Erik Gunnar Nord (11 September 1918 – 19 January 2014) was a Norwegian jurist, civil servant, foreign policy researcher and politician for the Socialist Left Party. He grew up in Kolbotn, and was active in the labour movement from a young age. He took his secondary education at the Oslo Cathedral School. During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany he was arrested by the Nazi authorities in June 1943. He was briefly imprisoned in Bredtveit concentration camp, then

Berg concentration camp Berg interneringsleir (Berg internment camp) was a concentration camp near Tønsberg in Norway that served as an internment and transit center for political prisoners and Jews during the Nazi occupation of Norway. Establishment The camp at Berg ...

. In December 1943 he was transferred to

Sennheim Cernay (; german: Sennheim; gsw-FR, Sanna) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is situated on the river Thur, 17 km northwest of Mulhouse. Second World War The SS had an " ideology school" ...

, then

Buchenwald concentration camp Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...

where he remained until the camp was liberated. He took 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. ...

degree in 1945 after the war's end. He was employed in the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

in 1947, and served in the Norwegian United Nations delegation until 1950. He was later a secretary of the

Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs ( no, Utenrikskomiteen) is a defunct committee of the Norwegian Parliament responsible for matters related to foreign policy, development assistance, international agreements, Svalbard and the Norwegian polar ...

from 1953 to 1962, when he spent two years in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an assistant secretary with responsibility for the fledgling development aid project. He wrote articles on foreign affairs in the left-oppositional organ ''

Orientering ''Orientering'' was a Norwegian newspaper which was initially published in December 1952 as an alternative voice. It was absorbed into ''Ny Tid'' in 1975. There were many reasons for establishing the newspaper, but the most important was perhaps ...

'', under a pseudonym. He was a member of the Labour Party, but left after the exclusion of the left opposition in ''Orientering'' in 1961. During the Cold War he was surveilled by Norwegian Police Surveillance Agency under

Asbjørn Bryhn Asbjørn Johan Bryhn (24 August 1906 – 21 January 1990) was a Norwegian police officer, known for his resistance work during World War II, and later head of the Norwegian Police Surveillance Agency. Personal life Bryhn was born in Drammen as th ...

. According to some sources he was removed as committee secretary as a result of contact with the

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

, when

Halvard Lange Halvard Manthey Lange (16 September 1902 – 19 May 1970) was a Norwegian politician and diplomat, who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1946-1963 and again from 1963-1965. He was also the longest serving Foreign Minister to date, ha ...

decided to move him to the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI). Nord himself has claimed to have been replaced because he was an EEC opponent. He started in NUPI in 1964 and remained here until his retirement. NUPI today counts Nord as one of their most profiled researchers, together with

John Sanness John Christian Munthe Sanness (24 May 1913 – 6 November 1984) was a Norwegian historian and politician for the Labour Party. He is known as the director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs from 1960 to 1983, professor at the Univ ...

Johan Jørgen Holst Johan Jørgen Holst (29 November 1937 – 13 January 1994) was a Norwegian politician representing Labour, best known for his involvement with the Oslo Accords. Holst was Minister of Defence from 1987 to 1989 and from 1990 to April 1993. He t ...

, Martin Sæter, Daniel Heradstveit and Jan Egeland. He was also a prolific popular speaker, tallying up to 200 appearances a year, including events for the EU opposition, the United Nations Association of Norway and

Nei til Atomvåpen Nei or NEI may refer to: *Nei, Iran, a village in Ardabil Province, Iran *Nei, a character in the ''Phantasy Star II'' roleplaying game *Nutrition and Education International *Nuclear Energy Institute, American nuclear industry lobbying group *N ...

(No to Nuclear Weapons). He died in January 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nord, Erik 1918 births 2014 deaths People from Kolbotn People from Nesodden Norwegian resistance members Bredtveit concentration camp survivors Berg concentration camp survivors Sennheim concentration camp survivors Buchenwald concentration camp survivors Norwegian people imprisoned abroad University of Oslo alumni Socialist Left Party (Norway) politicians Akershus politicians Norwegian anti–nuclear weapons activists