Peder Ragnar Holt (25 January 1899–24 March 1963) was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He was the first person from Finnmark county to be the Governor of Finnmark, a position he held from 1948 until his death in 1963. He was instrumental in the reconstruction and rebuilding of Finnmark after World War II.

Personal life

He was born in the town of Vardø in Finnmark county in the far northern part of Norway. He participated in the

Left Communist Youth League Left Communist Youth League (in Norwegian: ''Venstrekommunistisk Ungdomsfylking'') was the youth organization of the Norwegian Labour Party (DNA) from 1923 to 1927. VKU published ''Den røde ungdom'' (The Red Youth). Haakon Meyer was president o ...

's military

strike action Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to Labor (economics), work. A strike usually takes place in response to grievance (labour), employee grievance ...

in 1924. He agitated for it through the newspaper ''

Finmarken ''Finnmarken'' is a local newspaper published in Vadsø, Norway. It covers eastern Finnmark. It was established in 1899 by Adam Egede-Nissen and others. In 1942 ''Finnmarken'' was taken over by the national socialist occupant regime. They incorp ...

'', and was convicted for this crime and sentenced to 50 days of light detention. He died on 24 March 1963 in the town of Vadsø where he was serving as county governor. He was a Commander of the 1st class of the

Order of the Lion of Finland The Order of the Lion of Finland ( fi, Suomen Leijonan ritarikunta; sv, Finlands Lejons orden) is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty and the Order of the White Rose of Finland. The President o ...

Education and career

He worked in fish farming in his youth, but then he went on and got an education. He worked as the editor of the newspaper ''

'' from 1924 until 1940. He served as the mayor of

Vardø Municipality ( fi, Vuoreija, fkv, Vuorea, se, Várggát) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county in the extreme northeastern part of Norway. Vardø is the easternmost town in Norway, more to the east than Saint Petersburg or Istanbul. The administr ...

from 1930 to 1940. During the

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 ...

he was forced to resign all of his jobs (newspaper editor and mayor) because he refused to support the Nasjonal Samling government. In 1943, Holt was drawn into the

Norwegian government in exile __NOTOC__ Nygaardsvold's Cabinet (later becoming the Norwegian government-in-exile, Norwegian: ''Norsk eksilregjering'') was appointed on 20 March 1935, the second Labour cabinet in Norway. It brought to an end the non-socialist minority Gover ...

's secret preparation for the

liberation of Finnmark The Liberation of Finnmark was a military operation, lasting from 23 October 1944 until 26 April 1945, in which Soviet and Norwegian forces wrested away control of Finnmark, the northernmost county of Norway, from Germany. It started with a Sovie ...

. On the way to such a meeting in Vadsø in May 1944, the freight vessel Holt was aboard was attacked by Soviet navy vessels, and the crew and passengers were led to Murmansk. In November the same year, while the liberation of camps throughout

Øst-Finnmark East-Finnmark ( no, Øst-Finnmark) is a district in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. Eastern Finnmark covers an area of from the border with Russia in the east to the Sværholt Peninsula in the west. The district includes the nine municipalitie ...

continued and the Germans were burning towns, a Soviet vessel brought Holt back to Vardø. Once there, he led a three-member administration council for the liberated areas of Finnmark, according to a plan developed at a secret meeting in Tromsø the year before and approved by the government-in-exile in London. Shortly after this, Holt was named the acting County Governor of Finnmark since the actual governor,

Hans Gabrielsen Hans Julius Gabrielsen (8 January 1891–10 March 1965) was a Norwegian jurist and politician for the Liberal Party. He is best known as County Governor of Finnmark and County Governor of Oppland, as well as Consultative Councillor of Stat ...

, was still imprisoned by the Germans. He held this post from November 1944 until September 1945. During this time, he was granted extra-ordinary powers for a governor and he was able to appoint municipal mayors and the county council so that the civil administration of the county could be restored quickly. After the German occupation of Norway and the war ended, he was appointed Consultative Minister of Supplies and Reconstruction for northern Troms and Finnmark from 1945–1948 during Gerhardsen's Second Cabinet. In 1948, Governor

was appointed as the Governor of Oppland county and Holt was appointed to replace him as the county governor of Finnmark. Several years later in 1951, he was appointed to be the Minister of Fisheries in Torp's Cabinet.

Dag Tønder Dag Tønder (27 June 1907–13 July 1989) was a Norwegian editor, lawyer, and public official. He served for a time as a judge in Vardø. From 1951 to 1955 he was acting county governor in Finnmark county, Norway. Personal life Dag Tønde ...

was installed as acting governor in Finnmark while he was in the cabinet. In 1955, he left the cabinet and resumed his duties as Governor of Finnmark, a position he held until his death in 1963.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holt, Peder Ragnar 1899 births 1963 deaths People from Vardø County governors of Norway Government ministers of Norway Labour Party (Norway) politicians Norwegian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Norway