Abraham Theodor Berge (20 August 1851 – 10 July 1936) was the

prime minister of Norway The prime minister of Norway (, which directly translates to "minister of state") is the head of government and chief executive of Norway. The prime minister and Cabinet of Norway, Cabinet (consisting of all the most senior government departme ...

from 1923 to 1924. He was a teacher and civil servant who represented the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

, the social liberal party, and later

Free-minded Liberal Party The Free-minded Liberal Party () was a political party in Norway founded in 1909 by the conservative-liberal faction of the Liberal Party. The party cooperated closely with the Conservative Party and participated in several short-lived governme ...

, a right-of-centre party.

Biography

Berge was born at

Lyngdal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Lister Region, Lister. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Alleen ...

in Lister og Mandals amt (present-day

Vest-Agder Vest-Agder (; "West Agder") was one of 18 counties (''fylker'') in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, after it was merged with Aust-Agder to form Agder county. In 2016, there were 182,701 inhabitants, around 3.5% of the total popul ...

), Norway . He was the son of Johan Tobias Johnsen Berge (1813–1883) and Helene Andreasdatter Kvalsvig. He attended the teacher's course offered by Reinert Rødland in

. In 1867, Berge became teacher at the Nordbygda skole in

Vanse Vanse is a village in Farsund municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located about west of the town of Farsund and about east of the village of Vestbygd. The Farsund Airport, Lista is located just west of Vanse. The village was t ...

. He also served as sheriff in Vanse from 1904 to 1908. In 1908, Berge was appointed County Governor of Jarlsberg og Larvik amt, a position he held until 1924. Berge started his political career in Lista in the present-day municipality of

Farsund is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Lister Region, Lister. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Farsund (town ...

, where he was in 1882 elected mayor. From here he went on to the Norwegian

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in 1891. He served, in different periods, as both

Minister of Culture and Church Affairs The Minister of Culture and Equality (; sometimes just ''kulturminister'' or ''likestillingsminister'' depending on context) is a Council of State (Norway), councilor of state and chief of the Norway's Ministry of Culture and Equality. The minis ...

and

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

. Then, after a 10-year absence from politics, he became again Minister of Finance, and later also Prime Minister, when sitting Prime Minister

Otto Bahr Halvorsen Otto Bahr Halvorsen (28 May 1872 – 23 May 1923) was a Norwegian lawyer and politician from the Conservative Party, who served as the prime minister of Norway from 1920 to 1921 and again in 1923 up until his death in office. Background Hal ...

died. He resigned this post as the result of the defeat in a vote to lift

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

. In 1926 he became the only Norwegian prime minister to ever be

impeached Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In Eu ...

. The charge was withholding information relating to the government rescue of a bank threatened by

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

. However, he was acquitted in 1927, along with the six ministers who stood trial alongside him.

Selected works

* ''Listerlandets kystværn og kaperfart 1807–14'' (Tønsberg 1914) and ''Lista. En bygdebok'' (Tønsberg 1926). Both books reprinted 2006 by sokkhammer Forlag AS.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berge, Abraham 1851 births 1936 deaths County governors of Norway Liberal Party (Norway) politicians Members of the Storting 1892–1894 Members of the Storting 1898–1900 Members of the Storting 1900–1903 Members of the Storting 1904–1906 Members of the Storting 1907–1909 Members of the Storting 1910–1912 Ministers of education of Norway Ministers of finance of Norway Norwegian educators People from Farsund People from Lyngdal Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal Impeached Norwegian officials