Gunnar Larsen (politician)

Gunnar Larsen (1902–1973) was a Danish chemical engineer, businessman and politician. He served as the minister for transport between 1940 and 1943. He left Denmark in 1954 and exiled into Ireland where he lived until his death.

Gunnar Larsen
Larsen during a road construction while serving as minister of transport
Minister of Transport
In office
8 July 1940 – 29 August 1943
Prime Minister
Personal details
Born10 January 1902
Died1 February 1973(1973-02-01) (aged 71)
Ireland
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology
ProfessionEngineer

Early life and education

Larsen was born on 10 January 1902.[1] He was an engineer by profession and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology obtaining a degree in chemical engineering in 1926.[2]

Career and activities

He was named as the director of FL Smidth & Co. in 1935 becoming a prominent figure in the Danish industry.[3] Larsen replaced his father as the director of the company.[4] Larsen was one of the confidantes of Danish politician Erik Scavenius.[4] He resigned from the company on 8 July 1940 when he was appointed minister of transport.[4] He was part of the coalition government and the first Buhl cabinet which ceased to function on 29 August 1943.[3] He served in the cabinets as an independent politician.[5]

Following the end of his tenure as minister he developed an alliance with the British intelligence service and supported the resistance movement financially.[3] After World War II Larsen was arrested in 1945 and the Copenhagen City Court sentenced him to prison for providing financial support to a gun brush factory.[1] He was acquitted by the High Court and the Supreme Court in 1948.[3] Because it was concluded that the reasons for his financial support was not economical, but political.[6]

Exile and death

Larsen left Denmark and settled in Ireland in 1954.[2] He became a citizen of Ireland and involved in business.[1] He died in Ireland on 1 February 1973.[3]

Legacy

Larsen's diaries covering the period between January 1941 and September 1943 were published in 2011.[2][5]

References
  1. Helge Larsen (2011). "Gunnar Larsen". Dansk Biografisk Leksikon (in Danish).
  2. Claus Rosenkrantz Hansen (21 January 2011). "Til nationens bedste – historien om Gunnar Larsen". Videnskab (in Danish). Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  3. Henrik S. Nissen (2020). "Gunnar Larsen (trafikminister)". Den Store Danske Encyklopædi (in Danish).
  4. Joachim Lund (Autumn 2010). "Building Hitler's Europe: Forced Labor in the Danish Construction Business during World War II". Business History Review. 84 (3): 493. doi:10.1017/S000768050000221X. S2CID 154588369.
  5. Jytte Kjær Schou (28 May 2015). "Samarbejdets mand - Minister Gunnar Larsens dagbog 1941-43 af Joachim Lund og John T. Lauridsen". Litteratursiden (in Danish). Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  6. Joachim Lund; Anders Sevelsted (2023). "Deconsecration: Symbolic Sanctions, "Courts of Honour," and the Cleansing of Denmark's Who's Who After the German Occupation, 1940–1945". Enterprise & Society: 12. doi:10.1017/eso.2023.24.
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