Leif Olav Foss was a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 trade unionist and politician for the Communist Party

Communist Party of Norway

The Communist Party of Norway is a political party in Norway without parliamentary representation. It was formed in 1923, following a split in the Norwegian Labour Party. The party played an important role in the resistance to German occupation during the Second World War, and experienced a brief...

.

He spent his early working career at sea, and from 1919 as a docks worker at Akers Mekaniske Verksted. He was organized, first through the Norsk matros- og fyrbøterunion

Norwegian Seafarers' Union

The Norwegian Seafarers' Union is a trade union in Norway. The union was established 25 September 1910 under the name Norsk Matros- og Fyrbøter-Union . Current name was adapted 1933, though the use of the current English translation was gradually changed over several years around 2000 from...

, then through the Union of Iron and Metalworkers

Norwegian Union of Iron and Metalworkers

The Norwegian Union of Iron and Metalworkers was a trade union in Norway, organized under the national Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions.It was founded in 1891...

, chairing the sub-union Dokkarbeidernes forening from 1922 to 1925. He was a supervisory council member in Oslo faglige samorg from 1923 to 1930, and a national board member of the Union of Iron and Metalworkers from 1925 to 1929.

He joined the Norwegian Labour Party

Norwegian Labour Party

The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway....

 in 1920, and then the Communist Party. He became party secretary for trade affairs, and was a delegate at the Red International of Labour Unions

Profintern

The Red International of Labor Unions , commonly known as the Profintern, was an international body established by the Communist International with the aim of coordinating Communist activities within trade unions...

 Congress in 1930. Here he was elected to the RILU executive committee, and moved to Moscow. He returned to Norway after a few years.

During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany

Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany

The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany started with the German invasion of Norway on April 9, 1940, and ended on May 8, 1945, after the capitulation of German forces in Europe. Throughout this period, Norway was continuously occupied by the Wehrmacht...

, he was arrested two times for resistance. The first time he was imprisoned in Møllergata 19

Møllergata 19

Møllergata 19 is an address in Oslo, Norway where the city's main police station and jail was located. The address gained notoriety during the German occupation from 1940 to 1945, when the Nazi security police kept its headquarters here...

 from 15 August to 2 September 1940. On 12 September 1941 he was arrested for the second time, after the milk strike

Milk strike

The milk strike was a strike in Nazi occupied Oslo on 8 and 9 September 1941. It led to strong reprisals from the German occupiers, in the form of martial law, court-martial, mass arrests, two executions and several long-term jail sentences.-Start:...

. He was incarcerated in Grini concentration camp until 3 April 1942, when he was sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp

Sachsenhausen concentration camp

Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...

. He was sent further to many camps, first Lichterfelde, then Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel, Neuengamme, Hamburg-Fühlsbuttel again, Königswartha

Königswartha

Königswartha, in Sorbian Rakecy, is a municipality in the east of Saxony, Germany. It belongs to the district of Bautzen and lies 20 km north of the eponymous city."Rakecy" means "men of the cancer". The village was mentioned the first time in 1350....

, Bautzen

Bautzen

Bautzen is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and administrative centre of the eponymous district. It is located on the Spree River. As of 2008, its population is 41,161...

, Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

 and Eisenach

Eisenach

Eisenach is a city in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated between the northern foothills of the Thuringian Forest and the Hainich National Park. Its population in 2006 was 43,626.-History:...

. He was freed at the war's end. After the war, from 1945 to 1949 he was the secretary in the Union of Iron and Metalworkers.