The doctor Bergljot Horne, a great admirer of King Haakon VII, was not only active in the Nansen Relief organization for refugees and stateless persons, but also involved in other resistance activities. Her husband Harry Maisey, a British naval officer, returned to England at the start of the war.
In May 1943 Bergljot Horne hid thirteen-year-old Edgar Brichta in her home. A Jewish boy, he had come to Norway through Nansen Relief in October 1939, and now had to leave his foster family. Since Horne’s house and medical practice in Bergen had been requisitioned by the Gestapo, she was living in nearby Fana. Her son George was only slightly younger than Edgar, and the two boys soon became friends.
Edgar could not stay with Bergljot Horne for long, however. Due to the course of the war and because Horne was active in the resistance, he was in danger of being discovered. She arranged for Edgar to stay with a colleague in Fusa, southeast of Bergen.