Poul Andersen | |
|---|---|
| Born | Poul Dalby Andersen (1922-04-19)April 19, 1922 Ringkøbing, Denmark |
| Died | May 29, 2006(2006-05-29) (aged 84) Los Angeles,California, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Danish resistance member, printer, newspaper publisher |
Poul Dalby Andersen (April 19, 1922 – May 29, 2006) was a printer who served in theDanish resistance movement duringWorld War II and later published one of the remaining twoDanish-language newspapers in the United States.[1][2]
Andersen was born inRingkøbing, a small town inRingkøbing-Skjern municipality on the west coast ofDenmark. His grandfather was a co-founder of the town's daily newspaper. Andersen's father was a typesetter, and Andersen learned the printing trade in the newspaper's offices.Andersen came to theUnited States in 1949 and worked on an uncle's farm in Ohio. A friend encouraged him to move toSanta Monica, California. In 1950 Andersen was hired by theLos Angeles Times as a printer.
Andersen was a conversationalist and a soccer fanatic, two traits that helped him as a member of the Danish resistance.
"My husband was a chatterbox, and he loved soccer, so he could bicycle down to a neighboring town to play soccer and the Germans would never think twice about it," Judy Andersen told theLos Angeles Times. "He would ask the guards, 'What are they doing in the field there?' and learn that [the Germans] were building gun emplacements."
In 1975 Andersen boughtBien, aSan Francisco-based Danish-language newspaper. Andersen moved the newspaper toBurbank, California, to allow him to work on the paper after completing his shift at the Times.Bien's circulation reached a high of 5,300 during Andersen's tenure as publisher.
Andersen continued to use aLinotype machine to set the type for each edition ofBien long after other newspapers had switched to computerized typesetting. In 1997 the California Newspaper Publishers Association saidBien was probably the last newspaper in California being printed with Linotype.
Andersen was knighted in 1982 byQueen Margrethe II ofDenmark for his efforts in uniting theDanish American community. Andersen died in Los Angeles from complications ofAlzheimer's disease.