Kjell Bondevik (11 March 1901 – 21 December 1983) was a Norwegian politician for the

Christian Democratic Party __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

. He was born in

Leikanger Leikanger () is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It was located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center was the village of Hermansverk, which also was th ...

. He graduated with the cand.philol. and mag.art. (PhD equivalent) degrees in 1927. He worked as a teacher and headmaster in schools 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 ...

Haugesund Haugesund () is a municipalities of Norway, municipality and List of towns and cities in Norway, town on the North Sea in Rogaland county, Norway. As of December 2023, the municipality of Haugesund has a population of 37,855. The vast majority of ...

and

Sauda Sauda ''()'' is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Sauda, where most of the population lives. Other villages in the municipality include Saudasjøen and Amdal. Despite being ...

. He was a member of the executive committee of

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 1945 to 1951, and chaired the local party chapter from 1939 to 1947 and the county chapter from 1939 to 1950. He also chaired local chapters of

Noregs Mållag Noregs Mållag (literally "Language Organisation of Norway") is the main organisation for Norwegian Nynorsk (New Norwegian), one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language Norwegian ( ) is a North Germanic language from th ...

as well as Christian organizations. During the

occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany 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 German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...

, he was arrested in March 1942 for boycotting the Nazi creation, the Teachers Union, together with a large number of other teachers, including

Gustav Natvig-Pedersen Gustav Natvig-Pedersen (18 August 1893 – 27 May 1965) was a Norwegian philologist, educator and politician for the Labour Party. A school teacher and headmaster during his professional career, he served in Stavanger city council from 1922 to 19 ...

. He sat 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 ...

for one day, later at

Jørstadmoen Jørstadmoen is a village in Lillehammer Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located along the river Gudbrandsdalslågen, about northwest of Lillehammer. The village has a population (2021) of 661 and a population density Pop ...

and

Kirkenes (Norwegian language, Norwegian; ), (Northern Sami language, Northern Sami; , or is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Finnmark county, in the far northeastern part of Norway. The town lies on a peninsu ...

, but was released. He was elected to 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 ...

from

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. As of 1 January 2024, it had a population of 49 ...

in 1950, and was re-elected on three occasions. From August to September 1963 he served as the Minister of Social Affairs during the short-lived centre-right

cabinet Lyng The Lyng Cabinet governed Norway between 28 August 1963 and 25 September 1963. It was the first in 28 years not to be led by the Norwegian Labour Party. It was a centre-right coalition government of the Conservative Party, Centre Party, Chris ...

. During this period, Knut Haus filled his seat in the Parliament. In 1965 he was again appointed to a cabinet post, this time as Minister of Education and Church Affairs in the

cabinet Borten Borten's Cabinet governed Norway between 12 October 1965 and 17 March 1971. The cabinet was led by Per Borten and consisted of the Conservative Party of Norway, Conservative Party, the Centre Party (Norway), Centre Party, the Liberal Party (Norway ...

, which lasted until 1971. When the cabinet Borten fell over a controversy related to the forthcoming EEC referendum, Bondevik was put in charge of tailoring a renewed centre-right coalition. However, the negotiations between the four parties failed, paving the way for a Labour cabinet Bratteli. In this context Bondevik described himself as ''djupt såra og vonbråten'', "deeply hurt with broken hopes". This is a well-known quote in Norwegian history. Bondevik also worked at 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 ...

from 1958 to 1965 and the

University of Bergen The University of Bergen () is a public university, public research university in Bergen, Norway. As of 2021, the university had over 4,000 employees and 19,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 1946 consolidating several sci ...

as a lecturer from 1965 to 1970. In 1982 he was given an

honorary doctor An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

ate at the

University of Tromsø The University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway ( Norwegian: ''Universitetet i Tromsø – Norges arktiske universitet''; Northern Sami: ''Romssa universitehta – Norgga árktalaš universitehta'') is a state university in Norway a ...

, as the first person. He authored many books, mostly about history topics. Biographies about him were published in 1969 and 1981. Kjell Bondevik is also known as the uncle of

Kjell Magne Bondevik Kjell Magne Bondevik (; born 3 September 1947) is a Norway, Norwegian Lutheranism, Lutheran Religious minister, minister and Politics of Norway, politician. As leader of the Christian Democratic Party (Norway), Christian Democratic Party, he ser ...

, later

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

,Biography of Kjell Magne Bondevik
/ref> and father of bishop

Odd Bondevik Odd Bondevik (20 June 1941 – 6 September 2014) was a Norwegian theologian who was the Bishop of the Diocese of Møre in the Church of Norway from 17 November 1991 until retirement in 2008. He also served as Preses of the Bishop's Conference of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bondevik, Kjell 1901 births 1983 deaths People from Leikanger Christian Democratic Party (Norway) politicians Government ministers of Norway Rogaland politicians Academic staff of the University of Oslo Academic staff of the University of Bergen 20th-century Norwegian historians Norwegian educators Grini concentration camp survivors 20th-century Norwegian writers Ministers of education of Norway Members of the Storting 1961–1965 Members of the Storting 1958–1961 Members of the Storting 1954–1957 Members of the Storting 1950–1953