{{short description|Norwegian journalist and translator}} {{Use dmy dates |date=September 2023}} {{Infobox writer | name = Gerda Grepp | image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-17036-0005, Spanischer Bürgerkrieg, Nordahl Grieg, Ludwig Renn.jpg | caption = Gerda Grepp, with Nordahl Grieg and Ludwig Renn | birth_date = {{Birth date |1907|5|26|df=y}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age |1940|8|29|1907|5|26|df=y}} | death_place = Norway | resting_place= Vestre gravlund, Oslo, Norway | occupation = Journalist<br>War correspondent | nationality = Norwegian | notableworks = | spouse = | relatives = Kyrre Grepp (father)<br>Rachel Grepp (mother) | website = }}
'''Gerda Johanne Helland Grepp'''<ref name=dis>{{cite book|title=Kirkevergens database|publisher=Oslo Municipality, funeral agency|year=2006}} Accessed through the [http://www.disnorge.no/gravminner/vis.php?mode=x grave-site registry] of the Genealogy Society of Norway (DIS), select "Id" from the drop-down menu labelled "Find" and enter "675648".</ref><ref>Vislie 2016: p. 25</ref> (26 May 1907 – 29 August 1940) was a Norwegian translator, journalist, and socialist.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Preston |first1=Paul |title=We Saw Spain Die: Foreign Correspondents in the Spanish Civil War |date=2008 |publisher=Constable |pages=259–276}}</ref> She was the daughter of former chairman of the Norwegian Labour Party Kyrre Grepp and journalist Rachel Grepp.<ref name=tusen-reporter>{{cite book |title=Tusen dager. Norge og den spanske borgerkrigen 1936-1939 |first1=Jo Stein |last1=Moen |author-link=Jo Stein Moen |first2=Rolf |last2=Sæther |author-link2=Rolf Sæther |pages=63–70 |chapter=Norges første kvinnelige krigsreporter |publisher=Gyldendal |language=no |location=Oslo |year=2009 }}</ref><ref name=evensmo-inn>{{cite book |title=Inn i din tid |first=Sigurd |last=Evensmo |author-link=Sigurd Evensmo |pages=87–88 |publisher=Gyldendal |language=no |location=Oslo |year=1976 |isbn=82-574-0250-8 }}</ref>
She was married to Italian-Swiss potter Mario Mascarin (1901–66). They had a son Olav Kyrre (Ping) Grepp and a daughter, Solveig Marie Alexandra "Sacha" Grepp. The daughter was named after family friend Alexandra Kollontai.<ref>{{cite news |title=Sacha i Andesmauet |url=https://www.aftenbladet.no/lokalt/i/z6B3K/sacha-i-andesmauet |access-date=2 December 2019 |agency=Stavanger Aftenblad |date=4 December 2003}}</ref>
==Spanish Civil War== Grepp covered the Spanish Civil War as a reporter for the Labour Party newspaper ''Arbeiderbladet'' from 1936. She arrived in Barcelona in October 1936, as the first female reporter from Scandinavia.<ref name=tusen-reporter/> She travelled to Madrid, where she experienced bombing attacks on the city. With Ludwig Renn she drove to the Toledo front.<ref name=tusen-reporter/> During her travels, she was also accompanied by her friend André Malraux.<ref name=nini>{{cite book |title=Nini Haslund Gleditsch - opprør - ein biografi |first=John |last=Stanghelle |pages=108–10 |publisher=Samlaget |language=no |location=Oslo |year=1993 |isbn=82-521-3931-0 |url=http://www.nb.no/utlevering/nb/a994d2e281723fbdf67f1d202f78ecef#&struct=DIV108}}</ref> While in Spain, Grepp served as an interpreter for other Norwegians.<ref name=nini/>
Both Grepp and the other Norwegian correspondents in Spain, like Nordahl Grieg and Nini Gleditsch, sympathized with the Republican cause in the war.<ref name=nini/> Gleditsch and Grepp helped organize a large-scale aid effort for Spain, based around the Norwegian labour movement.<ref>{{cite book |title=Verden etter 1850 |first1=Tor Egil |last1=Førland |first2=Stein |last2=Tønnesson |first3=Ole Kristian |last3=Grimnes |first4=Holger |last4=Koefoed |author-link2=Stein Tønnesson |author-link3=Ole Kristian Grimnes |page=167 |language=no |location=Oslo |year=1997 |url=http://www.nb.no/utlevering/nb/53df47b858fa2675a4c5625a67cab464#&struct=DIV182}}</ref>
According to professor Rune Ottosen, Grepp and Birgit Nissen were marked with "sharp pens against the growing fascism".<ref>{{cite book |title=Fra fjærpenn til Internett: Journalister i organisasjon og samfunn |first=Rune |last=Ottosen |author-link=Rune Ottosen |page=107 |publisher=Aschehoug |language=no |location=Oslo |year=1996 |isbn=82-03-26128-0 |url=http://www.nb.no/utlevering/nb/3ac58810f93aa2532019ac452006d401#&struct=DIV108}}</ref>
In January and February 1937 she visited Málaga, together with Hungarian journalist and reporter for the British daily newspaper ''News Chronicle'', Arthur Koestler.<ref name=evensmo-inn/><ref name=tusen-malaga>{{cite book |title=Tusen dager |first1=Jo Stein |last1=Moen |first2=Rolf |last2=Sæther |pages=106–113 |chapter=Malaga faller |publisher=Gyldendal |language=no |location=Oslo |year=2009 }}</ref> She and Koestler took shelter with the eccentric 72-year-old Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell, who had stayed on in Málaga "to protect his house and servants" while his compatriots fled to Gibraltar.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theclaptonpress.com/my-house-in-malaga-by-sir-peter-chalmers-mitchell/|title=Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell, ''My House in Málaga'', (1938), London, The Clapton Press|date=29 May 2019 }}</ref> During the battle of Málaga she barely escaped the attacking Nationalist forces.<ref name=dags>{{cite news |title=Hun var den dristigste av alle |last=Tretvoll |first=Halvor F. |newspaper=Dagsavisen |date=12 October 2009 |url=http://www.dagsavisen.no/kultur/article445197.ece |access-date=23 January 2010 |language=no |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091015202622/http://www.dagsavisen.no/kultur/article445197.ece |archive-date=15 October 2009 }}</ref> Grepp left Málaga on 6 February, while Koestler was still in the city. On 7 February Italian troops occupied the city. Koestler was arrested, sentenced to death as a spy, and placed in a death cell in Sevilla. However, after considerable international pressure, he was released from custody. This episode is recorded in detail in Sir Peter's memoir, recently republished by The Clapton Press.<ref name=tusen-malaga/> From May 1937 Grepp spent several weeks in the Basque Country. She visited the Republican Basque Army defensive line called the Iron Belt, and experienced the Battle of Bilbao.<ref name=tusen-guernica>{{cite book |title=Tusen dager|first1=Jo Stein |last1=Moen |first2=Rolf |last2=Sæther |pages=115–120 |chapter=I skyggen av Guernica |publisher=Gyldendal |language=no |location=Oslo |year=2009 }}</ref> Grepp frequently found herself in dangerous situations while in Spain.<ref name=dags/> During her time in Spain Grepp was suffering from tuberculosis. Eventually she was compelled by her ill health to leave the war zone and return to Norway.<ref name=nini/>
==Death and legacy== Gerda Grepp died of tuberculosis in German-occupied Norway on 29 August 1940, 33 years old.<ref name=nini/><ref name=tusen-siste>{{cite book |title=Tusen dager |first1=Jo Stein |last1=Moen |first2=Rolf |last2=Sæther |pages=63–70 |chapter=Siste kapittel |publisher=Gyldendal |language=no |location=Oslo |year=2009 }}</ref> She was buried in Vestre gravlund in Oslo.<ref name=dis/> Grepp's work has since been largely forgotten, her fellow journalist Lise Lindbæk instead being commonly seen as Norway's first female war correspondent.<ref name=dags/>
A biography of Grepp, written by Elisabeth Vislie, was published in 2016.<ref name=vislie>{{cite book |title= Ved fronten. Gerda Grepp og den spanske borgerkrigen |first=Elisabeth |last=Vislie |publisher=Pax Forlag |language=no |location=Oslo |year=2016 |isbn=978-82-530-3866-7 }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{SKBL}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Grepp, Gerda}} Category:1907 births Category:1940 deaths Category:Norwegian anti-fascists Category:20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Category:Norwegian war correspondents Category:Norwegian people of the Spanish Civil War Category:Norwegian socialists Category:Norwegian expatriates in Spain Category:Burials at Vestre gravlund Category:War correspondents of the Spanish Civil War Category:Women war correspondents of the Spanish Civil War Category:Women war correspondents Category:20th-century Norwegian women writers Category:20th-century Norwegian translators Category:20th-century Norwegian journalists Category:Tuberculosis deaths in Norway Category:Female anti-fascists