Norwegian nationalism (Norwegian : Norsk nasjonalisme) is an ideology that promotes the unity of Norwegians and their culture under one nation state. [1]
Norwegian nationalism (Norwegian : Norsk nasjonalisme) is an ideology that promotes the unity of Norwegians and their culture under one nation state. [1]
The first organized Norwegian nationalist movement arose in Denmark. Norwegian students came together in Norwegian Society in the university city of Copenhagen. Political independence was not seen as realistic, but the desire for more internal autonomy was expressed through the desire for a specifically Norwegian university.
Nationalistic sentiment in Norway grew strongly in the early 19th century. This was linked to the Napoleonic Wars and the influence of the French Revolution. The sense of community was also strengthened by the conflict with Sweden. The 17th of May – Constitution Day – which began to be celebrated in 1824, was also an important factor. When National Romanticism broke through in the 1840s, old culture was brought forth by artists, writers, and other champions of nationalism. [2] [3]
In the 1870s and 1880s, the Liberal Party in particular was a nationalist party during the struggle for parliamentarism, which was gradually introduced from 1884. The same applied to the Target Movement and the Norwegian Youth Association. [4] The Target Movement led by Ivar Aasen claimed there were two cultures in Norway, the upper class consisting of the nobility, civil servants and parts of the bourgeoisie who represented an elitist and foreign, mainly Danish culture, and "the Norwegian people" that had roots in peasantry and represented Norwegian popular culture. The notion of the two cultures also existed outside the target group, including among the Liberal party and poets such as Aasmund Olavsson Vinje and Arne Garborg. [5] The latter two‚ however, interpreted the two-culture doctrine more strictly than the rest of the supporters of this division. Garborg went so far to say that there were not only two cultures in Norway, but two nations. Garborg believed only those who embraced the national language and true Norwegian culture could be considered Norwegian and those who did not had to be considered Danes. This created conflicts among the more moderate nationalists. The conflicts surrounding the dissolution of the Swedish-Norwegian union in 1905 led to political nationalism becoming popular with the left wing, but this nationalism was mostly concerned with national independence, and less so with what was considered true Norwegian culture. [6]
While in the 19th century people were mostly concerned with the concepts of ethnicity and nation, throughout the 20th century people increasingly became concerned with race. The concept of different human races originated in biology, which at the time had grown in prestige. National minorities such as Sámi, Kven, Travellers and Jews were considered to belong to a different race than Norwegians, though few had systematic racist ideologies. Such nationalism became common in the interwar period among the Norwegian Agrarian Association and other organizations. With the labor movement, nationalism was less popular; for them, social class was more important than nation. [7] [8]
With the victory of the Soviets against the White movement in the Russian Civil War, and the rise of other revolutionary marxist movements across Europe, nationalism among the right wing in Norway would take on an anti-communist character. One of the largest nationalist anti-communist movements, and largest right-wing mass movement in the country was the Fatherland League. [9]
During the Second World War, the event led to tremendous growth of nationalism. Both the Norwegian resistance movement and the National Gathering (NS) claimed to be the real custodians of the Norwegian nation. The development of the war and Germany's military dictatorship led over 90% of the population coming to regard the resistance movement as the "good Norwegians", while the NS were regarded as traitors to the country. The historian Øystein Sørensen has shown that the NS had no unified view of nationalism, but was divided into a Norwegian-nationalist wing, and a pan-Germanic Nazi wing.[ citation needed ]
The Nasjonal Samling was a Norwegian far-right political party active from 1933 to 1945. It was the only legal party of Norway from 1942 to 1945. It was founded by former minister of defence Vidkun Quisling and a group of supporters such as Johan Bernhard Hjort – who led the party's paramilitary wing (Hirden) for a short time before leaving the party in 1937 after various internal conflicts. The party celebrated its founding on 17 May, Norway's national holiday, but was founded on 13 May 1933. Nasjonal Samling was made illegal and disbanded at the End of World War II in Europe, on 8 May 1945.
Hulda Garborg was a Norwegian writer, novelist, playwright, poet, folk dancer, and theatre instructor. She was married to Arne Garborg, and is today perhaps best known for kindling interest in the bunad tradition.
Knut Kjeldstadli is a Norwegian historian. Kjeldstadli completed his examen artium at Oslo Cathedral School in 1967 before studying English and social economics at the University of Oslo, where he completed his master in history in 1977. He took his doctorate in 1989 with the paper Jerntid. Fabrikksystem og arbeidere ved Christiania Spigerverk og Kværner Brug fra om lag 1890 til 1940. He became adjunct professor at the University of Bergen in 1992, and then professor at the University of Oslo in 1996. He is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Kjeldstadli is also involved in politics, in the Socialist Left Party as well as ATTAC. Kjeldstadli was awarded the Brage Prize in 2003 for serving as editor of Norsk innvandringshistorie. He was also a recipient of the Sverre Steen Award in 2004. He was the son of historian Sverre Kjeldstadli, paternal grandson of trade unionist Lars Kjeldstadli (1870–1934), maternal grandson of editor Daniel Grini and grandnephew of politician Sigvart Grini.
Øystein Sørensen is a Norwegian historian. A professor at the University of Oslo since 1996, he has published several books on the history of ideas, including Norwegian nationalism and national socialism, as well as general Norwegian World War II history.
Events in the year 1909 in Norway.
The Brage Prize is a Norwegian literature prize that is awarded annually by the Norwegian Book Prize foundation. The prize recognizes recently published Norwegian literature.
Tor Obrestad was a Norwegian novelist, poet and documentary writer.
Det Norske Teatret is a theatre in Oslo. The theatre was founded in 1912, after an initiative from Hulda Garborg and Edvard Drabløs. It opened in 1913, touring with two plays, Ervingen by Ivar Aasen and Rationelt Fjøsstell by Hulda Garborg. Its first official performance was Ludvig Holberg's comedy Jeppe på berget, with Haakon VII of Norway and the prime minister of Norway among the spectators. Hulda Garborg was the first board manager, and Rasmus Rasmussen was the first theatre director. The theatre primarily performs plays written in or translated into Nynorsk.
Events in the year 1891 in Norway.
Events in the year 1962 in Norway.
Events in the year 1892 in Norway.
Arne Laudal was a Norwegian military officer, Milorg pioneer and resistance fighter during World War II. He was arrested by the Germans, sentenced to death and executed.
Sverre Arnljot Breste Kjeldstadli was a Norwegian historian.
Alf Larsen Whist was a Norwegian businessperson and politician for Nasjonal Samling.
Nyt Tidsskrift is a former Norwegian literary, cultural and political periodical issued from 1882 to 1887, and with a second series from 1892 to 1895. The periodical had contributions from several of the leading intellectuals of the time, including later Nobel Literature Prize laureate Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, later Nobel Peace Prize laureate Fredrik Bajer, the writers Alexander L. Kielland, Jonas Lie, Arne Garborg and Hans Aanrud, proponents for women's rights Camilla Collett, Gina Krog and Hagbard Emanuel Berner, and painter Erik Werenskiold.
Einar Hoffstad was a Norwegian encyclopedist, newspaper editor, writer and economist. He remains best known as the editor of the encyclopedia Merkantilt biografisk leksikon and the business periodical Farmand. Although initially a classic liberal, Hoffstad embraced fascism and collectivism at the beginning of the Second World War.
Edvard Bull, Edvard Bull d.y. or Edvard Bull Jr. was a Norwegian professor and historian.
Events in the year 1737 in Norway.
Anarchism in Norway first emerged in the 1870s. Some of the first to call themselves anarchists in Norway were Arne Garborg and Ivar Mortensson-Egnund. They ran the radical target magazine Fedraheimen which came out 1877–91. Gradually the magazine became more and more anarchist-oriented, and towards the end of its life it had the subtitle Anarchist-Communist Body. The anarchist author Hans Jæger published the book "The Bible of Anarchy" in 1906, and in recent times Jens Bjørneboe has been a spokesman for anarchism – among other things in the book "Police and anarchy".
