Andreas Claussen (4 July 1883 – 24 October 1957) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

barrister, civil servant and politician for 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. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a l ...

Early life and career

He was born in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, an ...

as the son of hotelier Peter Albert Claussen (1854–1920) and Cecilie Ingbertine Debes (1852–1931). The family hotel, Hotel Britannia, was founded by his mother and her first husband. Claussen studied law after finishing his secondary education in 1902; graduating with the cand.jur. degree in 1907. He opened his own attorney's office in Trondhjem in 1910. In September 1916 he married Annie Amalie Schaanning (1892–1965). He was also a competitive

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are m ...

during his younger days, and later chaired the Norwegian Skating Association from 1916 to 1918 and 1919 to 1922 as well as

Trondhjems Skøiteklub Trondhjems Skøiteklub is a Norwegian sports club from Trondheim, founded in 1876. It has sections for figure skating and speed skating. Former members include Peder Østlund, Edvard Engelsaas, Oluf Steen, Astri Mæhre Johannessen, Martin Sæ ...

. He was also a member of the Sports Committee of 1935, which prepared a merger between the sports confederations in Norway.

Career

From 1920 to 1922 he was a member of the national Housing Law Commission. In 1924, Claussen became a barrister with license to work with

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

cases. He served as a member of Trondheim city council from 1929 to 1931, representing the

. In 1931 he was appointed as the new

State Conciliator of Norway The National Mediator of Norway ( no, Riksmekleren, until 2012 ''Riksmeklingsmannen'') is a mediator's office of Norway. It is invoked in labour disputes, in other words when creation or revision of tariff agreements is disagreed upon. It was esta ...

. At the same time he continued his work as a barrister, from 1936 in companionship with Reidar Selmer.

World War II

In April 1940,

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

invaded An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing co ...

and

occupied Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the Norwegian Campaign, German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany control ...

, and the regular political authorities were put out of the running.

Johan Cappelen Johan Cappelen (25 February 1889 – 18 October 1947) was a Norwegian lawyer and politician for the Conservative Party. He was born in Skogn as a son of physician Johan Christian Severin Cappelen (1855–1936) and Katharina M. Steen (1859–1 ...

, County Governor of Sør-Trøndelag and later resistance member, set up the so-called Central Committee of Trondheim to administer the city, headed by Claussen together with Cappelen and Ivar Skjånes. The Central Committee was disbanded in the autumn by the Nazi authorities. Claussen continued as a barrister, but also became involved in resistance work. He was arrested on 3 August 1942 for "anti-German sentiments", and was incarcerated at

Grini Grini is a district in northeastern Bærum, Norway. Concentration camp The name Grini is best known from the concentration camp of the same name, but this camp lay further west and had no actual connection to the Grini area. History The name ...

two days later, and released six days before the liberation of Norway on

8 May 1945 Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...

Post-war career

After the war he resumed his normal work, but his last day in office as State Conciliator of Norway was on 31 December 1945. He resigned in protest to the government's law about forced salary commission. He was succeeded by wartime resistance leader

Paal Berg Paal Olav Berg (18 January 1873 – 24 May 1968), born in Hammerfest, was a Norwegian politician for the Liberal Party. He was Minister of Social Affairs 1919–1920, and Minister of Justice 1924–1926. He was the 12th Chief Justice of t ...

. In the meantime Claussen had negotiated the merger between the

Norwegian Confederation of Sports The Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports ( no, Norges idrettsforbund og olympiske og paralympiske komité; NIF) is the umbrella organization for sport in Norway. It is the largest volunteering organization in No ...

and the Workers' Confederation of Sports. From 1947 to 1953 he worked as a public prosecutor in Trondheim District Court. In the same time period he also served a second term in the city council. He was a member of the board of

Trøndelag Teater Trøndelag Teater is a large theater in the city of Trondheim, in Trøndelag county, Norway. Trøndelag Teater stages large-scale dance and musical performances. History Originally built in 1816, the theater is the oldest stage in Scandinavia ...

as well as several private companies, including Trondhjem Cementstøperi, Trondhjems Kullkompagni, Trondhjems Preservering & Co. and Norske Forenede Forsikring. Claussen was decorated as a Commander with Star of the

Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

. He survived a sea plane crash in 1948, in which

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ar ...

was involved as well, but died in October 1957 in Trondheim.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Claussen, Andreas 1883 births 1957 deaths Norwegian male speed skaters Norwegian sports executives and administrators Norwegian civil servants Directors of government agencies of Norway University of Oslo alumni Politicians from Trondheim Liberal Party (Norway) politicians Norwegian resistance members Grini concentration camp survivors 20th-century Norwegian people