Trond Hegna

Who was Trond Hegna?

Trond Hegna was a Norwegian journalist and politician for the Norwegian Labour Party and the Communist Party of Norway.

He was born in Kristiania and in 1918, he began studies at the University of Oslo, and he became a member of Den Socialdemokratiske Studenterforening, the Norwegian Labour Party organization for students. It was here the paper and the organization Mot Dag was founded in 1921, and Hegna was involved from the beginning. He edited the paper between 1926 and 1928, remaining throughout its existence a central contributor, and was chairman for the Norwegian Students' Society in 1924 and 1926. Between 1924-25 he was editor-in-chief in Rjukan Arbeiderblad. When Mot Dag became a part of the Communist Party of Norway in 1927, Hegna also became the editor for Norges Kommunistblad in a period. He left the party in 1929 along with most of the members of Mot Dag. Between 1932 and 1936 he was also one of the editors of Arbeidernes Leksikon.

When Mot Dag was dissolved in 1936, Hegna again became a member of the Norwegian Labour Party. Between 1939 and 1940 he was the editor of Vestfold Arbeiderblad, and in 1940 he became editor of 1ste Mai in Stavanger. When this newspaper was closed after publishing the headline "Ingen nordmann til salgs!" in September 1940, Hegna was arrested and imprisoned in Grini until 1943, where he was a part of the following around Einar Gerhardsen, whom he had known for several years.