The Voice from Paris

Translator's Note: This is a machine-assisted translation completed on March 5, 2025. While care has been taken to maintain accuracy, this translation has not yet undergone human review or validation. Please note that specialized terms, historical references, and nuanced content may benefit from expert review.

Norway's first female foreign correspondent was often called "The Voice from Paris." Gidske Anderson was a journalism pioneer with a fascinating life story. In 2023, a biography was published about her life and work. These days, a new book is being released that follows the traces of Gidske and her interesting circle of friends in post-war Paris: On the Ghost Side by Siri Lindstad.

Illegal Journalism School

Gidske Anderson was born in 1921. She had a turbulent childhood and adolescence. Her father was an artist, often engaged in wild partying, and was not much of a presence for the family. Her mother struggled with the responsibility of raising two small children alone, poor finances, and eventually alcoholism and mental illness. Other relatives became important caregivers in the lives of Gidske and her brother. Gidske had talent, ambition, and a desire to explore, but just as she was on the verge of adulthood, World War II broke out. The German occupation would come to affect all aspects of life. Young Gidske became involved in the production and distribution of illegal newspapers. This became her "journalism school." She described the work as all-consuming; she became part of a secret, closed world that lived on rumors and radio voices from London, hated the occupation, but strongly believed the country would be free again.

After the war, Gidske worked as a journalist and later as the cultural editor of Friheten. This was the party newspaper of the Norwegian Communist Party (NKP) but also one of the country's largest newspapers. The NKP had played an important role in the resistance movement and received over 11% of the votes in the 1945 election. Finally, she realized her dream of traveling abroad! Gidske gained trust in the editorial staff and was sent on reporting trips abroad – first to Nordic countries, then on a longer trip to France, Italy, and Yugoslavia. Fearless and engaged, she reported back from a Europe characterized by both destruction and hope. Soon, an extended stay abroad was on the horizon. She had saved up money and boarded a train to Paris, planning to live there for six months. She stayed for 16 years.

Love for Paris

It was a gray and closed city that greeted Gidske in January 1948. The friend who was supposed to meet her did not show up. But this did not discourage her. "Happy greetings," she wrote in a letter to her brother the next day. A lifelong love affair with Paris had begun. Why Paris? When she decided to see the world for real, that was where she wanted to go. She didn’t really know why, she later expressed – "but somehow it was self-evident."

She soon met people who would leave a strong impression on her and mean a lot for her life and career moving forward. In her book People in Paris (1964), she describes those first formative years and the communities she became part of. Gidske came to Paris at a time when many foreigners were streaming in. Young American war veterans, Britons, Scandinavians, and Eastern Europeans. They talked, read, relaxed – enjoying peace and freedom. Veterans from the colonies also arrived, engaging in discussions about liberation.

Important People in Her Life

Her first new friendship was with an American couple, he an academic and war veteran, both Jewish. Gidske moved into the same building as them in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area and immediately felt at home. At Stanley and Eileen's, people came and went all day, all engaged in projects. She became acquainted with French writers and painters. Conversations that started on a street corner in the morning often continued in a bookstore at midday and then in a restaurant throughout the evening. Gidske also enjoyed talking with young American war veterans and expanded her nuanced understanding of the war. To her, the resistance had been driven by unarmed, hunted individuals – with courage and willpower but few resources. Someone who became close to her was the Czech refugee Irene. Her will to live and determination were impressive. Irene’s mother was Russian, her father Jewish. At 27, she was divorced and had fled alone with a small child. With her daughter placed in foster care, she worked hard to save up money and eventually travel to the USA.

Another important person in her life was Jimmy, who would later be called "one of the most important voices of the 20th century." Gidske and Jimmy – the writer James Baldwin – found each other through long conversations in the city's cafés. Gidske appreciated both his stories and his great ability to listen. For many years, they were close friends.

The Breakthrough

Gidske lived in very modest conditions and was initially dependent on financial assistance from her family back home. She wanted to become a fiction writer, but she broke through as a foreign correspondent, first for Arbeiderbladet (now Dagsavisen) and then for NRK Radio. Now her knowledge, experience, and network came into their own. As Paris correspondent, she became the Norwegian people's information channel to the wider world.

Love

Two pioneers found each other in 1960s Paris. Kirsten Ohm worked at the Norwegian embassy in Paris and would later become Norway's first female ambassador. When Kirsten moved from Paris to New York in 1964, Gidske followed. For three years, she worked for Arbeiderbladet in the USA. Kirsten's career also took them to Strasbourg and Dublin. In the early 1970s, they returned to Paris, Gidske now as a permanent correspondent for NRK. Between foreign stays and after, they created a home in Huitfeldts gate in Oslo. They lived there together for the rest of their lives.

Chair of the Nobel Committee

Back in Norway, Gidske took a position as foreign affairs editor at Arbeiderbladet. She became politically active in the Labour Party, developed close friendships with several central politicians, and was a strong advocate for Norwegian EEC membership. After her last stay in Paris, she left NRK for a career as a freelancer and author, and in 1985 she was granted a government stipend.

Four years earlier, she had been appointed to the prestigious position of member of the Nobel Committee. She chaired the committee from 1990 until she stepped down early the following year for health reasons.

Wrote About Her Illness

Gidske did not achieve the breakthrough as a fiction writer that she dreamed of during her first years in Paris, but she later published a number of books. These were well received by both critics and readers. Her biography of Trygve Bratteli (1985) was described in Dagbladet as "the most awake and well-founded journalistic biography in years" and in Bergens Tidende as "a wonderful book." She also wrote biographies of Halvard Lange and Sigrid Undset. In Wars After the War (1980), she shared her extensive foreign policy knowledge and glimpses from her experiences as a field journalist.

In 1983, she published It Happened to Me, a personal account of her battle with cancer. Here too, she was a pioneer, sharing on a topic that few spoke openly about.

Gidske Anderson received numerous awards and honors. Among these were the Narvesen Prize (The Great Journalism Prize) in 1962, the Riksmål Association's award for outstanding language in radio and television (1978), and the Golden Pen Award (1987). Gidske does not mention her life partner Kirsten in her books, not even in the deeply personal account of her illness. But she uses the term "my dearest one," and in her later books, she often writes "we." Thus, Kirsten is included after all.

On the Ghost Side

In the book On the Ghost Side: Queer Lives 1945-1952, released in february 2025, journalist Siri Lindstad follows in the footsteps of eight fascinating personalities who spent time in post-war Paris. Along with Gidske Anderson and James Baldwin, the poets Gunvor Hofmo and Astrid Tollefsen, the author Tove Janson, theater director Vivica Bandler, and singers Inez Cavanaugh and Moune de Rivel are highlighted. On the Seine's western bank, they found each other – and themselves.

Is it an important part of Gidske Anderson's biography that she was queer and lived with a woman? Who she shared a bedroom with isn't so important. But who she spent her time with, what they talked about, and where they met is interesting. It shaped her as a person, journalist, author, and politician. It contributed to the knowledge, experience, and perspectives that made her the communicator she was. If she had been cohabiting with a male ambassador, it would likely have been noted as a fact in biographical overviews. Now it says "unmarried."

Gidske Anderson died of cancer in 1993, at the age of 71. Kirsten Ohm died six years later. The two are buried together at Vestre Gravlund in Oslo. Outside Huitfeldts gate 11, Oslo Byes Vel has erected a blue plaque in memory of Kirsten. Perhaps Gidske Anderson could have been mentioned too?