Sivert Andreas Nielsen (24 November 1916 – 17 March 2004) was a Norwegian diplomat, civil servant, state secretary and banker. He is known for shaping Norwegian defence policy in the 1950s, and as ambassador to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

Early life and career

He was born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

as a son of professor Konrad Nielsen (1875–1953) and his wife Gudrun Agnes Augusta Müller (1889–1954). He was a paternal grandson of politician Sivert Andreas Nielsen. The family moved to Vettakollen when Nielsen was one year old. He finished his secondary education in 1934, and graduated with the

cand.jur. Candidate of Law (Latin: ''candidatus/candidata juris/iuris'') is both a graduate law degree awarded to law students in the Nordic region as well as an academic status designation for advanced Law School students in German-speaking countries. No ...

degree in 1940. He also fought in the Norwegian Campaign of the same year. During the subsequent

German occupation of Norway 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 the ...

, he was arrested by the Nazi occupant authorities in 1941. He was imprisoned at

Møllergata 19 Møllergata 19 is an address in Oslo, Norway where the city's main police station and jail was located. The address gained notoriety during the German occupation from 1940 to 1945, when the Nazi security police kept its headquarters here. This is ...

from 2 April to 28 June 1941, and then in

Grini concentration camp '', '' no, Grini fangeleir'', location= Bærum, Viken, Norway, location map=Viken#Norway, built by=Norway, original use=Constructed as a women's prison, operated by=Nazi Germany, notable inmates=List of Grini prisoners, liberated by=Harry Söderm ...

until 15 November. He was then incarcerated in

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoner ...

until March 1945. In December 1945 he married Harriet Eyde (1922–1986).

Later career

After the war he served as a diplomat to the

from 1946 to 1948 and to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

from 1948 to 1950. Among others, he helped shape and write the

North Atlantic Treaty The North Atlantic Treaty, also referred to as the Washington Treaty, is the treaty that forms the legal basis of, and is implemented by, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 194 ...

which was ratified in 1949. He then worked in the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

, as assistant secretary from 1950, deputy under-secretary of state from 1952 and State Secretary from 1955 to 1958. In the latter position he was a part of the

third cabinet Gerhardsen Gerhardsen's Third Cabinet was the cabinet of Norway from 22 January 1955 to 28 August 1963. The government was led by Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen, marking his third term in said role. The cabinet was defeated in a motion of no-confidence in 1 ...

; however he was not a member of the

Norwegian Labour Party The Labour Party ( nb, Arbeiderpartiet; nn, Arbeidarpartiet; A/Ap; se, Bargiidbellodat), formerly The Norwegian Labour Party ( no, Det norske Arbeiderparti, DNA), is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is positioned on the cen ...

. In his time it was speculated that he was offered a

government minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, ...

position, but this never happened. From 1958 to 1966 he returned as Norwegian ambassador to the

. During this period, Norway was a member of the

Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

in 1963 and 1964. From 1966 to 1976 he worked as a banker. He was also the

chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vari ...

of the

Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) is a directorate under the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In matters regarding Norway's International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI), Norad reports to the Norwegian Ministry ...

from 1969 to 1974. He was decorated as a Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1964, and died in March 2004 in Oslo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Sivert Andreas 1916 births 2004 deaths Norwegian diplomats Norwegian civil servants Norwegian state secretaries Norwegian bankers Norwegian Army personnel of World War II Norwegian expatriates in the United States Grini concentration camp survivors Sachsenhausen concentration camp survivors Norwegian expatriates in Denmark