A vacuum interrupter comprises a vacuum vessel, at least a pair of electrical conductor rods extending from interior to exterior of the vacuum vessel, and at least a pair of separable composite electrodes respectively connected to the tip of the electrical conductor rods. Each of the composite electrodes has a main electrode, a parallel magnetic field generator for generating a parallel magnetic field which acts on an arc created when one main electrode is separated from the other, and a magnetic field suppressor of high electrical conductivity embedded in a central portion of the main electrode for partly cancelling the parallel magnetic field. In the vacuum interrupter, when the parallel magnetic field permeates through the magnetic field suppressor, eddy current flow is caused therein. A magnetic field due to the eddy current has a polarity opposite to that of the parallel magentic field and partly cancels the parallel magnetic field. Intensity of the parallel magnetic field then becomes smaller at the central portion than that at the other peripheral portion, and the arc tends to shift from the magnetic field suppressor to the outer peripheral portion, thereby preventing fusion damage of the magnetic field suppressor.