Hans Gabrielsen

Hans Julius Gabrielsen (born January 8, 1891 in Christiania ; † March 10, 1965 in Lillehammer , Fylke Oppland ) was a Norwegian lawyer and politician of the left-liberal Venstre , who was first governor ( Fylkesmann ) in Finnmark between 1928 and 1941 and at the beginning of the second During the World War between October 1940 and June 1941 he was also head of the civil administration of Northern Norway . He was arrested for resisting the German occupation of Norway and interned in the Grini police detention center until 1945 .

After the end of the war, he was Advisory Minister for Reconstruction in the first government of Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen from June to November 1945 and then again Fylkesmann in Finnmark, before he was last Fylkesmann of the Oppland province between 1947 and 1961.

Life

Studies, lawyer and magistrate

Gabrielsen, son of the magistrate ( Sorenskriver ) Nils Harald Berg Gabrielsen and his wife Ragnhild Stenersen, grew up in Hadeland and began studying law after attending school in 1908 , which he graduated in 1914 as Candidatus juris (Cand. Jur.). He then worked for a year as an assistant judge (Dommerfullmektig) in Nes in the Romerike region , before he joined the law firm of Hagbarth Lund , who had been elected member of the Storting , as a lawyer in Tana in 1915 . There he met Sara Andersen, daughter of the office manager Alfred Andersen and his Mathilde Wickstrand, whom he married in 1918.

In 1921 the couple moved to Christiania, where Gabrielsen took up a position as secretary in the Ministry of Justice. However, he gave this up again in 1922 when he was appointed magistrate (Sorenskriver) in Vardø , a municipality in the Finnmark county and at the same time the easternmost municipality in Norway. At 31 he was the youngest magistrate in Norway. At that time, Finnmark County was marked by a crisis in the fishing industry and widespread poverty among the population. In addition to his work as a judge, he also acted as head of the branch of the central bank Norges Bank in Vardø and, due to this function, was also a member of the administrative committee of this municipality.

Finnmark Fylkesmann and World War II

In 1928 Gabrielsen succeeded Hagbarth Lund as District President of the Province of Finnmark and held this position for 13 years until 1941. During his tenure as Fylkesmann, he campaigned for the fishing industry, reindeer herding and agriculture in this county and also promoted border trade with Finland , for which a separate agreement was made. He was also the negotiator for a debt settlement for all municipalities in the province, which was later passed by the Storting. Furthermore, he was instrumental in the introduction of "Norwegianization" in the county in order to curb the "Finnisierung" of this border province intended by the fascist Lapua movement .

In April 1940 Gabrielsen was recalled to Tromsø on April 9, 1940 after the occupation of Norway by the Weser Exercise Company , the last outpost of the Norwegian political administration. Originally the then Prime Minister Johan Nygaardsvold had intended to send him to London because he had extensive knowledge of North Norge. Then, however, he was commissioned to head the civil administration in Northern Norway in this final phase of the war before Norway's surrender on June 10, 1940. He took on this task in close cooperation with the commander-in-chief of the armed forces , Lieutenant General Otto Ruge . He tried to withdraw some of the Norwegian troops from the Germans and deploy them on the Narvik Front against the invaders. After the surrender he was arrested and imprisoned in the Grini police prison until the end of the war in 1945.

Advisory Minister and Fylkesmann of Finnmark and Oppland

After the end of the Second World War, Gabrielsen was on June 25, 1945 in the first government of Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen Advisory Minister for Reconstruction (Konsultativ Statsråd for Gjenreisningen) and was in particular responsible for the supply of Nord-Norge with its three provinces Finnmark, Nordland and Troms . He held this position in the all-party government until November 5, 1945, making him the closest advisor to the then Minister for Supply and Reconstruction, Egil Offenberg . He played a key role in the reconstruction of the almost completely destroyed northern part of the country and in supplying the population affected by the war. He also had his own house in Vardø, which had been destroyed by the war, rebuilt, but without making any claims against the central government in Oslo.

After leaving the government, Gabrielsen took over the office of Fylkesmann von Finnmark again as the successor to Peder Holt , who in turn took over his office as Advisory Minister for the supply of Finnmark at the Minister for Reconstruction and Supply in the second government of Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen.

In 1947 Gabrielsen succeeded Alfred Ihlen as Fylkesmann von Oppland, while Peder Holt was in turn his successor as Fylkesmann von Finnmark. He held the office of regional president of the province of Oppland for 14 years until he reached the age limit in 1961. In addition, he also acted as chairman of the board of directors of Opplandskraft from 1952 and from 1958 to 1962 as chairman of the Vinmonopolet alcohol monopoly administration . At the same time he continued his commitment to Nord-Norge and was not only a board member for the Development Fund for Nord-Norge between 1952 and 1960, but also of the Norwegian-Finnish Commission and the Norwegian-Soviet Commission.

For his many years of service, Gabrielsen was first commander in 1950 and then in 1961 a star commander of the Order of Saint Olav . His successor as Fylkesmann von Oppland was Nils Handal in 1961 , the previous Minister of Defense in the third government of Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen.

Web links

• Biography in the Norsk biografisk leksikon
• Biography in the store norske leksikon

Individual evidence

1. ^ Norwegian Ministry of Provisioning and Reconstruction - Finnmark Affairs. Consultative Councilor of State 1945-1948