John Sanness

John Christian Munthe Sanness (24 May 1913 – 6 November 1984) was a Norwegian historian and politician for the Labour Party. He is known as the director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs from 1960 to 1983, professor at the University of Oslo from 1966 to 1983 and chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 1979 to 1981.

Early career He was born in Leipzig as a son of Stian Sanness (1880–1966) and Hanne Theodora Munthe (1882–1954). The family moved to Kristiania seven years later, and Sanness attended Kristiania Cathedral School. He joined the revolutionary group Mot Dag during this period, and was expelled from his school for protests against the 25-year anniversary of the monarchy in 1930. In 1940 he chaired the Norwegian Students' Society.

In April 1940, Norway was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany. Sanness learned from a Norwegian official in the government that he was on a list of people who would be arrested by the Gestapo, so he escaped to neutral Sweden. He travelled to London in 1941. Here he worked as a secretary for Arne Ording. Both Sanness and Ording had been Mot Dag members, but were now more mainstream Labour Party members. In addition to working for Ording, Sanness was involved in BBC broadcasts to occupied Norway,

Post-war career He worked as the foreign affairs editor in the newspaper Arbeiderbladet from 1946 to 1950.

Sanness was fluent many foreign languages, including German, Russian, French and Spanish. He also spoke some Finnish. Since 1939 he was married to Dagny, née Goa. His wife outlived him as he died in November 1984 in Oslo.