Trygve Bratteli

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Trygve Martin Bratteli (help·info) (January 11, 1910 – November 20, 1984) was a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party and Prime Minister of Norway in 1971–1972 and 1973–1976.

[edit] Early life and career

Bratteli was born in Nøtterøy, where he attended primary school. He was unemployed for some time, worked as a messenger, a whaler, and construction worker. Named as secretary of the Labour Party's crisis committee during the Nazi invasion of Norway, he was arrested by the Germans in 1942, was a Nacht und Nebel prisoner of various German concentration camps from 1943 to 1945 but survived. He was liberated from Vaihingen an der Enz concentration camp on April 5, 1945 by the White Buses along with 15 other Norwegians who had survived.^[1]

[edit] Political career

After returning to Norway in 1945, he became chairman of the Workers' Youth League, vice chairman of the party, served on the newly formed defense commission, and in 1965 he was made chairman of the Labour Party. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Oslo in 1950, and was re-elected on seven occasions.

He was appointed Minister of Finance during the cabinet Torp and from 1956 to 1960 during the third cabinet Gerhardsen. From 1960 to 1963, still during the third cabinet Gerhardsen, he was Minister of Transport and Communications. He was also acting Minister of Finance from January to February 1962. In September 1963, when the fourth cabinet Gerhardsen formed, Bratteli was again made Minister of Transport and Communications, a post he held until 1964.

The centre-right cabinet Borten held office from 1965 to 1971, but when it fell, the first cabinet Bratteli was formed with Bratteli as Prime Minister. Central to his political career was the question of Norway's membership of the European Community. Following the close rejection of membership in the 1972 referendum, his cabinet resigned. However, the successor cabinet Korvald only lasted one year, and the second cabinet Bratteli was formed following the Norwegian parliamentary election, 1973. It was succeeded by another Labour cabinet Nordli in 1976.

Trygve Bratteli wrote a number of autobiographical and political books. His memoirs about his time in German concentration camps - Prisoner in Night and Fog - became a bestseller in Norway.

[edit] References

• Trygve Bratteli biography at Stortinget.no (Norwegian)

Preceded by Olav Meisdalshagen	Norwegian Minister of Finance 1951–1955	Succeeded by Mons Lid
Preceded by Mons Lid	Norwegian Minister of Finance 1956–1960	Succeeded by Petter Jakob Bjerve
Preceded by Kolbjørn Sigurd Werner Varmann	Norwegian Minister of Transport and Communications 1960–1963	Succeeded by Lars Leiro
Preceded by Lars Leiro	Norwegian Minister of Transport and Communications 1963–1964	Succeeded by Erik Himle
Preceded by Per Borten	Prime Minister of Norway 1971–1972	Succeeded by Lars Korvald
Preceded by Lars Korvald	Prime Minister of Norway 1973–1976	Succeeded by Odvar Nordli
Preceded by ?	Chairman of the Workers' Youth League 1945–1946	Succeeded by Rolf Åkervik
Preceded by Einar Gerhardsen	Chairman of the Norwegian Labour Party 1965–1975	Succeeded by Reiulf Steen

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