August Spångberg

Swedish politician

August Spångberg (29 March 1893 19 June 1987) was a Swedish labor politician. He was a member of the Riksdag (Swedish parliament), elected initially as a Communist and later as a Social Democrat.

August Konrad Ferdinand Spångberg was born in Skärhyttan, Nora, Örebro län, Sweden. In his autobiography, I tidens ström (1966), he writes that his father, August Carlsson, left for America before he was born. Spångberg spent his early years living with his maternal grandfather, Karl Fredrik Spångberg, a coal burner, in a small cottage deep in the forests of Nora. For a short time he lived in a foster home and then moved back to live with his mother, Anna Lovisa Spångberg. August's two half siblings—Sten Spångberg (1900 1970) and Linnéa Spångberg (1904 1981), a Swedish movie actress—were the children of his mother and Anders Gustav Olsson.

As a young man, Spångberg found work as a railroad worker in Charlottenberg, and was active in the temperance movement and the socialist youth movement. In the 1917 split of the Social Democratic Party, Spångberg joined the Communist group headed by Zeth Höglund. In 1922, Spångberg was the youngest member ever to be elected to the Swedish parliament. In 1929 Spångberg, together with the majority of the Swedish Communists, were expelled from the Party. He then joined Karl Kilbom in the independent communist party (later renamed as the Socialist Party). In 1937 August Spångberg travelled with Ture Nerman to Spain to participate in the fight against the Nationalists of General Francisco Franco. They were caught in the crossfire of a battle on 3 May at the Hotel Victoria in Barcelona, which resulted in 2000 casualties. When Spångberg and Nerman return to Sweden soon after, they came home to see their party falling apart in a struggle between Karl Kilbom and Nils Flyg. Spångberg then joined the Swedish Social Democratic Party. During World War II Spångberg participated in the Norwegian resistance movement against the Nazi occupation of Norway. He helped many people escape Nazis occupied Norway including Willy Brandt, who would later become the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. For his efforts Spångberg was appointed to the Order of St. Olav. Spångberg served 46 sessions in parliament until 1964 when he retired at the age of 71.

The Eda Municipality Library in Charlottenberg, Sweden holds a special collection of Augustus Spångberg's parliamentary documents, letters, and literature. There is a memorial park in Charlottenberg, next to the public library, named after August Spångberg.