Petter Graver (30 May 1920 – 21 January 1995) was a Norwegian jurist who first served as a diplomat from 1947 to 1988, then as a lawyer until his death. He was the Norwegian ambassador to several countries, among them Israel and the Soviet Union.

Early life and career

He was born in

Tinn Tinn is a municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional regions of Upper Telemark and Øst-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Rjukan. The parish of ''T ...

as a son of politician and accountant Torjus Graver. His father was hired as head of accounting in the

Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions ( no, Landsorganisasjonen i Norge, LO) is a national trade union center, decidedly the largest and probably the most influential umbrella organization of labour unions in Norway. The 21 national unions ...

in 1933, and the family moved to

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...

. In 1954 Petter Graver married Siren Hognestad. They had a daughter and two sons, among them the law professor and dean

Hans Petter Graver Hans Petter Graver (born 5 November 1955) is a Norwegian legal scholar. He serves as professor and was the dean at the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo between 2008 and 2015. He was replaced by Dag Michalsen. Career He is a son of Siren and Pe ...

. As a teenager he became active in the Labour Party. He became chair of the Workers' Youth League in Bærum, and also board member in Bærum Labour Party in 1939. He

finished Finished may refer to: * ''Finished'' (novel), a 1917 novel by H. Rider Haggard * ''Finished'' (film), a 1923 British silent romance film * "Finished" (short story), a science fiction short story by L. Sprague de Camp See also *Finishing (disa ...

his secondary education in 1940, and had his political career interrupted by 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 ...

when the Labour Party was declared illegal. He fought in the Norwegian Campaign of the spring 1940, and later fled to Canada where he received pilot training. He later enrolled in law studies; while studying he was briefly employed in . He graduated from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

with 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 1947.

Diplomatic career

He was hired by 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, but started out as a graduate of an air force academy in the UK. In 1949, however, he was posted as vice consul in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

. After a tenure as legation secretary in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

from 1951 to 1954 he was embassy secretary in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

from 1956 to 1958. He then attended

NATO Defence College NATO Defense College (NDC) is the international military college for North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries. It is located in Rome, Italy. History The idea of a NATO Defense College originated with General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the f ...

and the

Norwegian Joint Staff College 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 the ...

in 1958–1959. His next station abroad was that of embassy counsellor in the Soviet Union from 1961 to 1964. He served as an envoy to

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 ...

from 1969, then as the Norwegian ambassador to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

from 1971 to 1975, to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

from 1975 to 1979, to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

from 1979 to 1983 and to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

from 1983 to 1988. As a diplomat he was regarded by US authorities in 1975 as "perceptive, capable and highly intelligent, with a fine appreciation of the 'realities' of dealing with the Soviets. Although understanding and helpful to Americans, he is reportedly an independent thinker and a skillful, tenacious advocate of the Norwegian position." While serving in Tel Aviv he also acted as the Norwegian ambassador to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

. His tenure coincided with a very turbulent period in Israeli society, with the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egy ...

, the

Munich massacre The Munich massacre was a terrorist attack carried out during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, by eight members of the Palestinian people, Palestinian militant organization Black September Organization, Black September, who i ...

, and the Mossad assassination of

Ahmed Bouchiki The Lillehammer affair (Hebrew: פרשת לילהאמר, ''Parshat Lillehammer'', Norwegian: ''Lillehammer-saken'') was the killing by Mossad agents of Ahmed Bouchikhi, a Moroccan waiter and brother of the renowned musician Chico Bouchikhi, i ...

in the small Norwegian town Lillehammer in 1973. Bouchiki was thought to have a connection with the

, and as such assassinated as a retaliation, but this proved to be groundless. In a 1974 letter to his employers in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Graver explained the Bouchiki case as a result of Western European countries failing to heed a call from Israel to cooperate on counter-terrorism. As Norwegian authorities detained the Mossad agents who killed the innocent Bouchiki, an Israeli group planned to kidnap Graver and demand the liberation of the agents as a ransom. This surfaced in a 1987 book by Yair Kotler on

Meir Kahane Meir David HaKohen Kahane (; he, רבי מאיר דוד הכהן כהנא ; born Martin David Kahane; August 1, 1932 – November 5, 1990) was an American-born Israeli ordained Orthodox rabbi, writer, and ultra-nationalist politician who serve ...

, the alleged leader of the plot. After retiring from the foreign service he started a new career as a lawyer. He was on his way to becoming a barrister, carrying through his first of three trial cases for the

Supreme Court of Norway The Supreme Court of Norway (Norwegian Bokmål: ''(Norges) Høyesterett''; Norwegian Nynorsk: ''(Noregs) Høgsterett''; lit. ‘Highest Court’) was established in 1815 on the basis of section 88 in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway, whi ...

in 1994, at the age of 74. However, he died in January 1995. He was buried at

Vestre gravlund Vestre Gravlund is a cemetery in the Frogner borough of Oslo, Norway. It is located next to the Borgen metro station. At , it is the largest cemetery in Norway. It was inaugurated in September 1902 and also contains a crematorium (''Vestre kre ...

. Graver was decorated as a Knight, First 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 ...

(1969), and Commander of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graver, Petter 1920 births 1995 deaths People from Tinn People from Bærum Labour Party (Norway) politicians Norwegian Army personnel of World War II University of Oslo alumni Norwegian civil servants Norwegian expatriates in the United Kingdom Norwegian expatriates in Switzerland Norwegian expatriates in Brazil Norwegian expatriates in France Ambassadors of Norway to Israel Ambassadors of Norway to Cyprus Ambassadors of Norway to the Soviet Union Ambassadors of Norway to Canada Ambassadors of Norway to the Netherlands 20th-century Norwegian lawyers Commanders of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Burials at Vestre gravlund