Helge Sivertsen (12 June 1913 – 21 December 1986) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

school administrator and elected official. He was best known as a champion

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

er in the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

Biography

He was born at

Mandal A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

Vest-Agder Vest-Agder (; "West Agder") was one of 18 counties (''fylker'') in Norway up until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Aust-Agder to form Agder county. In 2016, there were 182,701 inhabitants, around 3.5% of the total population of Norway. I ...

, Norway. He was the son of Nils Sivertsen (1877-1955) and Martha Heddeland (1883-1962). His father was a college teacher and the family moved to

Inderøy Inderøy is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Straumen. Other villages include Framverran, Gangstadhaugen, Hylla, Kjerknesvågen, Kjer ...

in 1926. He attended folk school (''Orkdal Landslymnas'') and took artium in 1933. Sivertsen was a historian by education. He studied at the University of Oslo and became cand.philol. in 1940 with a history major. From 1938 to 1939, he studied history, politics and international relations at

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

under a Norwegian Oxford Scholarship. He represented Inderøy IL in athletics competitions. He became Norwegian champion in discus throw in 1934 and 1935. At the

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, he finished tenth in the discus final with a throw of 45.89 metres. His personal best throw was 47.72 metres, achieved in July 1936 at

Bislett stadion Bislett Stadium ( no, Bislett stadion) is a sports stadium in Oslo, Norway. Bislett is Norway's most well known sports arena internationally, with 15 speed skating world records and more than 50 track and field world records having been set here ...

in Oslo. During the

occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany 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 ...

(1940-1945), he was a member of

Milorg Milorg (abbreviation of militær organisasjon – military organization) was the main Norwegian resistance movement during World War II. Resistance work included intelligence gathering, sabotage, supply-missions, raids, espionage, transport of ...

. Sivertsen led the center's information service. After the liberation of Norway in 1945, he became secretary of the Military Investigation Commission of 1945 and wrote the history of Milorg activities during the war years. His party affiliation was to the Labour Party. Sivertsen pursued a career in politics, and was secretary to the Prime Minister

Einar Gerhardsen Einar Henry Gerhardsen (; 10 May 1897 – 19 September 1987) was a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party of Norway. He was the 22nd prime minister of Norway for three periods, 1945–1951, 1955–1963 and 1963–1965. With totally 17 years i ...

in 1947, state secretary to the Minister of Education and Church Affairs from 1947 to 1956, and Minister of Education and Church Affairs from 1960 to 1965 in the

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

and

fourth cabinet Gerhardsen Gerhardsen's Fourth Cabinet governed Norway between 25 September 1963 and 12 October 1965. The Labour Party cabinet was led by Einar Gerhardsen Einar Henry Gerhardsen (; 10 May 1897 – 19 September 1987) was a Norwegian politician from the Lab ...

, only interrupted by the short-lived cabinet of Prime Minister John Lyng in 1963. He was director of education in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Akershus Akershus () is a traditional region and current electoral district in Norway, with Oslo as its main city and traditional capital. It is named after the Akershus Fortress in Oslo. From the middle ages to 1919, Akershus was a fief and main county ...

and

Østfold Østfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in southeastern Norway. It borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other side o ...

from 1956 to 1960, in Oslo and Akershus from 1966 to 1970 and in Oslo from 1971. He served as a member of the Board of the United States Educational Foundation in Norway from 1949 to 1956. He was chairman of the Teacher Education Council 1957-1960 and of the State Scholarship Council 1955–1960. He retired in 1981.

Personal life

He was married in 1940 with Merle Five (1914–2003), daughter of

Håkon Five Håkon Martin Henriksen Five (27 September 1880 – 15 January 1944) was a Norway, Norwegian politician for the Venstre (Norway), Liberal Party. He was Minister of Agriculture 1919–1920, 1921–1923, 1924–1926 and 1933–1935, and Norwegian Mi ...

(1880–1944) who served as a Member of Parliament from

Nord-Trøndelag Nord-Trøndelag (; "North Trøndelag") was a county constituting the northern part of the present-day Trøndelag county in Norway. The county was established in 1804 when the old Trondhjems amt was divided into two: Nordre Trondhjems amt and S ...

References

External links

Library of the Norwegian workers' movement
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sivertsen, Helge 1913 births 1986 deaths People from Vest-Agder University of Oslo alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford 20th-century Norwegian historians Norwegian sportsperson-politicians Norwegian state secretaries Norwegian male discus throwers Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Norway Norwegian resistance members Labour Party (Norway) politicians Government ministers of Norway 20th-century Norwegian writers Ministers of Education of Norway