Knut Løfsnes

Knut Ingolf Løfsnes (22 December 1918 – 5 January 1996) was a Norwegian resistance member, politician and lawyer. He was a central leader of the clandestine organization XU during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, leading the mid-Norway XU department from the from 1942 to 1945. He was the first chairman of the Socialist People's Party, from 1961 to 1969.

He was born in Namsos as a son of a sawmill worker. He finished secondary education at Trondheim Cathedral School in 1938, and worked as a teacher in other towns. At the time of the Namsos Campaign, a part of World War II fighting in 1940, he returned home. The Allied forces eventually lost the Namsos Campaign, Germany occupied Norway and Løfsnes joined the Norwegian resistance movement. He was arrested in 1942, was imprisoned in Falstad concentration camp from June to July 1942, was released and fled to Sweden in the same year. Here he led the mid-Norway department of the clandestine organization XU from the from 1942 to 1945. He was decorated with the Defence Medal 1940–1945. In November 1945 he married Eva Marie Linge (1924–2010).

In 1945 he worked in the military for some months and then for the Oslo police for a short time, but he was fired. It has been said that he was fired for political reasons. He instead started studying law, graduating with the cand.jur. degree in 1949. He worked with administration of services to the Norwegian merchant fleet, and also wrote for newspapers. He was a commentator in Arbeiderbladet from 1949 to 1953, and from 1953 in Orientering. He was a member of the Norwegian Labour Party, but was excluded around 1960–1961 together with the rest of Orientering's staff. He was then a co-founder and the first chairman of the Socialist People's Party, from 1961 to 1969. From 1964 to 1969 his job was as secretary for the parliamentary group.

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