Vilmundur Gylfason

Vilmundur Gylfason (born  August 7, 1948 , †  June 19, 1983 in Reykjavík ) was an Icelandic politician ( Social Democratic Party , later Bandalag jafnaðarmanna ), historian and poet. From October 1979 to February 1980 he was Minister for Justice, Religion and Education.

family

Vilmundur's father was the politician Gylfi Þ. Gíslason . His mother Guðrún Vilmundardóttir sometimes worked as a journalist. He had two brothers, the philosopher Þorsteinn Gylfason and the economic manager Þorvaldur Gylfason . Vilmundur was married to Valgerður Bjarnadóttir , daughter of the former Prime Minister of Iceland Bjarni Benediktsson .

life and work

Vilmundur attended the Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík high school from 1964. There he was, among other things, editor of the school newspaper and graduated in 1968 with a focus on languages. He then studied at the University of Manchester in England, where he graduated in 1971 with a BA in literature and history. In 1973 he received an MA in the same subjects from the University of Exeter .

On his return to Iceland in 1973 he got a position as a history teacher at his old school, Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík, and wrote articles for Icelandic newspapers. He taught at the grammar school until his death.

He was a friend of Jón Ormur Halldórsson , an Icelandic politician and political scientist.

Vilmundur was active in setting up radio programs for art and culture, was a co-founder of the newspaper Helgarpósturinn and the Nýtt land . He also published two volumes of poetry, Myndir og ljóðbrot in 1970 and Ljóð ten years later .

On June 19, 1983, Vilmundur committed suicide by hanging himself in parliament while drunk.

politics

Vilmundur's political opinion was strongly influenced by his stay in England and left-wing.

In the Icelandic parliamentary elections in 1971 he ran for the Alþýðuflokkurinn (Social Democratic Party) as a representative for the Vestfirðir area . Within the party he was an active participant in its activities, including one year as an editor at the party's internal newspaper Alþýðublaðið . In the 1978 elections, Vilmundur ran in the constituency of Reykjavík . From October 1979 to February 1980 he was Minister for Justice, Religion and Education under Prime Minister Benedikt Sigurðsson Gröndal and his minority government.

1982 Vilmundur left the Social Democratic Party and in 1983 founded his own party, the Bandalag jafnaðarmanna ("Social Democratic Union"). In the parliamentary elections that took place in the same year, he won four seats for his party.

Web links

• Biography on Parliament's website (Icelandic)
• Literature by and about Vilmundur Gylfason in the bibliographic database WorldCat

Note: Icelanders are referred to by their first name or first and last name, but not just their surname. Further information can be found under Icelandic personal name .