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Elisabeth Schweigaard SelmerNorwegian lawyer, politician and statesman
Date of Birth: 18.10.1923
Country:  Norway |
Content:
- Early Life and Education
- Resistance Hero
- Legal Career
- Political Involvement
- Minister and Supreme Court Justice
- Other Accomplishments
- Personal Life and Legacy
- Awards and Honors
Elizabeth Schweigaard Selmer: A Trailblazing Norwegian Jurist and Statesman
Early Life and Education
Born in Oslo on October 18, 1923, Elizabeth Schweigaard Selmer was the eldest of three daughters. Her parents were Niels Anker Stang Schweigaard and Elisabeth (Betty) Reimers. Schweigaard Selmer was a distant cousin of Christian Homann Schweigaard, Norway's Prime Minister in 1884.
Resistance Hero
During the Nazi occupation of Norway, 16-year-old Schweigaard Selmer attended Oslo Cathedral School. Her anti-Nazi resistance activities resulted in her expulsion from high school in 1941. In 1943, she joined the Norwegian Resistance Movement as a codebreaker and liaison between Norway and the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces in London. After the Gestapo uncovered her operation, she escaped to Sweden in 1944 to work in the military office of the Norwegian diplomatic mission.
Legal Career
After Norway's liberation, Schweigaard Selmer returned and studied law at the University of Oslo, graduating in 1949. She briefly worked for the Ministry of Justice before serving as a judge in Onsøy, Asker, and Bærum from 1950 to 1955. From 1955 to 1965, she held various positions in the legal department of the Ministry of Justice.
Political Involvement
Schweigaard Selmer's political career began in 1947 when she became the chair of the student organization of the Conservative Party at the University of Oslo. She served on Oslo's city council from 1951 to 1955.
Minister and Supreme Court Justice
In 1965, Schweigaard Selmer became Norway's first female Minister of Justice and Police in the government of Per Borten. She served as a judge of the Supreme Court from 1971 to 1990.
Other Accomplishments
Schweigaard Selmer held numerous public and private positions, including serving on the board of the Resistance Museum. She was also a member of the Norwegian Academy of Language and Literature from 1973.
Personal Life and Legacy
In 1950, Schweigaard Selmer married legal scholar Knut Seyersted Selmer. They had no children. She passed away on June 18, 2009, in Oslo. Elizabeth Schweigaard Selmer is remembered as a pioneering Norwegian jurist, statesman, and resistance fighter.
Awards and Honors
Defense Medal 1940-1945Commander of the Order of St. Olav (1980)
