Knud Kristensen

Knud Kristensen
Prime Minister of Denmark
In office November 7, 1945 – November 13, 1947
Preceded by	Vilhelm Buhl
Succeeded by	Hans Hedtoft
Personal details
Born	(1880-10-26)October 26, 1880
Died	September 28, 1962(1962-09-28) (aged 81)
Political party	Venstre

Knud Kristensen (26 October 1880 - 28 September 1962) was Prime Minister of Denmark 7 November 1945 to 13 November 1947 in the first elected government after the German occupation of Denmark during World War II. After the October 1945 election Knud Kristensen formed the Cabinet of Knud Kristensen, a minority government consisting only of his Liberal Venstre party. Kristensen was a farmer by profession.

Kristensen resigned as Prime Minister when the Folketing passed a vote of no confidence because of his enthusiasm for incorporating Southern Schleswig into Denmark as the Allies were offering. Denmark had lost Schleswig and Holstein in the second war of Schleswig in 1864, and had regained Northern Schleswig in the aftermath of World War I as a result of the Schleswig Plebiscite, but had failed to regain Southern Schleswig. Though many in people in Southern Schleswig said they then felt they were Danes, the feeling in the Danish Folketing was that this was mostly because of the German post-war hardship, and that the otherwise homogenous Denmark would not be served well with a large German minority. See also Danish minority of Southern Schleswig.

The defeat in the Southern Schleswig case estranged Kristensen from his party and when the new constitution was issued 1953 he terminated his membership of Venstre and founded a new party, De Uafhængige ("The Independents"). This new party was unable to gain influence.

References

• Kristian Hvidt, Statsministre i Danmark fra 1913 til 1995 (1995)