The Workers’ Museum & Library and Archive of the Labor Movement houses the archive of leading communist Ib Nørlund, which contains the papers left behind by one of the most prominent personalities of the Danish Communist Party.

By: Jesper Jørgensen

Most of this goldmine came to ABA in connection with DKP’s transfer of archive material in 1989/90. Diaries and some older manuscripts were added in 2004. Nørlund’s diaries from the periods 1930-1940 and 1962-1989 are an invaluable asset for posterity. Together with the rest of the archive, the diaries provide a deep insight into the activities of the Danish Communist Party and will contribute to the understanding of the actions of a Muscovite communist in Danish society and communist culture.

Ib Nørlund speaks at the EC demonstration in front of Christiansborg on the 2nd anniversary of the referendum, 2.10.1974

As the party was very much Ib Nørlund’s entire life, it has not been the goal to collect all material relating to Ib Nørlund in the personal archive or, for that matter, to separate all party material from the personal archive. There will therefore be further traces of him in the archives of DKP and DKU, for example. The material gathered in Nørlund’s archive is the records collected from his office in the party house in Dr. Tværgade and from Gertrud Stjernholm Nielsen and Ib Nørlund’s shared home at Bellahøj in Copenhagen.

The archive consists of 124 archive boxes and 5 scrapbooks covering Nørlund’s life from his first written exercises from childhood in the 1920s to his death at the age of 71 in 1989. From before 1945, there is correspondence with friends and family from 1929 onwards, for example with his parents Nana and Poul Nørlund and his friends from the magazine Vi Gymnasiaster, as well as a small amount of material from the occupation period, including letters and notes from his stay in the Horserød camp in 1942.

Most of the material is from after the liberation of Denmark in 1945, when DKP could again operate legally, and throughout the Cold War period Nørlund had a central position in the party as a parliamentary politician 1945-1947 and 1973-1979, editor of the journals Orientering and Tiden/Verden rundt and leading party functionary. Material from the party’s activities, such as congresses, conferences, national, central committee and executive committee meetings and representation in e.g. the People’s Movement against the EC, therefore constitute a significant part of the archive. In addition, Nørlund’s work as the party’s international secretary has left its mark on the archive in the form of extensive material from many international congresses, conferences and meetings with foreign communists.

The archive also documents Nørlund’s extensive speaking and writing activities in the form of a large number of manuscripts. The many speech manuscripts, many of which consist only of keywords, are preserved with neat headings with title, date and place. The archive is restricted on general terms. You can apply for access to the material via ABA’s electronic application form. Access to use the diaries is subject to a trustee and requires a special written application.

Ib Nørlund archive
Year: 1916-1989
Scope: 119 boxes and 5 volumes

The archive contains i.a:

About the occupation
Central Committee meetings
Delegation visits in Denmark
Delegation trips abroad
Subject-oriented cases
The Danish Parliament
International and national conferences, courses and meetings
International congresses
Correspondence
Publications
Speeches

Read also about the organization Peace Supporters and the Danish Peace Conference, which was submitted to the ABA as part of Ib Nørlund’s archive material.

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