Abraham Theodor Berge (20 August 1851 – 10 July 1936) was the 15th

prime minister of Norway The prime minister of Norway ( no, statsminister, which directly translates to "minister of state") is the head of government and chief executive of Norway. The prime minister and Cabinet (consisting of all the most senior government department ...

from 1923 to 1924. He was a teacher and civil servant who represented the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, the social liberal party, and later

Free-minded Liberal Party The Free-minded Liberal Party ( no, Frisinnede Venstre) was a political party in Norway founded in 1909 by the conservative-liberal faction of the Liberal Party. The party cooperated closely with the Conservative Party and participated in severa ...

, a right-of-centre party.

Biography

Berge was born at

Lyngdal is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Lister. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Alleen. Some of the main villages in Lyngdal include Austad, Byremo, Fleseland, H� ...

in Lister og Mandals amt (present-day

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 Johan Tobias Johnsen Berge (1813–1883) and Helene Andreasdatter Kvalsvig. He attended the teacher's course offered by Reinert Rødland in

. In 1867, Berge became teacher at the Nordbygda skole in

Vanse Vanse is a village in Farsund municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located about west of the town of Farsund and about east of the village of Vestbygd. The Farsund Airport, Lista is located just west of Vanse. The village was ...

. He also served as sheriff in Vanse from 1904 to 1908. Berge was appointed County Governor in

Vestfold Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Telemark. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it bordered t ...

in 1908, a position he held until 1924. Berge started his political career in Lista in the present-day municipality of

Farsund is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Lister. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Farsund. Farsund is a coastal municipality in the far southwestern part of Norway, b ...

, where he was in 1882 elected mayor. From here he went on to the Norwegian

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

in 1891. He served, in different periods, as both

Minister of Culture and Church Affairs The Minister of Culture and Equality ( no, Kultur- og likestillingsminister; sometimes just ''kulturminister'' or ''likestillingsminister'' depending on context) is a councilor of state and chief of the Norway's Ministry of Culture. The ministr ...

and

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

. Then, after a 10-year absence from politics, he became again Minister of Finance, and later also Prime Minister, when sitting Prime Minister

Otto Bahr Halvorsen Otto Bahr Halvorsen (28 May 1872 – 23 May 1923) was a Norwegian lawyer and politician from the Conservative Party, who served as the 14th prime minister of Norway from 1920 to 1921 and again in 1923 up until his death in office. Background ...

died. He resigned this post as the result of the defeat in a vote to lift

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...

. In 1926 he became the only Norwegian prime minister to ever be impeached. The charge was withholding information relating to the government rescue of a bank threatened by bankruptcy. However, he was acquitted in 1927, along with the six ministers who stood trial alongside him.

Selected works

* ''Listerlandets kystværn og kaperfart 1807–14'' (Tønsberg 1914) and ''Lista. En bygdebok'' (Tønsberg 1926). Both books reprinted 2006 by Klokkhammer Forlag AS.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berge, Abraham 1851 births 1936 deaths People from Lyngdal People from Farsund Norwegian educators County governors of Norway Liberal Party (Norway) politicians Ministers of Finance of Norway Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal Ministers of Education of Norway