Asbjørn Svarstad

Asbjørn Svarstad
Asbjørn Svarstad, in Berlin, 2025
Born (1958-07-12) 12 July 1958 (age 66)
Rheydt, Germany
NationalityNorwegian
Occupation(s)Freelance journalist
Guide
AwardsWilly Brandt Prize

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.

Background

Asbjørn 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, before he from 1985 started to work for the newspaper Dagbladet. Afterwards he was working from Copenhagen and then Berlin, where he has been living since 1996. For 20 years he was also a stringer for the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet and the Danish newspaper Dagbladet B.T. During his career as a commentator he has mostly written articles about politics and history.[1]

Currently, as of 2025, he is writing for the Norwegian online newspaper Nettavisen, where he report about events in Germany and Europe, both historical and contemporary. He also work for other media in Norway, are working on several books and comment on Norwegian events in German media. He is the only Norwegian journalist living in Berlin. He also receives groups of tourists from Norway for guiding in Berlin. He is an authorized guid of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.[1]

The memorial of the crew on the Lancaster plane of the Royal Australian Air Force (flight LM 316)

Svarstad was the main moving force by establishing a memory in 2002 in Kleinmachnow outside Berlin, where a Avro Lancaster bomber from the Royal Australian Air Force were shot down, and the Norwegian poet Nordahl Grieg were among the crew. Asbjørn Svarstad is still searching for the exact place where Nordahl Grieg is buried.[2]

Awards

Together 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 has done outstanding effort to promote contact 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 journalist and Thönnes as a politician.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Myrli, Sverre (9 November 2024). "Pressemelding" (PDF). Willy Brandt-stiftelsen. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  2. ^ Skomakerstuen, Bjørn (19 September 2024). "Nettavisen-spaltist Asbjørn Svarstad tildelt høythengende pris". Nettavisen. Retrieved 16 January 2025.