Bjarne Berg-Sæther (14 April 1919 – 5 August 2009) was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party.

Early life

He was born in

Tjeldsund Municipality or is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The southwestern part of the municipality is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Ofoten and the rest of the municipality is ...

as the son of coastal pilot Berg Sæther (1876–1948) and wife Magna Toresen (1881–1952). He was educated in England from 1939 in languages and economics. In 1943 he married Gudrun Jackobsen (1907–1994) and they had one son, Tor Arne Berg-Sæther (1946–2006) and one daughter, Bente Ramsvik (1948-). After the war he was hired in the Ministry of Local Government and Labour, where he was in charge of integrating refugees from

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

from 1946 to 1952.

Major awards

Berg-Sæther participated in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and he was given the following awards: *

Defence Medal 1940–1945 The Defence Medal 1940–1945 () is the award rewarded to those military and civilian personnel who participated in the fight against the German invasion and occupation of Norway between 1940 and 1945. The Defence Medal 1940–1945 can be award ...

by King

Haakon VII Haakon VII (; 3 August 187221 September 1957) was King of Norway from 18 November 1905 until his death in 1957. The future Haakon VII was born in Copenhagen as Prince Carl of Denmark. He was the second son of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess ...

*the city of Harstad's honor medal (1969) *the Norwegian government's county honor medal by Prime Minister

Gro Harlem Brundtland Gro Brundtland (; née Harlem, 20 April 1939) is a Norwegian politician in the Labour Party, who served three terms as the prime minister of Norway (1981, 1986–1989, and 1990–1996), as the leader of her party from 1981 to 1992, and as the d ...

(1989) *the King's Service Medal in Gold 2001 by King

Harald V Harald V (, ; born 21 February 1937) has been King of Norway since 1991. A member of the House of Glücksburg, Harald was the third child and only son of King Olav V of Norway and Princess Märtha of Sweden. He was second in the line of succ ...

Archives
/ref>

Political career

He chaired his Labour Party chapter from 1945 to 1952, and was first elected mayor of

Sandtorg Municipality Sandtorg is a former municipality in Troms county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1926 until its dissolution in 1964. The municipality included the southern part of what is now Harstad Municipality on the eastern coast of the island of H ...

in 1947 and held this office until 1963, when the municipality was incorporated into

Harstad Municipality Harstad (; ) is the second-most populated municipality in Troms county, Norway. It is mostly located on the large island of Hinnøya. The municipal center is the Harstad (town), town of Harstad, which is the most populous town in Central Håloga ...

. He then sat as mayor of Harstad Municipality from 1963 to 1967, and continued as a member of the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

until 1975. He was a member of the

Troms Troms (; ; ; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest. Norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with ...

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Australia In the Australian state of New South Wales, county councils are special purpose ...

from 1947 to 1963, and served as the county mayor of Troms from 1963 to 1967. He served as a deputy member of the

Norwegian Parliament The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...

during the terms 1965-1969 and 1969–1973; in total he met for 347 working days in Parliament. Bjarne Berg-Sæther chaired several public boards, including Vågsfjord Kraftselskap (1956–1975), the Evenes Airport building committee (1964–1967), Harstad Hospital (1969–1976), the public transportation company Harstad Oppland Rutebil (1964–1986), Fiskernes Bank and later Kreditkassen Bank in Harstad (1975–1986). He was a member of the National Postal Advisory Board (1978–1986) and vice chair of Niingen Kraftlag (1980–1990).

Positions

He held the Office manager and CFO positions at Trondenes Kraftverk and Sør-Troms Elforsyning A/S power companies for 32 years (1954–1986). He died on 5 August 2009.

References

;Further reading * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berg Saether, Bjarne 1919 births 2009 deaths People from Tjeldsund Labour Party (Norway) politicians Mayors of Harstad Chairpersons of County Councils of Norway Deputy members of the Storting