Trygve Bratteli

(11 January 1910 – 20 November 1984) was a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party and Prime Minister of Norway in 1971–1972 and 1973–1976. 

Early life and career

Bratteli was born in Nøtterøy, where he attended primary school. He was unemployed for some time, worked as a messenger, a whaler, and construction worker. Named as secretary of the Labour Party's crisis committee during the Nazi invasion of Norway, he was arrested by the Germans in 1942, was a Nacht und Nebel prisoner of various German concentration camps from 1943 to 1945 but survived. He was liberated from Vaihingen an der Enz concentration camp on 5 April 1945 by the White Buses along with 15 other Norwegians who had survived.^[1]

Political career

After returning to Norway in 1945, he became chairman of the Workers' Youth League, vice chairman of the party, served on the newly formed defense commission, and in 1965 he was made chairman of the Labour Party. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Oslo in 1950, and was re-elected on seven occasions.

He was appointed Minister of Finance in Oscar Torp's cabinet, and from 1956 to 1960 in the third cabinet of Einar Gerhardsen. From 1960 to 1963, still during Gerhardsen's third period as Prime Minister, he was Minister of Transport and Communications. He was also acting Minister of Finance from January to February 1962. In September 1963, when Gerhardsen's fourth cabinet was formed, Bratteli was again made Minister of Transport and Communications, a post he held until 1964.

The centre-right cabinet of Borten held office from 1965 to 1971, but when it fell, Bratteli became Prime Minister. Central to his political career was the question of Norway's membership of the European Community. Following the close rejection of membership in the 1972 referendum, his cabinet resigned. However, the successor cabinet Korvald only lasted one year, and the second cabinet Bratteli was formed following the Norwegian parliamentary election, 1973. It was succeeded by another Labour cabinet Nordli in 1976.

Trygve Bratteli wrote a number of autobiographical and political books. His memoirs about his time in German concentration camps - Prisoner in Night and Fog - became a bestseller in Norway.

Trygve Bratteli was married to Randi Bratteli. Their children are Ola Bratteli, professor of mathematics, and Marianne Bratteli, an artist.

References

• "Trygve Bratteli" (in Norwegian). Stortinget.no. http://www.stortinget.no/no/Representanter-og-komiteer/Representantene/Representantfordeling/Representant/?perid=TRBR&tab=Biography.