Jakob Johan Sigfrid Friis (27 April 1883 – 12 December 1956) was a Norwegian journalist, publicist, historian, and archivist. He was a newspaper editor and member of the

Norwegian Parliament The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...

Biography

Jakob Friis was born in

Røros Røros may refer to: Places * Røros Municipality, a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway * Røros (town), a town within Røros Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway * Røros Church, a church in Røros Municipality in Trøndelag county, No ...

in Sør-Trøndelag as the son of Jakob Pavels Friis (1827–1912) and Johanne Berg (1850–1924). He graduated cand.philol. degree in history from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

in 1909. Friis spoke English, French, German and Russian fluently and spent his professional career as a journalist and a state

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist can cons ...

. He was a journalist in '' Socialdemokraten'' from 1909 to 1912, ''

Ny Tid ''Ny Tid'' (English: ''Modern Times Review'') is Norway's largest international quarterly review of non-fiction books – up to 50 in each issue. It is currently owned by Ny Tid & Orientering AS. ''Ny Tid'' is headed by the newspaper founder ...

'' from 1915 to 1917, ''

Arbeiderbladet is a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. The former party organ of the Norwegian Labour Party, the ties loosened over time from 1975 to 1999. It has borne several names, and was called ''Arbeiderbladet'' from 1923 to 1997. Eirik Hoff Lys ...

'' from 1917 to 1924 and ''

Norges Kommunistblad was a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. History was started on 5 November 1923 as the official party newspaper from the Communist Party of Norway, Communist Party, which was established that year after a split from the Norwegian Lab ...

'' from 1928 to 1929. Upon the suggestion from Martin Tranmæl, he became editor-in-chief of '' Rjukan Arbeiderblad'' from 1925 to 1928 and the working class encyclopedia ''

Arbeidernes Leksikon (''The Laborers' Encyclopedia'') is a Norwegian language, Norwegian encyclopedia published in six volumes in the 1930s. It was the first reference book in Norwegian language, Norwegian to have a pronounced class bias, and the first encycloped ...

'' from 1930 to 1936. He worked in the

National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

(Riksarkivet) from 1912 to 1915, followed by the regional state archives: in

Trondhjem Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is t ...

1915-1917,

Kristiania Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022, an ...

1917-1922 and

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...

1934-1953. Friis was a member of the

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 ...

of Aker Municipality between 1919 and 1922, and a member of the

Kristiansand Municipality Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...

between 1937 and 1940. He chaired the municipal party chapter from 1936 to 1937. Friis represented the Labour Party at the

Second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

and Third Comintern World Congresses; he was also a member of the

Executive Committee of the Communist International The Executive Committee of the Communist International, commonly known by its acronym, ECCI (Russian acronym ИККИ - for ), was the governing authority of the Comintern between the World Congresses of that body. The ECCI, established by the Fo ...

from 1920 to 1921. Friis became a Communist Party member in 1928. He left the party in 1933, and rejoined the Labour Party in 1936. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Friis was elected to the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...

from the Market towns of Vest-Agder and Rogaland counties in 1945, and was re-elected after his first period by an overwhelming majority. He was on the left wing of the Labour Party, and was the original editor of the newspaper ''

Orientering ''Orientering'' was a Norwegian newspaper which was initially published in December 1952 as an alternative voice. It was absorbed into ''Ny Tid'' in 1975. There were many reasons for establishing the newspaper, but the most important was perhap ...

'' in 1952, having published the book ''Kritikk av norsk utenrikspolitikk etter krigen'' in 1952. He was one of its chief editors until his death in 1956. He died in

and was buried at

Vår Frelsers gravlund The Cemetery of Our Saviour () is a cemetery in Oslo, Norway, located north of Hammersborg in Gamle Aker district. It is located adjacent to the older Old Aker Cemetery and was created in 1808 as a result of the great famine and cholera epidemi ...

in Oslo.

Selected works

* ''Marcus Thrane'' (1917) * ''Den moderne arbeiderbevegelse i Norge'' (1918) * ''Veien til det sociale demokrati'' (1918) * '' Den internasjonale finanskapitals provinser i Norge'' (1928) * '' Oppgjør med Tyskland og vestmaktene'' (1945)

References

Other sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Friis, Jakob 1883 births 1956 deaths People from Røros University of Oslo alumni Executive Committee of the Communist International Labour Party (Norway) politicians Communist Party of Norway politicians Politicians from Aker Politicians from Kristiansand Norwegian archivists Norwegian newspaper editors Norwegian encyclopedists Burials at the Cemetery of Our Saviour Members of the Storting 1945–1949 Members of the Storting 1950–1953