Helge Sivertsen

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Helge Sivertsen (1935)

Helge Sivertsen (born June 12, 1913 in Mandal , Vest-Agder ; † December 21, 1986 in Oslo ) was a Norwegian discus thrower and politician of the Arbeiderpartiet , who was national champion in discus throwing in 1934 and 1935 and at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin finished tenth in the men's discus throw after the semi-finals. Later he was State Secretary in the Ministry of Churches and Education from 1947 to 1956 and Minister for Churches and Education in the Gerhardsen III government and the Gerhardsen IV government between 1960 and 1965 .

Life

University degree, Olympic participant and resistance fighter

Sivertsen, son of the adult education center director Nils Sivertsen and Marta Heddeland, grew up in Mandal before his family moved to Inderøy in 1926 . In 1933 he completed his school education at the rural high school in Orkdal , where he also met his future wife Merle Five and the future resistance fighter and minister Jens Christian Hauge . He then began studying history at the University of Oslo .

In addition to attending school and studying, he was part of the Norwegian team as a discus thrower. At the Norwegian Athletics Championships NM (Norgesmesterskapet i friidrett) in Oslo's Bislett Stadium , he finished third in 1931 with 43.81 meters and in 1932 with 41.67 meters. At the athletics championships in 1933 he joined the Idrettslaget Follogutane club and came second after Ketil Askildt with 45.32 meters. At the athletics championships in 1934 he was the first time Norwegian champion in discus throw with 45.13 meters and was able to assert himself against Reidar Sørlie (44.48 meters) and Ivar Maraas (44.24 meters). At the Athletics Championships also held in the Bislett Stadium in 1935, he was again Norwegian champion and this time was able to prevail with 46.13 meters against Harald Stenerud (44.34 meters) and Ivar Maraas (42.37 meters). Most recently, he took second place at the championships in 1936 after Reidar Sørlie (47.43 meters) with 45.52 meters.

At the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin , after a failed attempt in the first, 45.82 meters in the second and 45.89 meters in the third throw, he finished tenth in the semifinals and was unable to make it to the finals of the best on August 5, 1936 six throwers qualify, in which his compatriot Reidar Sørlie took fourth place with 48.77 meters.

During his studies he became involved in 1937 as chairman of the joint student committee (Studentenes Fellesutvalg) at the University of Oslo and from 1938 to 1939 he was a visiting student at the University of Oxford . After his return in 1939 he was instrumental in preparing an initiative of the Oslo student associations. This initiative led to the Storting later passing laws establishing the State Credit Fund (1947), the State Youth Council (1953) and the State Council for Scholarships (1956), which in the 1950s and 1960s laid the foundations for the promotion of students were. In 1940 he completed his studies as Candidatus philologiæ (Cand. Philol.). In 1940 he married his school friend Merle Five, daughter of the multiple agriculture and supply minister, member of the Storting and long-time district president (Fylkesmann) of the province of North Trøndelag , Håkon Five , and his wife Bodil Erichsen.

After the occupation of Norway by the German Wehrmacht in 1940, Sivertsen became involved in the largest resistance group Milorg (Militær organisasjon) during the Second World War and acted as one of the heads of the intelligence service of this resistance movement.

State Secretary and Minister

After the end of the war, he became secretary of the Military Investigation Commission (Undersøkelseskommisjonen av 1945) and joined the Arbeiderpartiet as a member. At the suggestion of his school friend Jens Christian Hauge, he was appointed State Secretary in the Ministry of Churches and Education by Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen in July 1947 and held this post until 1956. He was the closest collaborator of the then Minister of Church and Education Kaare Fostervoll (1945 to 1948) , Lars Moen (1948 to 1953) and Birger Bergersen (1953 to 1956). During his work in the Ministry of Churches and Education, he was instrumental in founding various cultural institutions such as the State Film Center (1948), the Reichstheater (1948), the Norwegian Village Cinema (1950) and the Reichsgalerie (1953). After completing his tenure as State Secretary, he became school director in Oslo in 1956 and then in Akershus .

During a government reshuffle, Sivertsen was appointed by Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen on April 23, 1960 to succeed Birger Bergersen as Minister for Churches and Education (Kirke- og undervisningsminister) in his third government and held this ministerial office until the end of Gerhardsen's term of office on August 28 1963. After the end of the bourgeois minority government of Prime Minister John Lyng , he also took over the office of Minister for Churches and Education in the fourth Gerhardsen government from September 25, 1963 until the end of Gerhardsen's term of office this time on October 12, 1965. During his tenure as the minister responsible for culture, the Norwegian Cultural Fund was established in 1964 and the Norwegian Cultural Council in 1965 in order to improve the promotion of culture and art and to promote the government's cultural policy. In addition, the nine-year elementary school was reformed to become a comprehensive school (Enhetsskolen) and other state initiatives in school policy. This included improvements in adult education, but also the promotion of Sami languages and Sami culture in public schools. In church politics he sought conversations because of the contradiction between socialism and Christianity . In addition, he created the first initiatives to establish a council for the Norwegian language .

After the defeat of the Arbeiderpartiet in the election of September 13, 1965 , he was again as headmaster and later from 1971 until his retirement in 1981 head of the school administration in Oslo. In addition, he was active between 1967 and 1981 as chairman of the committee for the Reich Concerts (Rikskonsertene) and since 1971 as chairman of the committee for discussions between church and state. Furthermore, from 1974 to 1981 he was both chairman of the committee for cultural agreements and chairman of the committee for arms control and disarmament.

In 1984 Sivertsen was awarded the honorary award of the Norwegian Culture Council (Norsk kulturråds ærespris) for his longstanding commitment .

Publications

  • Innocens III and hans tid, Gyldendals verdenshistoriske serie for gymnaset 1 , 1942
  • Byer and bykultur i mellomalderen, Gyldendals verdenshistoriske serie for gymnaset 2 , 1945
  • Democracy and nasjonal oppseding i norsk skole , Bergen 1946
  • Milorg , in: S. Steen (editor): Norges krig 1940–45 , Volume 3, 1950
  • Stat og kirke , Report of the Church and State Commission, 1975
  • Atomic bombers for everyone? Foran revisjonskonferansen for ikke-spredningsavtalen i Genève i august-september 1980 , 1980

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personal data
SURNAME Sivertsen, Helge
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian discus thrower and politician of the labor party
DATE OF BIRTH June 12, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Mandal , Vest-Agder
DATE OF DEATH December 21, 1986
Place of death Oslo