Einar Gerhardsen (1897-1987) is regarded as post-war Norway’s greatest politician.
News of Norway, issue 6, 1997
During the Second World War, Gerhardsen actively participated in the resistance movement until jailed in 1941 and sent to a German concentration camp in 1942. He came back to Norway in 1944 and spent the last part of the war at Grini, the German prison camp in Oslo. In 1945, he was elected chairman of the Labor Party, a position he held for 20 years.
The same year, Gerhardsen also began his first post as prime minister for the post-war coalition government. With the exception of the four years from 1951-1955 when Oscar Torp held the post, Gerhardsen kept the prime minister position until 1963 when the government fell because of the Kings Bay conflict in August. The Kings Bay-conflict grew out of a controversy over a report that strongly criticized the security measures at the Kings Bay mine at Spitsbergen.
Gerhardsen led the work of reconstructing Norway after the Second World War, and he is seen as the architect of the Norwegian welfare state. To mark the centennial of his birth, Norway Post issued two stamps on June 6. The stamps are designed by political cartoonist, Finn Graff.