase of
Kykkelsrud, which Horn had orchestrated through a narrow approval in Oslo city council. From 1929 to 1943, Horn was the director-general of
Norsk Zinkkompani.[1] From 1931 Horn was a board member of the
employers' associationElektrokjemisk arbeidsgiverforening,[8] from 1934 he was a board member in the
Federation of Norwegian Industries, serving as president from 1939 to 1942. Together with managing director
Lorentz Vogt, he became known for a cooperative stance towards the Nazi authorities during the
occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. Among others, Horn had declared his allegiance to Nazi Minister of the Interior
Albert Viljam Hagelin on 24 October 1940, and the Federation declined to sign the
protest of the 43 letter in May 1941; the signatories were later subject to a crackdown. Following an internal audit in the Federation of Norwegian Industries in the post-war years, Horn withdrew from all positions in the Federation.[1][9]
He was decorated as a Knight of the
Order of the Polar Star and received the Swedish Olympia Medal.[1] He resided in
Bærum after the war.[2] He died in April 1968 in Oslo.[1]
^Vaage, Jakob (1956). "Osloklubber som ikke lenger er aktive". In Ranheim, Erling (ed.). Norske skiløpere (in Norwegian). Vol. Østlandet Sør. Oslo: Skiforlaget. pp. 364–382.