Halvard Lange

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Halvard Lange (1949)

Halvard Manthey Lange (born September 16, 1902 in Kristiania ; † May 19, 1970 ) was a Norwegian politician of the Arbeiderpartiet , who was foreign minister for 19 years after the Second World War with only a one-month break , thus decisively shaping Norway's foreign policy in the post-war period.

Life

Studies, professional activities and concentration camp prisoner

Lange, son of the politician Christian Lous Lange , who received the Nobel Peace Prize with Karl Hjalmar Branting in 1921 , studied philology after attending school and was involved as a member of the Norges Socialdemokratiske Arbeiderparti (NSA) during this time . At times he was chairman of the NSA's youth organization , but in 1927 he joined the Arbeiderpartiet as a member.

After completing his studies in 1929, he was a teacher at the commercial high school in Oslo between 1930 and 1935 . During this time he also studied at the Christian Michelsen Institute for Sociological Studies from 1932 to 1935 with financial support through a scholarship . At the same time he was a member of the Oslo City Council between 1932 and 1934 and a member of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party from 1933.

From 1935 to 1936 he was first secretary of the Arbeidernes Opplysningsforbund (AOF), the student movement of the Workers' Party, and then from 1936 to 1938 lecturer in history at the University of Oslo , before he was rector of the Volkshochschule ( Folkehøgskole ) in Sørmarka until 1940 was.

After the occupation of Norway by the German Wehrmacht in 1940, Lange was arrested and imprisoned between August 1942 and 1945, spending the last two and a half years in Sachsenhausen concentration camp .

Foreign Minister from 1946 to 1965 and joining NATO in 1949

After the liberation of Norway and his return, he was appointed Foreign Minister by the Prime Minister in 1946 in the latter's second government . He became the successor of Trygve Lie , who became the first official Secretary General of the United Nations on February 1, 1946 . After taking office in October 1946, he asked his personal friend Willy Brandt to work as press spokesman for the Norwegian Military Mission in Berlin . Brandt worked there from January 1947 to July 1948 in the rank of major .

In 1950, Lange also became a member of the Storting and represented the constituency of Akershus until 1969 .

He held the office of foreign minister until August 28, 1963 and took over this office again from September 25, 1963 to October 25, 1965 in the fourth government after Prime Minister John Lyng's bourgeois minority government , which had been in office for just under a month by Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen.

In his 19-year tenure as Foreign Minister, Lange played a key role in shaping Norway's foreign policy in the post-war period. In doing so, he knew not only to implement the ideas of his own party, but also to take into account the foreign policy ideas of the bourgeois opposition parties . This became particularly clear when Norway gave up its traditional position of neutrality and became a founding member of NATO in 1949 . This step was criticized only by a small group within the Arbeiderpartiet as well as in the Norges Kommunistiske Parti (NKP) and later in the Sosialistisk Folkeparti (SF) founded in 1961 .

After leaving the government, he became chairman of the European Movement in Norway ( Europabevegelsen i Norge ) in 1965 and in 1966 took on a research assignment at the Christian Michelsen Institute for Sociological Studies.

From 1945 until he took over the office of Foreign Minister was a member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee .

His younger brother was the historian, educator and university professor Christian August Manthey Lange .

Publications

In addition to his political activities, Lange also wrote numerous historical books that dealt, among other things, with the labor movements in Norway and abroad. His most famous publications include:

  • Fagorganisasjonens historie i Norge , 1933
  • Nazi og Norge , 1934
  • De politiske arbeiderinternasjonaler , 1934
  • The social democratic forening 50 år , 1935
  • Arbeiderreisning II and III , 1935-1937
  • Det norske Arbeiderparti, 50 års historie , 2 volumes, 1937–1939
  • Norsk utenriksppolitikk siden 1945 , 1952
  • Fra sekt til parti. Om Arbeiderpartiets organisasjonsmessige og politiske utvikling 1891–1901 , 1962
  • Norges vei til NATO , 1966

Background literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lange, Halvard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lange, Halvard Manthey (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian politician (Labor Party), member of the Storting
DATE OF BIRTH September 16, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Kristiania
DATE OF DEATH May 19, 1970