Josef Larsson (12 October 1893 - 27 December 1987) was a Norwegian metal worker and trade unionist, born in Sweden. From 1931 he was a secretary for the

Norwegian Union of Iron and Metalworkers The Norwegian Union of Iron and Metalworkers (, NJMF) was a trade union representing workers in the metal industry, workshops, and shipbuilding in Norway. The union was founded in 1891, and in 1905 it joined the Norwegian Confederation of Trade ...

. He was a board member of the

Norwegian Labour Party The Labour Party (; , A or Ap; ), formerly The Norwegian Labour Party (, DNA), is a Social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in Norway, political party in Norway. It is positioned on the centre-left of the political spectru ...

from 1927 to 1930. In 1941, after the so-called milk strike in

Oslo 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 ...

, Larsson was sentenced to death in a German

court-martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...

, but his conviction was changed to

imprisonment for life Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are co ...

. He spent the rest of the war years in German jails. After the war he took up again the position as chairman of the Norwegian Union of Iron and Metalworkers, a post he held until 1958.

Early and personal life

Larsson was born in

Karlstad Karlstad (, ) is the 20th-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Karlstad Municipality, the capital of Värmland County, and the largest city in the province Värmland in Sweden. The city proper had 67,122 inhabitants in 2020 with 97,233 inhabitan ...

to carpenter Karl Larsson and Elise Jansson, and married Ragnhild Karlsson in 1922. Larsson died in 1987 at 94 years of age.

References

1893 births 1987 deaths Norwegian trade unionists Labour Party (Norway) politicians Norwegian people of World War II People condemned by Nazi courts Norwegian prisoners sentenced to death Grini concentration camp survivors Swedish emigrants to Norway People from Karlstad {{Norway-bio-stub