Olav Larssen

Olav Larssen

Olav Larssen (10 July 1894 – 5 July 1981) was a Norwegian newspaper editor and politician for the Labour and Communist parties.

Personal life

Olav Larssen was born in Furnes as a son of baker Kristian Larssen and Lovise Wahlum (1873–1923). He attended primary school in rural Furnes, but then moved to the nearby city Hamar to take apprenticeship as a typographer.^[1] By 1910 he dwelled as a tenant in Østregate 55 in the neighborhood Østbyen, nearby Hamar Station.^[2] He recalled having to adapt to the city culture, and shed some of his childhood dialect/sociolect.

In 1917 he married taylor's daughter Aslaug Rustad (1892–1987).^[1] She hailed from Hamar and was the oldest girl of ten siblings. After her mother's death when she was fourteen, she had to abandon plans to become a hairdresser to help her father with tending to their family.^[3]

Their daughter Randi (1924–2002) was a well-known journalist and writer. From April 1946 she was married to Prime Minister of Norway (1971–72 and 1973–76) Trygve Bratteli.^[4] Their son Erik (1921–) became a state secretary and also a permanent under-secretary of state (Norwegian: departementsråd) in the Ministry of Transport. He changed his last name to Ribu, and was married to a daughter of editor Jørgen Hustad.^[5]

Career

Hamar and Drammen

Olav Larssen was involved in the temperance movement at a young age.^[6] He had a family background of interest in politics, as his father was a member of Furnes municipal council for the Liberal Party.^[7] Later, in 1915, the liberal workers' union Furnes Arbeiderforening under the chairmanship of Kristian Larssen decided to take up collective membership in the Labour Party.^[8] Olav Larssen became active in the youth wing of the Labour Party, Norges Socialdemokratiske Ungdomsforbund (NSU), already in 1911 when a local NSU branch was founded in Hamar.^[9]

At that time, Larssen underwent the typographer's apprenticeship in the book printer A. Sæthers Bogtrykkeri. He had nearly completed his training when being hired as sub-editor in the Labour Party newspaper Demokraten in June 1913.^{[1][note 1]} Hitherto, his experience with journalism had been limited to writing pieces in the youth wing's national newspaper Klassekampen from time to time, a task associated with his active political role.^[9] However, he had also involved himself in a debate on the editor of Demokraten, which incidentally was printed by A. Sæther.^[1]

Larssen had recently become secretary in the board of the newly established county branch of NSU.^[10] He was later chosen as one of the secretaries at the NSU national convention in Hamar in 1914.^[11]

On the tenure in Demokraten, Larsen wrote that "they were not relieved from the eternal financial torment".^[12] He resigned from the newspaper in 1916. Newly engaged to Aslaug Rustad, Larssen was hired in the Drammen-based newspaper Fremtiden in October 1916. After some introductory weeks, he was hired as manager of the newspaper's local office in Kongsberg.^[13] He returned to the Fremtiden head office in Drammen in the autumn of 1918. He bought a city house in Strømsø together with colleague Olaf Solumsmoen.^[14]

Editor-in-chief

He edited the Labour Party newspapers Demokraten from 1920 to 1927, and Hamar Arbeiderblad from 1927 to 1935. In 1935 he was hired as a journalist in Arbeiderbladet. In 1940, when Norway became invaded and occupied by Germany, Larssen was the acting news editor of Arbeiderbladet before it was stopped by the Germans. He co-edited the illegal Bulletinen from 1940 to 1942, but for this he was imprisoned.^[15] He was held at Møllergata 19 from January to April 1942, then at Grini until February 1943, and thereafter in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp until the war ended.^[16] From this period he wrote the section "Blant landsmenn i Sachsenhausen" ('Among fellow countrymen in Sachsenhausen') in the memoir book 3 fra Sachsenhausen (together with August Lange, Carl Johan Frederik Jakhelln and W. Winiarski).^[1]

Following the liberation of Norway in 1945, Larssen again became the news editor of Arbeiderbladet. He was editor-in-chief from 1949 to 1963.^[15]

References

Notes

1. Note that Egil Helle gives the date wrongly; 1 June 1913. Larssen was hired in mid-June.

Citations

1. Helle, Egil. "Olav Larssen". In Helle, Knut. Norsk biografisk leksikon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
2. "Olav Larsen". Folketelling 1910 for 0401 Hamar kjøpstad. Oslo: National Archives of Norway. 2010 [1910]. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
3. Larssen, 1969: p. 49
4. Helle, Egil. "Trygve Bratteli". In Helle, Knut. Norsk biografisk leksikon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
5. Steenstrup, Bjørn, ed. (1973). "Ribu, Erik". Hvem er hvem? (in Norwegian). Oslo: Aschehoug. p. 458. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
6. Larssen, 1969: p. 26
7. Larssen, 1969: p. 33
8. Solbakken: p. 70
9. Larssen, 1969: pp. 38–39
10. "Ungdomslagenes konstituerende distriktsmøte". Demokraten (in Norwegian). 2 May 1913. p. 2.
11. Solbakken 1951: p. 111
12. Larssen, 1969: p. 29
13. Larssen, 1969: p. 50–55
14. Larssen, 1969: p. 67
15. "Larssen, Olav". Store norske leksikon. Kunnskapsforlaget. 2007.
16. Giertsen, 1946: p. 102

Bibliography

• Giertsen, Børre R., ed. (1946). Norsk fangeleksikon. Grinifangene (in Norwegian). Oslo: Cappelen. p. 102.
• Larssen, Olav (1969). Sti gjennom ulendt terreng. Læretid, partistrid, ny vekst (in Norwegian). Oslo: Aschehoug.
• Solbakken, Evald O. (1951). Det røde fylke. Trekk av den politiske arbeiderbevegelse i Hedmark gjennom 100 år (in Norwegian). Hamar: Hedmark Labour Party.