Knud Jespersen (12 April 1926 in

Sulsted Sulsted is a small Danish town with a population of 1,521 (1 January 2024) – 1 December 1977Staar, Richard Felix.
Yearbook on International Communist Affairs: 1978
'. Stanford (Calif.): Hoover Institution Press, 1978, p. 121.(

Yearbook on International Communist Affairs A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a type of a book published annually. One use is to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school. The term also refers to a book of statistics or facts published annually. A yearbook often ...

)) was a Danish politician. Jespersen served as chairman of the

Communist Party of Denmark The Communist Party of Denmark (, DKP) is a communist party in Denmark. The DKP was founded on 9 November 1919 as the Left-Socialist Party of Denmark (, VSP), through a merger of the Socialist Youth League and Socialist Labour Party of Denma ...

between 1958 and 1977 and was a member of parliament between 1973 and 1977.Kinnell, Susan K.
People in World History: An Index to Biographies in History Journals and Dissertations Covering All Countries of the World Except Canada and the U.S.
' Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 1988, p. 306.

Childhood

Jespersen grew up in northern

Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...

. His mother worked as a domestic servant. Jespersen was raised by his grandparents, until he moved in with his mother and her husband at the age of thirteen.Leksikon.
Jespersen, Knud
'

In the Resistance

During his teenage years Jespersen joined 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 ...

against the

German occupation of Denmark At the outset of World War II in September 1939, Denmark declared itself neutral, but that neutrality did not prevent Nazi Germany from occupying the country soon after the outbreak of war; the occupation lasted until Germany's defeat. The ...

. Both his mother and stepfather were members of the Communist Party. Following the 'police action' against the Communist Party on 22 June 1941, the entire household joined the underground resistance. In 1942, Jespersen himself became a member of the Communist Party.Большая советская энциклопедия
Есперсен Кнуд
/ref> Both Jespersen and his stepfather were arrested and held in

concentration camps A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...

.
World Marxist review, Vol. 23
'. 1980, p. 109. His stepfather, Christian Andersen, was arrested by the

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 ...

in a raid on the family residence in December 1943. He died in the

Neuengamme concentration camp Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and List of subcamps of Neuengamme, more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme, Hamburg, N ...

a year later. Jespersen arrested on 27 March 1945 and was detained at the

Frøslev Prison Camp Frøslev Camp (, ) was an internment camp in German-occupied Denmark during World War II. In order to avoid deportation of Danes to German concentration camps, Danish authorities suggested, in January 1944, that an internment camp be created in ...

.Thurah, Thomas.
Anker Jørgensen: min verden fortalt i belleder
'. øbenhavn Gyldendal, 2010, p. 84. Jespersen was scheduled to be transferred to Germany, but was released after the Liberation on 5 May 1945.

Trade unionist

After the war Jespersen became a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

activist. Following his release he began to work as a casual labourer. He was elected local union chairman of warehouse workers in

Aalborg Aalborg or Ålborg ( , , ) is Denmark's List of cities and towns in Denmark, fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban populati ...

in 1953. During the strike movements of the spring of 1956, he became known as an agitator.

Communist Party leader

He became the chairman of the Communist Party district organization of

North Jutland County North Jutland County () is a former county (Danish: '' amt'') in northern Denmark. It was located on the eastern half of Vendsyssel-Thy and the northernmost part of the Jutland peninsula. It was the largest county in Denmark, but with a relati ...

in 1951. In 1952 he became a member of the Central Committee of the party. He was elected to the Aalborg municipal council in 1954. When the Communist Party chairman

Aksel Larsen Aksel Larsen (5 August 1897 – 10 January 1972) was a Danish politician who was chairman of the Communist Party of Denmark (DKP), and chairman and founder of the Socialist People's Party. He is remembered today for his long service in the C ...

was ousted from the party in 1958 Jespersen was named the new party chairman at the 20th party congress. Jespersen's ascent to the party leadership had already been signaled a few months earlier, when the party substituted Larsen for him as the head of the delegation to the congress of the

League of Communists of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats ...

. As the leader of the Communist Party Jespersen reaffirmed the pro-Moscow line of the party, positioning the Danish party as one staunchest supporters of the Soviet Union in the European communist movement. He was an outspoken opponent of the

Eurocommunist Eurocommunism was a trend in the 1970s and 1980s within various Western European communist parties, which said they had developed a theory and practice of social transformation more relevant for Western Europe. During the Cold War, they sough ...

trend. However, during the 1968 Warsaw Pact intervention in Czechoslovakia he did express certain reservations (albeit no outright condemnation) of the Soviet actions. He did also condemn repression against

Charta 77 Charter 77 (''Charta 77'' in Czech and Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Jiří Něme ...

signatories in Czechoslovakia in 1977.

Parliamentarian

During the 1960s the Communist Party was marginalized in Danish politics. However, in 1973 the party experiences something of a short-lived revival during the run-up to the referendum on the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

. The party regained parliamentary representation and Jespersen was elected to parliament from the Bispeeng constituency in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. As a parliamentarian Jespersen gained the reputation of being a sharp and humoristic speaker.

Death

Due to health reasons Jespersen was replaced in the party leadership by Ib Nørlund, who took over as acting chairman and parliamentary faction leader, on 26 November 1977. Jespersen had endured torture during his captivity during the war, and his health had never fully recovered from those episodes.Skou, Kaare R.
Dansk politik A-Å: leksikon
'. bh. Aschehoug, 2007, pp. 370–371. He died a few days later. The

Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

was represented at Jespersen's funeral by

Augusts Voss Augusts Eduardovich Voss (; 30 October 1919, Saltykovo – 10 February 1994, Moscow) was a Soviet politician of Latvian origin and party functionary. Before World War II he worked as a school teacher. In 1940, he was mobilized into the Red Army ...

, secretary of the

Communist Party of Latvia The Communist Party of Latvia (, LKP) was a political party in Latvia. History Latvian Social-Democracy prior to 1919 The party was founded at a congress in June 1904. Initially the party was known as the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party ...

. Following Jespersen's death Jørgen Jensen was named new party chairman. Following Jespersen's death the electoral performance of the Communist Party plummeted (the party lost all of its parliamentary seats in the 1979 election), suggesting that Jespersen's charismatic leadership had contributed to previous electoral fortunes. In 1979 a collection of Jespersen's speeches and articles were published in the book ''Knud Jespersen - en af arbejderklassens sønner: udvalgte taler og artikler'' ('Knud Jespersen, a son of the working class: selected speeches and articles'). In 1978 a Soviet

merchant ship A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are ...

was named ''Knud Jespersen'' in his honour.
Marine week, Vol. 5
'. IPC Industrial Press, 1978.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jespersen, Knud 1926 births 1977 deaths Communist Party of Denmark politicians Danish trade unionists Danish resistance members People from Aalborg Municipality Members of the Folketing 1973–1975 Members of the Folketing 1975–1977 Leaders of political parties in Denmark