Gerda Grepp
Gerda Grepp | |
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File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-17036-0005, Spanischer Bürgerkrieg, Nordahl Grieg, Ludwig Renn.jpg
Gerda Grepp, with Nordahl Grieg and Ludwig Renn
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Born | 1907 |
Died | 29 August 1940 Norway |
Resting place | Vestre gravlund, Oslo, Norway |
Occupation | Journalist War correspondent |
Nationality | Norwegian |
Relatives | Kyrre Grepp (father) Rachel Grepp (mother) |
Gerda Johanne Helland Grepp[1] (1907 – 29 August 1940) was a Norwegian translator and journalist. She was the daughter of former chairman of the Norwegian Labour Party Kyrre Grepp and journalist Rachel Grepp.[2][3]
Spanish Civil War
Grepp covered the Spanish Civil War as a reporter for the Labour Party newspaper Arbeiderbladet from 1936. She arrived in Barcelona in October 1936, as the first female reporter from Scandinavia.[2] She travelled to Madrid, where she experienced bombing attacks on the city. With Ludwig Renn she drove to the Toledo front.[2] During her travels she was also accompanied by her friend André Malraux.[4] While in Spain, Grepp served as an interpreter for other Norwegians.[4]
Both Grepp and the other Norwegian correspondents in Spain, like Nordahl Grieg and Nini Gleditsch, sympathized with the Republican cause in the war.[4] Gleditsch and Grepp helped organize a large-scale aid effort for Spain, based around the Norwegian labour movement.[5]
According to professor Rune Ottosen, Grepp and Birgit Nissen were marked with "sharp pens against the growing fascism".[6]
In January and February 1937 she visited Málaga, together with Hungarian journalist and reporter for the British daily newspaper News Chronicle, Arthur Koestler.[3][7] During the battle of Málaga she barely escaped the attacking Nationalist forces.[8] Grepp left Málaga on 6 February, while Koestler was still in the city. On 7 February Italian troops occupied the city. Koestler was arrested, sentenced to death as a spy, and placed in a death cell in Sevilla. However, after considerable international pressure he was released from custody.[7] From May 1937 Grepp spent several weeks in the Basque Country. She visited the Republican Basque Army defensive line called the Iron Belt, and experienced the Battle of Bilbao.[9] Grepp frequently found herself in dangerous situations while in Spain.[8] During her time in Spain Grepp was suffering from tuberculosis. Eventually she was compelled by her ill health to leave the war zone and return to Norway.[4]
Death and legacy
Gerda Grepp died of tuberculosis in German-occupied Norway on 29 August 1940, 33 years old.[4][10] She was buried in Vestre gravlund in Oslo.[1] Grepp's work has since been largely forgotten, her fellow journalist Lise Lindbæk instead being commonly seen as Norway's first female war correspondent.[8]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Accessed through the grave-site registry of the Genealogy Society of Norway (DIS), select "Id" from the drop-down menu labelled "Find" and enter "675648".
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- Pages with broken file links
- 1907 births
- 1940 deaths
- Norwegian anti-fascists
- Deaths from tuberculosis
- Norwegian journalists
- Norwegian translators
- Norwegian war correspondents
- Norwegian people of the Spanish Civil War
- Burials at Vestre gravlund
- War correspondents of the Spanish Civil War
- Women in war 1900–1945
- Women in war in Spain
- Women war correspondents
- Women translators
- 20th-century women writers
- 20th-century translators
- 20th-century Norwegian writers