# Birger Nordholm

Birger Joseph Nordholm (June 25, 1897 – November 30, 1989), was a Swedish-American founding director of the Swedish National Tourist Office in New York City, and the first Chairman of the European Travel Commission.

## Biography

Birger Nordholm was born in 1897 in Stockholm, Sweden, and grew up in Östermalm where he studied at Östra Real.
   "Peace and understanding through travel."
Birger Nordholm devoted his career to the promotion of tourism and international relations between Sweden, the United States and Europe. During Nordholm's lifetime, tourism in Sweden expanded into one of the nation's main revenue source, and Nordholm was a keen promoter of its transatlantic development.
Nordholm initiated and headed the Swedish National Tourist Office 1921–1963, located in the Rockefeller Center in New York City, United States. He went on to serve as Managing Director for the Swedish State Railways Travel Information Agency as well as the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce in New York City, and was a lifelong member of the Scandinavian Travel Commission.
After World War II, as part of the Marshall Plan, Nordholm was appointed the initial Chairman (1949–1958) of the European Travel Commission by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In addition, he was appointed President of the Conference of European Railroad Representatives.
   "The ETC has come to be definitely recognised as the coordinating agency for all these interests and as such is able to attract other European travel advertising and promotion to support its own efforts and thereby present a vastly larger sales story to the American public than is possible with ETC funds alone."
Following the simplification of visa regulations, customs procedures, and other formalities, as expressed in a 1952 edition of the This Week magazine, Birger Nordholm together with Arthur Haulot foregrounded the "purposeful" and "educational" dimension of "a new type of tourism" that would be "the foundation of lasting peace". This would eventually contribute to the development of the OECD Tourism Committee.
Nordholm's residences in New York City and Weston, Connecticut, would become centers of international festivities, including annual Midsummer celebrations held at his country house "Tuckaway", attended by ambassadors, consular heads, the press, Miss Sweden and other dignitaries, as well as friends and neighbours, and Nordholm became a well-known international speaker.
He died in 1989 in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, United States, with ashes buried at his country house "Tuckaway" in Connecticut.

## Charities

Birger Nordholm promoted philanthropy to various international charities, such as to the humanitarian aid organization Finnish Relief Fund with purpose to assist civilians of Finland during the Winter War of World War II. He assisted cultural institutions such as the American Museum of Natural History, and was a member of the Swedish Pioneer Historical Society, and the American Swedish Historical Foundation behind the American Swedish Historical Museum.
Nordholm was also a "Founding Father" and "skålleage" of the North American charter of the Skål International in New York City on 1 April 1938, with the objective to "develop true friendship and common purpose among members of the tourist industry; through tourism, to promote mutual understanding and foster goodwill between the peoples of the world."
The Birger Nordholm Foundation (Swedish: Birger Nordholms stiftelse) was posthumously established at his former secondary school Östra Real in Östermalm, Stockholm. Maintained by the Alumni Association of the school of which Nordholm was a lifelong member, it awards students who have "demonstrated a good and exemplary companionship or else by significant efforts have shown great interest in the school and its activities."

## Distinctions

* Knight of the Order of the Polar Star (1952)
* Knight 1st class of the Order of Vasa (1939)
* Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog (1955)
* Knight of the Order of the White Rose of Finland
* Order of Merit of Tourism (1959)
* St. Olav's Medal
* Key to the City of New York City (1987)
* Nordholm Drive, road to his country house in Weston, Connecticut (1950s)