Bratteli, Trygve Martin

Born Jan. 11, 1910, in Nøtterøy, Vestfold fylke. Norwegian politician and statesman. Born into a peasant family.

Bratteli graduated from an incomplete secondary school. From 1924 to 1934 he was an errand boy and worked in the whaling and construction industries. In 1934-40 in Vestfold he was secretary of the youth organization of the Norwegian Labor Party (NLP; the ruling party, with interruptions, in 1935-65). In 1942 he was arrested by the Hitlerites and was in concentration camps until 1945 (Grini, near Oslo; Sachsenhausen; and others). In 1945-65 he was vice-chairman of the NLP, and in 1965 he was elected its chairman. Bratteli has been a deputy to the Storting since 1950. In 1951-55 and in 1956-60 he was minister of finance and in 1960-64 (with one interruption) minister of communications. Bratteli favors the strengthening of Norway’s military and political cooperation with NATO. In 1971-72 he headed the government.