During World War II he was imprisoned by the Germans, and incarcerated at the Grini and Sachsenhausen concentration camps.
He was a politician for the Labour Party, a deputy representative to the Storting from 1957 to 1969, and later a politician for the Socialist Left Party.
He was a member of the committee Norsk Språknemnd from its establishment in 1952 until 1972, and Norsk språkråd from 1972 to 1981.