Gustav Natvig-Pedersen (18 August 1893 – 27 May 1965) was a Norwegian philologist, educator and politician for the Labour Party. A school teacher and headmaster during his professional career, he served in Stavanger city council from 1922 to 1964 and three terms in the Norwegian Parliament; during one of these terms he was President of the Storting. He made his mark in

language politics Language politics is the way language and linguistic differences between peoples are dealt with in the political arena. This could manifest as government recognition, as well as how language is treated in official capacities. The topic is a mult ...

Early life and education

He was born in

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

as a son of sailmaker Johan Pedersen (1857–1941) and his wife Johanne Christine Natvig (1863–1940). He briefly attended the

Norwegian Military Academy The Norwegian Military Academy (), in Oslo, educates officers of the Norwegian Army and serves as the King's Royal Guard. The academy was established in 1750, and is the oldest institution for higher education in Norway. History The Commander- ...

, but graduated with the cand.philol. degree in 1919. In the same year he was hired as a school teacher in Stavanger. He was also a standing military officer, and held the rank Premier Lieutenant from 1920.

Political career

He was elected to Stavanger city council for the first time in 1922, and was re-elected successively throughout the rest of the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...

. He chaired his local party chapter from 1925 to 1926 and 1935 to 1936, and was a member of the Labour Party national board from 1936 to 1939. From 1926 to 1928 he was a member of the city school board. He was also

board chairman A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organi ...

of the local party newspaper ''

Den 1ste Mai ''Rogalands Avis'' is a local newspaper published in Stavanger, Norway. History and profile ''Rogalands Avis'' was established in 1899. The paper is based in Stavanger and covers the southern Rogaland. A Labour Party-affiliated newspaper, it ...

'' from 1927 to 1936. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from the Market towns of Vest-Agder and Rogaland counties in

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

. Among the political cases during this period, Natvig-Pedersen made a mark in the language issue. He was one of the people behind the orthographic reform of 1938, which implemented a converge between

Nynorsk Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-Nor ...

and

Bokmål Bokmål () (, ; ) is an official written standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is the preferred written standard of Norwegian for 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. Unlike, for instance, the Italian language, there ...

. He issued the orthographic dictionary ''Norsk rettskrivingsordliste'' in 1938 together with

August Lange Christian August Manthey Lange (28 April 1907 – 6 August 1970) was a Norwegian educator, non-fiction writer and cultural attaché. Personal life Lange was born in Kristiania, the son of politician and Nobel Laureate Christian Lous Lange (186 ...

; the book was reprinted ten times. In the next year, Natvig-Pedersen followed with a textbook in Norwegian Bokmål. He later served as a member of the Norwegian Language Committee from 1953 to 1962, and in 1959 he issued a new version of ''Norsk rettskrivingsordliste'' together with

Kjølv Egeland Kjølv Egeland (8 September 1918 – 30 December 1999) was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He was Minister of Education and Church Affairs 1976–1979. He is the father of Jan Egeland (born 1957), former United Nations Undersecretar ...

. During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, he was imprisoned by the Nazis. He was first arrested in March 1942 for boycotting the Nazi creation, the Teachers Union, together with a large number of other teachers, including

Kjell Bondevik Kjell Bondevik (11 March 1901 – 21 December 1983) was a Norwegian politician for the Christian Democratic Party. He was born in Leikanger. He graduated with the cand.philol. and mag.art. (PhD equivalent) degrees in 1927. He worked as a tea ...

. He sat at

Grini Grini is a district in northeastern Bærum, Norway. Concentration camp The name Grini is best known from the concentration camp of the same name, but this camp lay further west and had no actual connection to the Grini area. History The name ...

for one day, later at

Jørstadmoen Jørstadmoen is a village in Lillehammer Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located along the river Gudbrandsdalslågen, about to the northwest of the town of Lillehammer. The village has a population (2021) of 661 and a ...

and

Kirkenes Kirkenes (; ; Skolt Sami: ''Ǩeârkknjargg;'' fi, Kirkkoniemi; ; russian: Киркенес) is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, in the far northeastern part of Norway. The town ...

. He was then released, only to be arrested again on 8 March 1943. He was imprisoned at Grini later that month, and in May he was transferred to

Sachsenhausen Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners ...

. After the

liberation Liberation or liberate may refer to: Film and television * ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War * "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode * "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode Gaming * '' Liberati ...

he returned to his teaching job, the Norwegian Parliament and Stavanger city council. He was re-elected to Parliament twice; in

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

and

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

. From January 1949 to January 1954 he served as the President of the Storting. He spent the rest of his professional career as headmaster at St. Svithuns School, having left

Stavanger Cathedral School Stavanger Cathedral School ('' Norwegian: Stavanger katedralskole'') is an upper secondary school in the city of Stavanger, Rogaland county, Norway. It is spread over two areas; the traditional Kongsgård and the school's new building in Bjergs ...

in 1946. He also held a number of cultural offices. He was a board member of

Stavanger Museum Stavanger Museum is a museum of natural and cultural history established in 1877, located in the Norwegian city Stavanger. The museum's collections consist of several departments: the department of zoology, the department for cultural history (wh ...

from 1935 to 1958 and chair from 1958 to 1965, deputy board member of the

Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture The Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture ( no, Instituttet for sammenlignende kulturforskning) is a humanities research institute based in Oslo, Norway. It was established in 1922 by Fredrik Stang. An independent institute, its task ...

from 1947 to 1950, board member of

Rogaland Teater Rogaland Teater is a theatre in Stavanger, Norway. Background The theatre building was built in 1883 on a parcel of '' Kannik prestegård''. It was designed by architect Hartvig Sverdrup Eckhoff, and initially held close to 500 seats. The bui ...

from 1953 to 1965 and chair of

FK Vidar FK Vidar is an association football club from Stavanger, Norway. They currently play in the 3. divisjon, the fourth highest level in the Norwegian football league system. Club history The club was founded on 18 April 1906. FK Vidar played their ...

. He was a member of the

Norwegian Nobel Committee The Norwegian Nobel Committee ( no, Den norske Nobelkomité) selects the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize each year on behalf of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel's estate, based on instructions of Nobel's will. Five members are appointed by ...

from 1948 to 1965, and also held a few industrial positions: member of the Vest-Agder and Rogaland railway committee from 1938 to 1959 and chair of

Norsk Jernverk Norsk Jernverk is a former Norwegian industrial company which was founded in 1946 in Mo i Rana, fully owned by the Norwegian government. The production started in 1955. In 1985 it acquired the steel company Christiania Spigerverk, which was later ag ...

from 1946 to 1964. In 1962 he was decorated as a Commander of the

Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

. He was also a Knight of the Monegasque Princeps et Patria order from 1950. He retired as a headmaster in 1962, and left Stavanger city council in 1964. He died in May 1965.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Natvig-Pedersen, Gustav 1893 births 1962 deaths Norwegian educators Norwegian philologists Politicians from Stavanger Labour Party (Norway) politicians Presidents of the Storting Members of the Storting Norwegian resistance members Grini concentration camp survivors Sachsenhausen concentration camp survivors Vice Presidents of the Storting 20th-century Norwegian politicians 20th-century philologists