Arne Gauslaa (8 February 1913 – 30 October 1942) was a Norwegian communist, newspaper editor and resistance member.

Biography

He was born in Solum, to a mother from Solum and a father from

Herefoss Herefoss is a village in Birkenes municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located on the northeastern end of the Herefossfjorden which is a large lake on the river Tovdalselva. The Norwegian National Road 41 runs through the village ...

. His father Olav Gauslaa was a member of Solum

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

from 1910 to 1927 and again from 1931, and had joined the Communist Party in 1923. Arne Gauslaa married Audhild Olsen from

Skien Skien () is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsjø area and Bø. The administrative ...

in 1932, and had one foster child. The family lived in Oslo. In 1931 Gauslaa was sentenced in court twice. The first time he was sentenced to prison for participating in the Skirmish of Menstad, then for making the small newspaper ''Den røde elev'' at his school. He took modest education, and was the chairman of

Young Communist League of Norway The Young Communist League of Norway (, NKU) was until April 2006 the youth league of Norges Kommunistiske Parti (NKP). The NKP declared on 1 April 2006 that the NKU was no longer its youth organization, and that all youths interested in joinin ...

from 1934 to 1942. He also edited the newspaper ''

Klassekampen (Lit. translation: ''"The Class Struggle"'') is a Norwegian daily newspaper in print and online. Its tagline is "The daily newspaper of the Left". The paper's net circulation was 33,265 in 2022, and it has around 111,000 daily readers on paper ...

''. From 1940 his work was underground in the

resistance movement A resistance movement is an organized group of people that tries to resist or try to overthrow a government or an occupying power, causing disruption and unrest in civil order and stability. Such a movement may seek to achieve its goals through ei ...

, as Norway was occupied by Nazi Germany. Eventually, together with Ottar Lie he led the party's organizational centre which had contact with communist resistance members who hid in the mountains. The centre was moved from

Steinsfjorden Steinsfjorden is a branch of the lake Tyrifjorden located in Buskerud, Norway. It has a length of about eight kilometers, stretching from the sound Kroksund at Sundvollen northwards to Åsa, in the municipalities of Ringerike and Hole ...

Vikersund Vikersund is a town of 3,232 (in 2020) inhabitants in the municipality capital of Modum, in the county of Buskerud, Norway. Overview Vikersund is located 30 kilometers south of Hønefoss and 40 kilometers northwest of Drammen. The village is l ...

in October 1942. They were blown after former resistance member Karsten Sølvberg had cracked during

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

torture, become a Gestapo agent and informed on them. On 30 October 1942 the centre was surrounded by Gestapo agents. There was a shootout, in which two Germans and two Norwegian communists including Gauslaa were killed. He was buried in Oslo.

References

1913 births 1942 deaths People from Skien Communist Party of Norway politicians Norwegian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Norway Norwegian newspaper editors Norwegian resistance members Resistance members killed by Nazi Germany Norwegian civilians killed in World War II Assassinated Norwegian journalists Deaths by firearm in Norway 20th-century Norwegian writers {{Norway-writer-stub