Hans Østerholt (29 August 1873 – 7 November 1958) was a Norwegian trade unionist, editor and politician for the Labour and Social Democratic Labour parties. He is best known for founding the humorous magazine '' Hvepsen'' in 1905 and editing it throughout its lifespan, until 1925.

Early life

He was born as Hans Rollefsen in

Holla, Telemark Holla is a former municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Nome Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Ulefoss. The municipality was c ...

as a son of farmers. After the death of his mother when Rollefsen was aged two, he grew up with his aunt and uncle Guro and Hans Østerholt at the farm Nedre Østerholt. He hence took the surname Østerholt. He finished vocational training at Skiensfjorden School in 1892. He moved to the capital

Kristiania Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022, an ...

, worked at

Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk Kongsberg Gruppen is a Norwegian multinational company, that supplies high-technology systems to customers in the merchant marine, defence, aerospace, offshore oil and gas industries, and renewable and utilities industries. In 2018, Kongsbe ...

from 1894 to 1895, then back in Kristiania at the mechanical works Nylands Verksted. He was a co-founder of the trade union and later chaired it. He travelled on a scholarship in Berlin and Chicago between 1898 and 1901.

Career

In 1903 he was elected to the Labour Party's central board, a position he lost in 1906. He was the treasurer of the

Norwegian Union of Iron and Metalworkers The Norwegian Union of Iron and Metalworkers (, NJMF) was a trade union representing workers in the metal industry, workshops, and shipbuilding in Norway. The union was founded in 1891, and in 1905 it joined the Norwegian Confederation of Trade ...

from 1904 to 1908. However, he was best known as editor of the socialist humorous magazine '' Hvepsen'' ("The Wasp"), which he started in 1905 after a fundraiser among trade unions. The magazine is viewed as qualitative and successful during its time, and attracted skilled writers such as

Johan Falkberget Johan Falkberget, born Johan Petter Lillebakken, (30 September 1879 – 5 April 1967) was a Norwegian author. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Life and career Johan Falkberget was born on the Lillebakken farm in the Ruglda ...

. In 1916 Østerholt started another magazine as a side project, ''Blinken'' ("The Blink"), and in addition he wrote several poems and songs for events in the labour movement. He also started a paper goods store in the party headquarters at Folkets Hus, Kristiania in 1906. Through this he published the annual calendar ''Arbeiderkalenderen''. ''Hvepsen'' was also published out of Folkets Hus. Because of a large work burden, Østerholt had to leave his paper store and ''Arbeiderkalenderen'' with the Labour Party in 1913. In 1921, the party split with the Social Democratic Labour Party denouncing the Labour Party line of membership in the

Third International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internation ...

. Østerholt joined the Social Democratic Labour Party, and as a result he was evicted from Folkets Hus in 1922. ''Blinken'' went defunct that year, and ''Hvepsen'' followed in 1925. He was the manager of the Social Democratic Labour Party main newspaper '' Den nye Social-Demokraten'' from 1923 to 1925, but after that he left the party press to work in the co-ops. He was the manager of Bryn Co-Op from 1926 to 1930 and the cooperative leaders' association ''Handelsbestyrerforbundet'' from 1929 to 1949. He also edited the association's member magazine during that time. He died in November 1958 in Oslo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osterholt, Hans 1873 births 1958 deaths People from Telemark People from Nome, Norway Norwegian trade unionists Norwegian expatriates in Germany Norwegian expatriates in the United States Norwegian magazine editors Labour Party (Norway) politicians Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway politicians Norwegian cooperative organizers Norwegian magazine founders