Kaj Åke Björk (25 December 1918 – 30 September 2014) was a Swedish social democratic politician and a diplomat.

Early life

Björk was born on 25 December 1918 in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

, Sweden, the son of Adolf Björk and his wife Eva (née Jancke). He was the youngest of five siblings and his father died barely a year later, and the mother was left to cope with the family's livelihood on her teacher's salary. The family belonged to Gothenburg culture radical circles and Björk became politically active already in high school. He passed ''

studentexamen Studentexamen (Swedish for "students' examination" or "students' degree"), earlier also ''mogenhetsexamen'' ("maturity examination") was the name of the university entrance examination in Sweden from the 17th century to 1968. From 1862 to 1968, ...

'' in 1936 and studied economics at

Stockholm University College Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...

, but most of his time was devoted to intense political activity. Björk obtained his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in 1941.

Career

Björk worked for '' Morgon-Tidningen'' from 1942 to 1946. Björk was international secretary of the

Swedish Social Democratic Party The Swedish Social Democratic Party, formally the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party ( , S or SAP), usually referred to as The Social Democrats ( ), is a social democratic political party in Sweden. The party is member of the Progressiv ...

from 1947 to 1955, and went to serve as the secretary of the parliamentary faction of the party 1955 to 1956. From 1948 to 1960 he represented the Swedish Social Democratic Party in the general council of the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...

. Björk was the editor of ' between 1951 and 1956 and became editor-in-chief to the newspaper ''Ny Tid'' in Gothenburg 1956-63. Björk became an expert at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1964 and was a member of the

Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...

from 1965 to 1973 (

Andra kammaren The Andra kammaren (lit. "Second Chamber", often abbreviated 'AK'; referred to in some non-Swedish sources as the Chamber of Deputies) was the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Riksdag of Sweden between 1866 and 1970 that replaced the R ...

1965-66, Första kammaren 1966-70) and vice chairman of the Committee on Cultural Affairs 1971-72. He was chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Group of the Riksdag from 1965 to 1973 and chairman of Swedish delegation of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

from 1967 to 1973. Björk was also chairman of the 1968 Literature Inquiry (''1968 års litteraturutredning'') and a member of the Integration Safety Committee (''Integrationsskyddskommittén''). He became ambassador in 1972 and was appointed ambassador in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

in 1975. The same year he became non-resident ambassador in

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

. In 1976 Björk, then the Swedish ambassador to the People's Republic of China, took part in a delegation visit to

Kampuchea Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline along the Gulf of Thail ...

. He was one of few Western diplomats to visit Kampuchea during the

Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), and by extension to Democratic Kampuchea, which ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by Norodom Sihano ...

rule. Björk left Beijing in 1980 and became ambassador in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

(also accredited to Nassau) which he was until 1984. Knowledge and opinion also characterizes the books about international relations and Swedish foreign policy that he published during the period as a journalist and later after his retirement. After retirement he also took up his old interest in history, which led to a major commitment in the Workers Cultural Society (''Arbetarnas Kulturhistoriska Sällskap'').

Personal life

In 1940 he married Marja Friberg (1918–1988), the daughter of Otto Friberg and Hilma Margareta Olsson. They divorced and in 1952 he married Suzanne Székely (1919–2003), the daughter of Moses Székely and Margit Kauffman. They divorced and in 1963 he married for the third time, to Claude Duvivier (born 1934), the daughter of Charles Duvivier and Marthe Durand. Björk had three children: Bo Tomas (born 1947) in his first marriage, Ann Katrin (born 1954) in his second marriage and Pia Désirée Marie (born 1966) in his third marriage.

Death

Björk died on 30 September 2014. On 12 November 2014 he was interred and was buried at

Galärvarvskyrkogården Galärvarvskyrkogården (literally Galley Shipyard Cemetery) is a cemetery on the island of Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden. It has about 1,300 burial sites and an area of approximately 0.9 hectares. History Galärvarvskyrkogården in Djurgår ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

References

External links

Article about Kaj Björk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bjork, Kaj 1918 births 2014 deaths Swedish newspaper editors Ambassadors of Sweden to China Ambassadors of Sweden to North Korea Ambassadors of Sweden to Canada Ambassadors of Sweden to the Bahamas Members of the Riksdag from the Social Democrats Members of the Första kammaren Members of the Andra kammaren Politicians from Gothenburg Diplomats from Gothenburg Burials at Galärvarvskyrkogården