Harald Grieg

Harald Grieg (3 August 1894 – 6 October 1972) was a Norwegian publisher. He served as the director of Gyldendal Norsk Forlag and was a prominent figure in the Norwegian book industry for many years.

Biography Grieg was born on 3 August 1894 in Bergen, Norway, to Peter Lexau Grieg (1864–1924) and Helga Vollan (1869–1946). His brother, Nordahl Grieg, was a writer and an active member of the Norwegian Armed Forces in exile during the Second World War.

After passing his examen artium at the Bergen Cathedral School in 1912, he traveled to Kristiania (now Oslo) to continue his studies, earning a cand.philol. degree from the University of Kristiania in 1917. He then worked as the Kristiania correspondent for the Bergen-based newspaper Morgenavisen. In 1920, he received an offer to join the Norwegian department of Gyldendalske Boghandel Nordisk Forlag. When the independent Gyldendal Norsk Forlag was founded in 1925 with Grieg as CEO, the new publishing house owed a residual debt to its Danish counterpart, which was repaid within six years.

Following the German occupation of Norway in 1940, Nazi authorities used Gyldendal to publish propaganda material. Novelist Knut Hamsun, a friend of Grieg, was involved in this project. Grieg also served as chairman of the board for the Nationaltheatret. In June 1941, the board refused to sumbit to the Ministry of Culture and Enlightenment. In response, authorities arrested Grieg, board member Francis Bull, and theatre director Johannes Sejersted Bødtker on 26 June 1941. Grieg was incarcerated at the Grini concentration camp, but was later released.

Awards Grieg was the Commander of the Order of St. Olav (1962), Commander of the Swedish Order of the Polar Star, Commander of the Order of the White Rose of Finland and of the Danish Order of the Dannebrog. In 1958, he was awarded the Riksmål Society Literature Prize.