imported>Simeon: Adding local short description: "Norwegian trade unionist and politician", overriding Wikidata description "Norwegian politician" (Shortdesc helper)

2022-04-17T12:58:43Z

Adding local short description: "Norwegian trade unionist and politician", overriding Wikidata description "Norwegian politician" (Shortdesc helper)

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{{Short description|Norwegian trade unionist and politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Olaf Bjerke
| birth_date = 6 January 1893
| death_date = 21 September 1957
| party = [[Communist Party of Norway]]
}}
'''Olaf Bjerke''' (6 January 1893 – 21 September 1957) was a Norwegian trade unionist and politician for the [[Communist Party of Norway|Communist Party]].

During the [[occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany]] he was arrested on 10 September 1941 after the [[milk strike]]. He was imprisoned at [[Møllergata 19]], then in Grini concentration camp, then in [[Sachsenhausen concentration camp]] until the end of World War II.<ref name=ottosen>{{cite book|editor=Ottosen, Kristian|editor-link=Kristian Ottosen|title=Nordmenn i fangenskap 1940–1945|edition=2nd|year=2004|publisher=Universitetsforlaget|location=Oslo|language=Norwegian|isbn=82-15-00288-9|page=131}}</ref> The communist inmates formed a [[caucus]] in the camp, and Bjerke was among the leading members along with [[Kristian Mugaas]], [[Johan Strand Johansen]], [[Olaf Skramstad]], [[Halvor Sørum]] and [[Erling Heiestad]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Pryser|first=Tore|author-link=Tore Pryser|title=Klassen og nasjonen 1935-1946|year=1988|series=Volume four of ''[[Arbeiderbevegelsens historie i Norge]]''|publisher=Tiden|location=Oslo|language=Norwegian|isbn=82-10-02754-9|page=461}}</ref>

A railway worker,<ref name=ottosen/> Bjerke was involved in the trade union [[Norwegian Union of Railway Workers]]. As former chairman [[Ludvik Buland]] died in a concentration camp in 1945, Bjerke came close to being elected chairman at the national convention later that year, but lost the vote to the Social Democrat [[John Marius Trana|Marius Trana]].<ref>[http://njf.no/organisasjon/historikk History of the Norwegian Union of Railway Workers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090120202953/http://njf.no/organisasjon/historikk |date=2009-01-20 }}</ref> The electoral committee had been unified in its support of Bjerke, but reportedly [[Haakon Lie]] and [[Trygve Bratteli]] swayed the result in Trana's favor.<ref>Pryser, 1988: p. 556</ref> He did become elected to the [[Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions]] secretariat, as the only communist.<ref>Pryser, 1988: p. 562</ref>

He also entered the Communist Party leadership stratum.<ref>Pryser, 1988: p. 569</ref> Bjerke served as a deputy representative to the [[Parliament of Norway]] from [[Oslo]] during the term 1954–1957. He died in September 1957.<ref name=bio>{{stortingetbio|OLBJ}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bjerke, Olaf}}
[[Category:1893 births]]
[[Category:1957 deaths]]
[[Category:Trade unionists from Oslo]]
[[Category:Norwegian resistance members]]
[[Category:Grini concentration camp survivors]]
[[Category:Sachsenhausen concentration camp survivors]]
[[Category:Politicians from Oslo]]
[[Category:Communist Party of Norway politicians]]
[[Category:Deputy members of the Storting]]

{{Norway-politician-1890s-stub}}

Olaf Bjerke - Revision history

imported>Simeon: Adding local short description: "Norwegian trade unionist and politician", overriding Wikidata description "Norwegian politician" (Shortdesc helper)