Rolf Hansen (politician)

Rolf Arthur Hansen (born July 23, 1920 in Oslo ; † July 26, 2006 ibid) was a Norwegian politician of the Arbeiderpartiet (Ap). From 1976 to 1979 he was the defense minister and then the environment minister of his country until 1981 .

Life

Youth in the Resistance

Hansen grew up in a working-class family in the east of Oslo and began to get involved in the youth organization Arbeidernes Ungdomsfylking (AUF). From 1936 to 1940 he worked as a ship radio mechanic at Norsk Marconi A / S. He then worked as a fitter at Norsk Gass Accumulator during the Second World War . During the war he was active in the resistance movement of the labor movement. From 1944 he was the chairman of the central committee of the AUF, which was banned during the German occupation.

Activity after the Second World War

Following the war, he became state secretary in Framfylkingen , the youth organization of the trade union umbrella organization Landsorganisasjonen i Norge (LO). At the same time he was a member of the board of the AUF until 1945. Hansen was the personal secretary in the Ministry of Social Affairs for Gudmund Harlem in 1956 . From 1959 to 1967 he was the organizational secretary of the Ap in Oslo, then the general secretary until 1971, before being chairman between 1972 and 1974.

Time as minister

On January 15, 1976 he was appointed Minister of Defense in the Nordli government. As such, like his predecessors, he encountered internal party resistance from the anti-militarist sections of the Ap, although he belonged to the inner circle around Minister of State Odvar Nordli .

On October 8, 1979, he moved to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, where he took over the office of Environment Minister of Gro Harlem Brundtland . Because of Nordli's foreseeable withdrawal from politics, he was one of the possible new ministers of state, but he himself let his party colleague Brundtland go first. In the Brundtland I government , he consequently continued his post as environment minister until the government resigned on October 14, 1981. Between 1979 and 1981 he was also a member of the Nordic Committee of Ministers.

Awards

In 1989 he was awarded the Medal of Merit of the Heimevernet , the Norwegian Reserve Force. In 1996 Hansen was made an honorary member of the party.

Web links

• Rolf Hansen in Norsk biografisk leksikon (Norwegian)
• Rolf Hansen at Storting (Norwegian)