Ole Bjørn Kraft (17 December 1893 – 2 December 1980) was a Danish journalist and politician who was the leader of the Conservative People's Party. He also served as the

minister of foreign affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

Early life

Kraft was born in Copenhagen on 17 December 1893. He studied journalism at the University of Copenhagen. He and Max Kjaer-Hansen, his friend from the University of Copenhagen, formed the West Indian Society of Danish Academics to reinforce the protests over the sale of Virgin Islands. Although their attempt was not a success, it paved the way for the establishment of the Det unge Danmark (Danish: The Young Denmark). The group was established just before World War I and supported imperialistic, ethno-nationalist and anti-liberal views.

Career

Kraft began his career as a journalist. In 1918 he edited a magazine entitled ''Det nye Tid'' which was affiliated with the Det unge Danmark. From May 1919 he worked for ''

Århus Stiftstidende ''Århus Stiftstidende'' (colloquially ''Stiften'') is a Danish language, Danish newspaper based in Aarhus, Denmark, focusing largely on local topics. The independent newspaper with a bourgeois character has suffered a considerable decline in ci ...

''. Then he worked for other newspapers, including ''Svendborg Amts Dagblad'', ''Nationaltidendes Søndag'' and ''Fædrelandet''. Between 1928 and 1932 and between 1934 and 1938 he was the editor of another magazine entitled '' Det nye Danmark'' which he co-founded with the

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

Alfred Bindslev. Kraft joined the Conservative People's Party. In 1926 he was first elected to the

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

representing

Ålborg Aalborg or Ålborg ( , , ) is Denmark's fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an urban population of 143,598 (1 July 2022). As of 1 July 2022, ...

and functioned as the leader of the Conservative People's Party at the Parliament. In 1945 Kraft briefly served as the

minister of defense A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

. In November 1947 he was elected as the political leader of the Conservative People's Party, and under his leadership the party supported the right-wing policies. Kraft was a member of the Danish Committee of the European Movement which was established after the

Congress of Europe The Hague Congress or the Congress of Europe was a conference that was held in The Hague from 7–11 May 1948 with 750 delegates participating from around Europe as well as observers from Canada and the United States of America. The Congress, or ...

organized in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

on 7–9 May 1948. The Danish Committee was founded on 11 August and headed by Thorkil Kristensen. In 1950 Kraft was named as the foreign minister to the cabinet formed by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Erik Eriksen. Kraft remained in the office until 1953. When Kraft was in office Denmark objected to the admission of Greece and Turkey into

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

, and Kraft stated that although these countries had legitimate security concerns, a Mediterranean pact could be establish by them to meet their security needs. Eventually, Denmark voted against acceptance of these countries by NATO as full members. In 1955 Kraft's term as the political leader of the Conservative People's Party ended, and Aksel Møller succeeded him in the post. Kraft was a contributor of ''

Berlingske Tidende ''Berlingske'', previously known as ''Berlingske Tidende'' (, 'Berling's Times'), is a Danish national daily newspaper based in Copenhagen. It is considered a newspaper of record for Denmark. First published on 3 January 1749, ''Berlingske'' is ...

'' and a member of the Parliament until 1964.

Personal life and death

Kraft married in Aarhus in May 1919. He died on 2 December 1980. He published his

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

s entitled ''Ung mand undervejs''.

Views

At the beginning of his political career Kraft's views were based on

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

and national idealism. He objected to the sale of the

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands () are an archipelago between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Caribbean Sea, geographically forming part of the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, Caribbean islands or West Indie ...

to the US in 1916. He was among the admirers of the

Italian fascism Italian fascism (), also called classical fascism and Fascism, is the original fascist ideology, which Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini developed in Italy. The ideology of Italian fascism is associated with a series of political parties le ...

arguing that its corporative ideas should be integrated into the Danish constitution. He also stated that not all Danes were the same in that some of them were more truly Danish than others. Kraft was an observer at the 1966 meeting of the

World Anti-Communist League The World League for Freedom and Democracy (WLFD) is an international non-governmental organization of anti-communist politicians and groups. It was founded in 1954 as the Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League (APACL) under the initiative of C ...

References

External links