Björn was stated to be an enthusiastic Nazi, even writing on his application "I certify that I am of pure Aryan stock.

"[2] Björn was a soldier in the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking, and later in SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers where he served on the Eastern Front in Ukraine in the early stages of the German invasion of the Soviet Union as a soldier transporting weapons, people and food in muddy and snowy terrain, and in later stages in the war in Caucasus as a correspondent.

It was played for Icelandic audiences to portray Nazi Germany, not as an aggressor, but as a saviour of people from the Bolsheviks.

When Germany surrendered in May 1945, the Danish partisans arrested or killed the remaining SS troops in the country.

that Georgia Björnsson, Björn's mother, pleaded King Christian X to show her son leniency.

The poet and author Halldór Laxness even stated that Björn was "one of the worst Icelandic men who ever existed".

Björn's memoirs were published in Reykjavík in 1989 as Ævi mín og sagan sem ekki mátti segja: Endurminningar Björns Sv.