Lars Chemnitz

Lars Hans Jens Josva Chemnitz (26 October 1925 – 18 November 2006) was a Greenlandic politician who served as chairman of the Landsråd from 1971 to 1979 and later as the speaker of the Inatsisartut from 1988 to 1991.

Early life Chemnitz was born on 26 October 1925 in Godthåb (present-day Nuuk) to , an interpreter and member of the Greenland Provincial Council, and Kathrine Chemnitz, a women's rights activist, member of the Greenland Commission and a leading figure in the Union of Greenlandic Women's Associations. One of six children, Chemnitz was the brother of , an interpreter and politician, and Guldborg Chemnitz, a interpreter, politician, and women's rights advocate

In 1946, Chemnitz earnt his teacher's degree from . He returned to Nuuk in 1958 and began teaching there that year. In 1971, he was elected the chairman of the Landsråd. In his position as chairman of the council, he became the head of Greenland's government and was described as "Greenland's closest equivalent to a Prime Minister." He was re-elected to the council in 1975 representing Godthåb. A new legislature, the Inatsisartut, was established, and Queen Margrethe II attended a ceremony marking its opening, where she gave Chemnitz an original copy of the Home Rule Act.

Chemnitz was elected a member of the Inatsisartut in 1979 and became the leader of the opposition. He then defended his seat in the 1983 elections. Steenholdt then became the leader of Chemnitz's party. From 1985 to 1986, he worked as an advisor for Greenlandic affairs in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was then head of human resources development for The BANK of Greenland from 1986 to 1988. He remained in that role until 1991. He declined to run for re-election to the Inatsisartut in 1995 and retired from politics at the age of 69.

Personal life and death Chemnitz married Danish nurse Annie Westergaard in May 1958. He died on 18 November 2006, at the age of 81, after a long illness.