Knud Graah (13 June 1817 – 27 March 1909) was a Danish born, Norwegian industrialist and pioneer in the Norwegian textile industry.

Biography

Graah was born in Thisted, Denmark. He moved to Christiania (now Oslo) in 1833, where he first took employment with the trading firm of H. Gulbranson. In the 1840s he was on a trip to familiarize himself with the textile industry in the English textile centers of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. In 1844, he founded Nedre Vøiens Bomuldsspinderie (later known as Knud Graah & Co A/S) to operate a cotton mill in the Oslo neighborhood of Nydalen. The plant was located near the river Akerselva, after Graah first bought waterfall rights of the river. Graah obtained textile machines and skilled workers for the operation of the new cotton mill from

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. Vøiens Bomuldsspinderi started production from 1846. From 1872 the company also operated a weavery. In the 1890s, the factory was expanded and modernized with electric power. It became one of the leading textile factories in Norway. Graah managed the factory for about sixty years.

Personal life

He was decorated Commander, Second Class, of the

Order of St. Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav ( no, Den Kongelige Norske Sankt Olavs Orden; 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 ...

, and Knight of the Swedish Order of Vasa. He was married during 1857 to Helene Marie Conradi (1837-1866). His granddaughter

Lille Graah Anne Knudsdatter "Lille" Graah (22 January 1908 – 19 January 2001) was a Norwegian journalist, radio announcer and reporter. She worked for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation for more than thirty years, and is particularly known from th ...

was interned at and survived the Ravensbruck Concentration Camp during 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 the ...

References

1817 births 1909 deaths Norwegian company founders Norwegian industrialists Knights of the Order of Vasa Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal Burials at the Cemetery of Our Saviour People from Thisted {{Norway-business-bio-stub