Konrad Knudsen

Konrad Gustav Knudsen (19 August 1890 - 16 June 1959) was a Norwegian painter, journalist, and parliamentarian. Known for inviting Leon Trotsky to seek asylum in Norway.^[1]

Konrad Knudsen was born in Drammen, and was a painter like his father. He finished accounting training in 1904 and worked as a painter in Drammen until 1908 when he travelled to the United States. In the US he worked as a painter, lumberjack and a construction worker,^[1] and then became editor of the socialist publication Social-Demokraten. In 1920 he was one of the leading figures in the Scandinavian Socialist Federation that sided with the Communist International.^[2]

He returned to Drammen in 1920 and worked as a painter foreman until 1923, he then got a job as an editor in the newspaper Fremtiden. From 1921 he had various positions within the Labour Party, and was elected to the Norwegian Parliament in 1937, a position he had until 1957.^[1]

In 1935 he invited Leon Trotsky to Norway, and Trotsky initially stayed at his house at Norderhov outside the small city Hønefoss. After a break-in by a Norwegian fascist militia the government intervened and on order by the Minister of Justice, Trygve Lie, Trotsky was evicted.^[1]

During World War II he was first in Sweden, then in Canada and the USA, working for the Norwegian government information service, and with the office of the Norwegian Auditor General.^[1]

From 1949 to 1957 he was Auditor General.^[1]

References

1. "Konrad Knudsen" (in Norwegian). Stortinget.no.
2. Lovoll, Odd Sverre. Norwegian Newspapers in America: Connecting Norway and the New Land. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2010. p. 266