Thorwald Bergquist (1 December 1899 – 3 December 1972) was a Swedish politician who held various cabinet and political posts. He was a member of the People's Party. Johan Östling argues that Bergquist was one of the Swedish ''generation of 1945'' figures who had a rationalist approach towards cultural affairs and who experienced the

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

period.

Biography

Bergquist was born Nävelsjö,

Jönköping County Jönköping County () is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Halland, Västra Götaland, Östergötland, Kalmar and Kronoberg. The total county population was 356,291 inhabitants in September 2017. The capita ...

, on 1 December 1899. He held a degree in law. After working at courts in 1931 Bergquist became the secretary of the second team committee at 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 ...

. He was the mayor of

Västerås Västerås () is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 158,653, over 100,000 mo ...

in the period 1933–1939 and director general of the national board of health and welfare between 1939 and 1946. In 1936 he served as the minister of state and minister of justice. In the period 1939–1943 he was the state minister in the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

led by the

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 ...

Per Albin Hansson Per Albin Hansson (28 October 1885 – 6 October 1946) was a Swedish politician, chairman of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, Social Democrats from 1925 and two-time Prime Minister of Sweden, Prime Minister in four Government of Sweden, gov ...

. In 1943 he was made justice minister in the same cabinet and held the post until July 1945. One of the topics which Bergquist focused on was the criminal law reform. Bergquist was a member of the People's Party and represented the party in the second chamber of the Riksdag in the period 1937–1942 and in the first chamber from 1943 to 1947. He died on 3 December 1972.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bergquist, Thorwald 20th-century jurists 20th-century Swedish politicians 1899 births 1972 deaths Mayors of places in Sweden Members of the Andra kammaren Members of the Riksdag from the Liberals (Sweden) Members of the Första kammaren People from Vetlanda Municipality Swedish jurists Ministers for justice of Sweden