In 1933 Dr. Haakon Sæthre became the head of the psychiatric department at Oslo’s Ullevål Hospital. He was a member of various groups and societies, and co-founder of the Norwegian Neurological Association.
After Norway’s occupation in April 1940, Haakon Sæthre joined the resistance, with a number of his colleagues following his example. He hid several Jews in the hospital, passed off as patients, and helped Jews to escape to Sweden.
Together with colleagues, he mounted a successful protest against employing nursing staff with affiliations to the National Socialist party. He also organized the storage of food and other items donated from Denmark in the hospital basement.
At the start of February 1945, the chief of police Karl Marthinsen was shot dead by members of the Norwegian resistance. As a reprisal, the Gestapo arrested several well-known Norwegian civilians, including Haakon Sæthre. He was shot dead the next day, February 9.
Sæthre was honored posthumously as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 2013.