Hans Fredrik Dahl (born 16 October 1939) is a Norwegian historian, journalist and

media scholar Media studies is a discipline (academia), discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media (communication), media; in particular, the mass media. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the ...

, best known in the English-speaking world for his biography of

Vidkun Quisling Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling (; ; 18 July 1887 – 24 October 1945) was a Norwegian military officer, politician and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, Nazi collaborator who Quisling regime, headed the government of N ...

, a Nazi collaborationist and Minister President for Norway during the Second World War. His research is focused on media history, the totalitarian

ideologies An ideology is a set of beliefs or values attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely about belief in certain knowledge, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones". Form ...

of the 20th century, and the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He served as culture editor of ''

Dagbladet () is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally it was considered the main liberal newspaper of Norway, with a ...

'' 1978–1985 and has been a board member of the paper since 1996. He was a professor at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

1988–2009, and is now a professor emeritus.

Personal life

Dahl was born in Oslo, the son of Jacob Dahl, an engineer, and his wife Sophie Harbitz. He was married to jurist and pioneer of feminist jurisprudence Tove Stang Dahl (''née'' Tove Thiis Stang) from 1960 to 1993, and to art historian Elisabeth Elster from 1996. He is a maternal grandson of pathologist Francis Harbitz, and a cousin of historian Francis Sejersted. In his younger days he defined himself as a

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

and

Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

, and was elected head of the Norwegian Students' Society as the left-wing candidate in 1963. He converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in the 2000s, after recovering from a serious illness.

Career

Dahl has written two books on the history of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK): ''Hallo-Hallo'' (1975) and ''Dette er London'' (1978). He was cultural editor of the newspaper ''

'' from 1978 to 1985, and from 1988 to 2009 professor at the

. Dahl has been co-editor of the encyclopaedias '' Pax Leksikon'' (1978–1981) and '' Norsk krigsleksikon 1940-45'' (1995), and the four-volume press history ''

Norsk presses historie 1660–2010 ''Norsk presses historie 1660–2010'' is a four-volume work about the press media history of Norway. It was published in April 2010 by Universitetsforlaget, and was the first book of its kind in Norway. Structure and production Hans Fredrik Dah ...

''. He is, however, most famous in the English-speaking world for the book ''Quisling: A Study in Treachery'', a two-volume biography of the politician and Minister-President

; it was condensed into one volume upon translation into English. He is a fellow of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick University in Christiania was establis ...

. In 2000 he received the Fritt Ord Honorary Award.

Selected works

*''Norge mellom krigene'' (1971) *''Hallo-Hallo. Kringkastingen i Norge 1920–1940'' (1975) *''"Dette er London". NRK i krig 1940–1945'' (1978) *''Vidkun Quisling. En fører blir til'' (biography, 1991) *''Vidkun Quisling. En fører for fall'' (biography, 1992)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dahl, Hans Fredrik 1939 births Living people Writers from Oslo Dagbladet people Norwegian encyclopedists Norwegian editors 20th-century Norwegian historians Media historians Historians of World War II Academic staff of the University of Oslo Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Norwegian Roman Catholics Converts to Roman Catholicism 21st-century Norwegian historians