Trygve Bratteli

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Trygve Martin Bratteli (help·info) (January 11, 1910 - November 20, 1984) was a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party and Prime Minister of Norway from 1971 to 1972 and from 1973 to 1976.

Bratteli was born in Nøtterøy, where he attended primary school. He was unemployed for some time, worked as a messenger, a whaler, and construction worker. Named as secretary of the Labour Party's crisis committee during the Nazi invasion of Norway, he was arrested by the Germans in 1942 and survived being a Nacht und Nebel prisoner of various German concentration camps from 1943 to 1945. He was liberated from Vaihingen an der Enz concentration camp on April 5, 1945 by the White Buses along with 15 other Norwegians who had survived^[1].

After returning to Norway in 1945, he became vice chairman of the party, served on the newly formed defense commission, and in 1965 he was made chairman of the Labour Party. He served in the Norwegian Storting from 1950 to 1981, and also minister of finance and transportation. As the first Labour Party prime minister since Einar Gerhardsen's resignation, it fell on his shoulders to set a new tone for Labour governments. Central to his political career was the question of Norway's membership of the European Community. Following the close rejection of membership in the 1972 referendum, he resigned his cabinet.

Trygve Bratteli was considered a skilled politician and a person of integrity. He wrote a number of autobiographical and political books. His memoirs about his time in German concentration camps - Prisoner in Night and Fog - became a bestseller in Norway.

Notes

^ 13 other Norwegians had died at Vaihingen and were buried in a mass grave, according to: Ottosen, Kristian. "Gjensyn med Vaihingen", Oslo: Aftenposten, 2001-07-02. Retrieved on 2008-02-21. (Norwegian)

Preceded by Lars Korvald	Prime Minister of Norway 1973–1976	Succeeded by Odvar Nordli
Preceded by Per Borten	Prime Minister of Norway 1971–1972	Succeeded by Lars Korvald
Preceded by Lars Leiro	Norwegian Minister of Transport and Communications 1963–1964	Succeeded by Erik Himle
Preceded by Kolbjørn Sigurd Werner Varmann	Norwegian Minister of Transport and Communications 1960–1963	Succeeded by Lars Leiro
Preceded by Mons Lid	Norwegian Minister of Finance 1956–1960	Succeeded by Petter Jakob Bjerve
Preceded by Olav Meisdalshagen	Norwegian Minister of Finance 1951–1955	Succeeded by Mons Lid
Preceded by Einar Gerhardsen	Chairman of the Norwegian Labour Party 1965–1975	Succeeded by Reiulf Steen
Preceded by ?	Chairman of Workers' Youth League 1965–1975	Succeeded by Rolf Åkervik