Klaus Sunnanå (29 January 1905 – 22 January 1980) was a Norwegian ''

Mot Dag (, 'Towards Day') was a Norway, Norwegian political group. The group was active from the 1920s to the early 1930s and was first affiliated with the Labour Party (Norway), Labour Party until 1925. After World War II, many of its former members were ...

'' member, economist and fisheries director. He was born in

Avaldsnes Avaldsnes is a village in Karmøy municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located on the northeastern part of the island of Karmøy (island), Karmøy, along the Karmsundet strait, just south of the town of Haugesund (town), Hauge ...

as a son of teacher and farmer Knut Andreas Søndenaa (1871–1948) and Lisa Kristine Thuestad (1880–1958). He took his

secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

Voss Voss () is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality and a Districts of Norway, traditional district in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Vossevangen. Other villages inclu ...

in 1926, and graduated from the

Royal Frederick University The University of Oslo (; ) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick University, the university was established in 1811 as the de facto Norwegian conti ...

with the cand.oecon. degree in 1930. He was a member of ''

'', and chaired the

Norwegian Students' Society Norwegian Students' Society () is Norway's oldest student society. The Norwegian Students' Society was established during 1813 in Oslo, Norway. Two years after the Royal Frederick University (today named the University of Oslo) was founded, 18 of ...

in 1932. As a ''Mot Dag'' member, he was a prolific contributor to ''

Arbeidernes leksikon (''The Laborers' Encyclopedia'') is a Norwegian language, Norwegian encyclopedia published in six volumes in the 1930s. It was the first reference book in Norwegian language, Norwegian to have a pronounced class bias, and the first encycloped ...

'', and Sunnanå followed as the organization became merged into the Labour Party in 1936. In 1935 Sunnanå was hired in the

Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries () is a Norwegian government agency. On 1 January 2014, it was incorporated into the new Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries formerly under the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs. Established ...

. His publication ''Lofotfiskets lønnsomhet '' in 1936 was perhaps the world's first publication within fishery economics. In 1938 he became a secretary in the Norges Fiskarlag. He had to leave Norway in 1941 due to the

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 th ...

, and travelled via Sweden to the United Kingdom, where he found work in the Ministry of Provisioning-in-exile. After the war, from 1945 to 1947, he chaired ''Det økonomiske samordningsråd''. From 1948 to his retirement in 1973 he served as the director of the Directorate of Fisheries. He also served as chairman of the

Organisation for European Economic Co-operation The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. It is a forum whose member countries ...

subcommittee for fisheries from 1949 to 1958 and the

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, , translates ...

Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture from 1970 to 1972. He was also involved in the Norwegian

development aid Development aid (or development cooperation) is a type of aid given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, environmental, social, and political International development, development of developing countries. It is distinguishe ...

project A project is a type of assignment, typically involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a specific objective. An alternative view sees a project managerially as a sequence of events: a "set of interrelated tasks to be ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. The first Norwegian development aid project, it has been described as "an experiment for former Mot-Dag-ists". A significant motivation for the project was to please the leftist opposition within the Labour Party in a time of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

membership and increased spendings on defence. Satisfying the leftist opposition could not prevent a party split in the long run. In 1962 Sunnanå joined the group ''Aksjon mot norsk medlemskap i Fellesmarkedet – de 143'', a group of 143 people, many of them former ''Mot Dag'' members, who opposed Norwegian membership in the

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

. In 1972 Sunnanå left the Labour Party and instead supported the Socialist People's Party. He has been called "the

Karl Evang Karl Evang (19 October 1902 – 3 January 1981) was a Norwegian physician and civil servant. He was born in Kristiania as a son of assisting secretary Jens Ingolf Evang (1873–1914) and Anna Beate Wexelsen (1875–1954). He was a brother of Vil ...

of the fisheries sector", due to their similar career paths: ''Mot Dag'' membership, directorate leadership for many years, international organization involvement, involvement in the Kerala project as well as membership of the Labour Party until breaking out in the 1970s. Sunnanå was decorated as a Commander of the

Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav (; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav II, known to posterity as St. Olav. Just be ...

in 1974. He was married twice, and was an uncle of

Lars Sigurd Sunnanå Lars Sigurd Sunnanå (born 28 May 1946) is a Norwegian journalist. Personal life Sunnanå was born in Karmøy and grew up in Porsgrunn. He is a nephew of Klaus Sunnanå. He is married and his son Lars Magne Sunnanå is a former local politician (C ...

. He died in January 1980 in Bergen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunnanaa, Klaus 1905 births 1980 deaths People from Karmøy University of Oslo alumni Mot Dag Norwegian socialists Norwegian expatriates in the United Kingdom Expatriates in England Directors of government agencies of Norway 20th-century Norwegian economists Norwegian people of World War II