Kristensen, Knud

▪ prime minister of Denmark

born Oct. 26, 1880, Ringkøbing, Den.

died Sept. 29, 1962, Hillerød

      politician who, as leader of the first elected post-World War II Danish government, rekindled national hopes for the reacquisition of the historical territory of Schleswig from Germany. He also founded the Independent Party.

      Entering Parliament in 1920, Kristensen became a leader of the Venstre (Left) Party. In 1940 he became minister of the interior in Thorvald Stauning's coalition government under the German occupation but resigned after Stauning's death in 1942, when Erik Scavenius, who sought accommodation with the Germans, became prime minister.

      As prime minister of the postwar Venstre government (1945–47), Kristensen articulated a significant Danish sentiment for the incorporation of South Schleswig, retained by Germany after World War I, into Denmark. To a British inquiry, however, Kristensen replied that Denmark wished only to see a referendum by the German Schleswigers. His private stand in favour of an imposed border revision left no party to the territorial dispute satisfied, and his government fell in 1947. In 1953 he formed the small Independent Party, which advocated a return of southern Schleswig to Denmark and a repeal of most social welfare legislation.

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