Elisabeth Schweigaard Selmer (born Ragnhild Elisabeth Schweigaard, 18 October 1923 – 18 June 2009) was a Norwegian jurist and politician for the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
.
During the Nazi occupation of Norway, Elisabeth Schweigaard worked with the Norwegian resistance movement "Hjemmefronten" against the Nazi collaborationist
Quisling regime
The Quisling regime or Quisling government are common names used to refer to the fascist collaborationist government led by Vidkun Quisling in German-occupied Norway during the Second World War. The official name of the regime from 1 February 19 ...
. Elisabeth was then just a teenager.
Personal life
She was born in
Kristiania
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
to Niels Anker Stang Schweigaard (1884–1955) and his wife Betty Reimers (1886–1968). She had two older sisters, and was a great-granddaughter of Tellef Dahll SchweigaardGenealogy and great-granduncle of
Anton Martin Schweigaard
Anton Martin Schweigaard (11 April 1808 – 1 February 1870) was a Norwegian educator, jurist, economist and member of the Norwegian Parliament.
Background
Schweigaard was born at Kragerø in Telemark, Norway. He was one of three children of ...
. Born as Ragnhild Elisabeth Schweigaard, she married law professor Knut Sejersted Selmer. Through him she was a daughter-in-law of Ernst W. Selmer.
Career
In 1941, she was expelled from
Oslo Cathedral School
Schola Osloensis, known in Norwegian as Oslo Katedralskole (''Oslo Cathedral School'') and more commonly as "Katta",NS behaviour. She enrolled as a student in 1945 and graduated as cand.jur. in 1949. 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 th ...
she had been involved in the Norwegian resistance, in illegal radio broadcasting. After graduation, she started working as a secretary in the Ministry of Justice and the Police, but then worked as an attorney from 1950 to 1955. She then returned to the Ministry of Justice, being promoted to assisting secretary in 1962. On the local political level, Selmer had been a member of
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...
city council during the term 1951–1955.
In 1965 she was appointed
Minister of Justice and the Police
In Norway, the Minister of Justice and Public Security is the head of the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police and a member of Government of Norway. The current Justice Minister is Emilie Enger Mehl.
Until 1 January 2012 the post w ...
as a part of the centre-right cabinet of Per Borten, the first woman to hold this position. She left the Minister of Justice position on 3 October 1970, when replaced by Egil Endresen. She then served as a Supreme Court Justice from 1971 to 1990, having been appointed in 1970.
Schweigaard Selmer was a member of many boards and councils. She was vice president of the Norse Federation from 1975 to 1978, and a long-time board member. She also sat on the boards of Oslo City Museum, the
Norwegian Museum of Cultural History
Norsk Folkemuseum (Norwegian Museum of Cultural History), at Bygdøy, Oslo, Norway, is a museum of cultural history with extensive collections of artifacts from all social groups and all regions of the country. It also incorporates a large op ...
and
Norway's Resistance Museum
Norway's Resistance Museum also known as the Norwegian Home Front Museum ( no, Norges Hjemmefrontmuseum) is a museum located at the Akershus Fortress in Oslo.
The museum collection focuses on Norwegian resistance during the occupation of Norway b ...
. A
Riksmål
(, also , ) is a written Norwegian language form or spelling standard, meaning the ''National Language'', closely related and now almost identical to the dominant form of Bokmål, known as .
Both Bokmål and Riksmål evolved from the Danish wri ...
proponent, she was a member of the
Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature
The Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature ( no, Det Norske Akademi for Språk og Litteratur), commonly known as the Norwegian Academy, is a Norwegian learned body on matters pertaining to the modern Norwegian language in its Dano-Norwegian ...
. She was proclaimed Commander of the
Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav
Royal may refer to:
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