Erik Gjems-Onstad

Erik Gjems-Onstad
Erik Gjems-Onstad in May 1945.
Parliamentary Leader of Anders Lange's Party
In office
1 November 1974 – 1 October 1976
LeaderEivind Eckbo
Arve Lønnum
Preceded byAnders Lange
Succeeded byHarald Slettebø
Member of the Norwegian Parliament
In office
1 October 1973 – 30 September 1977
ConstituencyAkershus
Personal details
Born(1922-02-22)22 February 1922
Kristiania, Norway
Died18 November 2011(2011-11-18) (aged 89)
Bærum, Akershus, Norway
Political partyConservative Party (1960–64; 1988; 2005–07)
Anders Lange's Party (1973–76)
Independent (1976–77)
Stop Immigration (1988–90)
Fatherland Party (1991)
Pensioners' Party (2007)
Other political
affiliations
Libertas
People's Movement Against Immigration
Stop Islamisation of Norway
Spouse(s)Borgny Pedersen, 1949–73 (divorced)
Inger Opseth, 1974–2011 (his death)
Children3
ProfessionLawyer, officer, politician
Military service
Allegiance Norway
Branch/serviceNorwegian Independent Company 1 (1941–45)
Norwegian Home Guard (1947–59)
Royal Norwegian Air Force (1970–80)
RankSecond Lieutenant in 1944
Captain in 1947
Colonel in 1970
Battles/warsSecond World War
Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany
Awards Norwegian War Cross With Sword
BAR.svg St. Olav's Medal With Oak Branch
Norwegian Defence Medal
Haakon VII 70th Anniversary Medal
Military OBE
1939–1945 Star
British Defence Medal
British War Medal

Erik-Ørn Gjems-Onstad, MBE (22 February 1922 – 18 November 2011) was a Norwegian resistance member, officer, lawyer, sports official, politician, author and anti-immigration activist.

Gjems-Onstad joined the Norwegian resistance movement after Nazi Germany invaded Norway in 1940. He was arrested in Sweden for his involvement with Norwegian resistance activity in the country in 1941, and was sent to the United Kingdom where he joined the Norwegian Independent Company 1 (Kompani Linge) and received British military training. He was deployed to Norway in 1943 as part of Lark, assigned with establishing radio connection with London. He led Lark in Trøndelag between 1943 and 1945, which constituted the leadership of Milorg in the region. His other activities included assisting with weapons smuggling, preparing for the sinking of the German battleship Tirpitz, and plotting to assassinate Nazi collaborator Ivar Grande. He also founded the Durham organisation for conducting psychological warfare towards the end of the war, and he took part in blowing up railway tracks. Gjems-Onstad's efforts during the Second World War led him to become one of Norway's highest decorated war heroes.

He joined the Norwegian Home Guard after the war, where he served as a captain. He completed his education in law, and also worked as a judge and lawyer. He ultimately reached the rank of colonel in the military, as military lawyer of the Royal Norwegian Air Force. For some years he was CEO of a project that planned to develop the Vaterland neighbourhood in Oslo. Gjems-Onstad also had a career in sports, representing the sports club SK Rye in cycling and racewalking. He later worked as a sports official, as a board member, and as chairman of various national sports bodies.

A former member of the Conservative Party and the libertarian organisation Libertas, Gjems-Onstad joined Anders Lange's Party when it was founded in 1973 and became the party's deputy leader. He was elected a Member of Parliament in the 1973 parliamentary election, and became the party's parliamentary leader following Anders Lange's death in 1974. Many of his views and proposals caused controversy, and he was in conflict with the new leadership of the party, which was eventually headed by Carl I. Hagen. Gjems-Onstad was expelled from the party in 1976, and finished his term as an independent. He also became known for criticising the Norwegian government's policy in Africa, and for defending the governments of countries such as Rhodesia and South Africa. In the 1980s he worked as an attorney for several anti-immigration activists, and from the late 1980s he became involved in anti-immigration politics himself. He stood in election for the Stop Immigration party in 1989 and for the Fatherland Party in 1991, and he was later involved in the People's Movement Against Immigration and Stop Islamisation of Norway.