Poul Dalby Andersen (April 19, 1922 – May 29, 2006) was a printer who served in the

Danish resistance movement The Danish resistance movements () were an underground insurgency to resist the German occupation of Denmark during World War II. Due to the initially lenient arrangements, in which the Nazi occupation authority allowed the democratic govern ...

during

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 ...

and later published one of the remaining two Danish-language newspapers in the United States.

Background

Andersen was born in

Ringkøbing Ringkøbing (older spelling ''Ringkjøbing'') is a town in Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality in Central Denmark Region, Region Midtjylland on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in west Denmark. It has a population of 9,830 (1 January 2025).

, a small town in

Ringkøbing-Skjern municipality Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality () is the largest municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') in Denmark. It was formed on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 administrative reform from the former municipalities of Egvad, Holmsland, Ringkøbing, Skjer ...

on the west coast of

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. His grandfather was a co-founder of the town's daily newspaper. Andersen's father was a typesetter, and Andersen learned the printing trade in the newspaper's offices. Andersen came to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1949 and worked on an uncle's farm in Ohio. A friend encouraged him to move to

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. In 1950 Andersen was hired by the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

as a printer.

Career

Andersen was a conversationalist and a soccer fanatic, two traits that helped him as a member of the Danish resistance. "My husband was a chatterbox, and he loved soccer, so he could bicycle down to a neighboring town to play soccer and the Germans would never think twice about it," Judy Andersen told the

. "He would ask the guards, 'What are they doing in the field there?' and learn that

he Germans He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter call ...

were building gun emplacements." In 1975 Andersen bought '' Bien'', a

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

-based Danish-language newspaper. Andersen moved the newspaper to

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

, to allow him to work on the paper after completing his shift at the Times. ''Biens circulation reached a high of 5,300 during Andersen's tenure as publisher. Andersen continued to use a

Linotype machine The Linotype machine ( ) is a "line casting" machine used in printing which is manufactured and sold by the former Mergenthaler Linotype Company and related It was a hot metal typesetting system that cast lines of metal type for one-time use. Li ...

to set the type for each edition of ''Bien'' long after other newspapers had switched to computerized typesetting. In 1997 the California Newspaper Publishers Association said ''Bien'' was probably the last newspaper in California being printed with Linotype. Andersen was knighted in 1982 by

Queen Margrethe II Margrethe II (; Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, born 16 April 1940) is a member of the Danish royal family who reigned as Queen of Denmark from 14 January 1972 until her abdication on 14 January 2024. Having reigned for exactly 5 ...

for his efforts in uniting the

Danish American Danish Americans () are Americans who have ancestral roots originated fully or partially from Denmark. There are approximately 1,300,000 Americans of Danish origin or descent. Most Danes who came to the United States after 1865 did so for e ...

community. Andersen died in Los Angeles from complications of

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andersen, Poul 1922 births 2006 deaths Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in California Deaths from dementia in California Danish resistance members Danish emigrants to the United States Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog People from Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality 20th-century American newspaper publishers (people) 21st-century Danish politicians