Asbjørn Svarstad (born 7 December 1958) is a Norwegian journalist. He started his career in 1973 as an assistant in the local Newspaper Dagningen in Lillehammer. Svarstad has lived for over 30 years in Berlin, and is now working as a freelance journalist there, mainly for the Norwegian online newspaper Nettavisen. Asbjørn Svarstad is also an authorized guide for the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He received the Willy Brandt Prize in 2024 for his significant contributions to German-Norwegian relations.
Asbjørn Svarstad | |
|---|---|
 Asbjørn Svarstad, in Berlin, 2025 | |
| Born | 12 July 1958 Rheydt, Germany |
| Occupations | Freelance journalist Guide |
| Awards | Willy Brandt Prize |
Background
editAsbjørn Svarstad started his career in the local newspaper Dagningen in 1973. After studying contemporary history at the local college, he worked for some time for the newspaper Verdens Gang. Starting from 1985 he worked for the newspaper Dagbladet. Afterwards he worked from Copenhagen and then Berlin, where he has lived since 1996. For 20 years he was a stringer for the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet and the Danish newspaper Dagbladet B.T. Most of the articles he has written during his career as a commentator have been about politics and history.[1]
As of 2025[update], he reports about historical and contemporary events in Germany and Europe for the Norwegian online newspaper Nettavisen. He works for other media outlets in Norway, and is writing several books about Norwegian events in German media. He is also a guide for Norwegian tourists in Berlin. He is an authorized guide of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.[1]
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Svarstad established a memorial in 2002 in Kleinmachnow outside Berlin, to commemorate an Avro Lancaster bomber from the Royal Australian Air Force that was shot down; the Norwegian poet Nordahl Grieg was among the crew. Svarstad is still searching for the exact place where Grieg is buried.[2]
Awards
editTogether with the German social democratic politician Franz Thönnes he was awarded the Willy Brandt Prize in 2024. It is awarded to persons or institutions that have made outstanding efforts to promote relations between the two countries. The board of the foundation announced that the awards were given based on the work the two had done to promote connections between Germany and Norway, Svarstad as a journalist and Thönnes as a politician.[1]
During a reception in Rathaus Kleinmachnow on 27 March 2025, Svarstad was inscribed as the 20th person in the "golden book" (equivalent to an honorary citizenship) of the local mayor, for his memorial of Nordahl Grieg and the various German-Norwegian friendship projects that have emerged from this.[clarification needed][3]
References
edit- 1 2 3 Myrli, Sverre (9 November 2024). "Pressemelding" (PDF). Willy Brandt-stiftelsen. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
- ↑ Skomakerstuen, Bjørn (19 September 2024). "Nettavisen-spaltist Asbjørn Svarstad tildelt høythengende pris". Nettavisen. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
- ↑ "Kurzmenü". Gemeinde Kleinmachnow (in German). March 2025. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
er in Berlin lebende norwegische Journalist Asbjørn Svarstad setzt sich seit vielen Jahren für die deutsch-norwegischen Beziehungen ein. 2003 initiierte er mit dem Heimat- und Kulturverein Kleinmachnow e. V. die Errichtung des Nordahl-Grieg-Denkmals am Machnower See. Zudem unterstützt er die jährliche Gedenkfeier zum Todestag von Nordahl-Grieg, den Nordahl-Grieg-Gedenklauf sowie die Schulpartnerschaft der Maxim-Gorki-Gesamtschule mit einer Schule im norwegischen Bergen. Als Dank für die engen Bande, die er zwischen Norwegen und Kleinmachnow knüpfte, ehrt die Gemeinde Herrn Svarstad mit einer Seite im Goldenen Buch.
External links
edit- «Ustyrlig nysgjerrighet er Asbjørn Svarstads viktigste verktøy», interview in Journalisten 15 March 2018