Olav Dalgard (June 19, 1898 – December 25, 1980) was a Norwegian literary and art historian, filmmaker, author and educator.

Biography

Dalgard was born Olaf Hanssen in

Folldal Municipality Folldal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Folldal. The municipality was established in 1914 when it was separ ...

, in

Hedmark Hedmark () was a Counties of Norway, county in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmar ...

, Norway. From the age of three, he was raised in

Oppdal Municipality is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Dovre region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Oppdal (village), village of Oppdal. Other villages in the ...

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; or is a county and coextensive with the Trøndelag region (also known as ''Midt-Norge'' or ''Midt-Noreg,'' "Mid-Norway") in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County (); in 1804 the county was ...

. He earned an M.A. degree in literature and art history 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 ...

in 1929. He was an advocate of the use of

Nynorsk Nynorsk (; ) is one of the two official 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 (''Landsmål''), parallel to the Da ...

and served as the chairman of the student Nynorsk association. He was also involved in the

Mot Dag (, 'Towards Day') was a Norway, Norwegian political group. The group was active from the 1920s to the early 1930s and was first affiliated with the Labour Party (Norway), Labour Party until 1925. After World War II, many of its former members were ...

movement. Dalgard worked as a literary critic for the newspapers ''

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 ...

'' and ''

Arbeiderbladet is a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. The former party organ of the Norwegian Labour Party, the ties loosened over time from 1975 to 1999. It has borne several names, and was called ''Arbeiderbladet'' from 1923 to 1997. Eirik Hoff Lys ...

''. Dalgard took over as dramatic advisor and instructor for Det Norske Teateret in 1931 and was involved with the theater for 48 years. He studied film in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and in the 1930s produced several films with a

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 ...

message. Dalgard was also active in the

Norwegian Labour Party The Labour Party (; , A or Ap; ), formerly The Norwegian Labour Party (, DNA), is a Social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in Norway, political party in Norway. It is positioned on the centre-left of the political spectru ...

's cultural operations. During the

Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...

, Dalgard was arrested in 1942, held as a political prisoner by German authorities and sent to the

Sachsenhausen concentration camp 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 t ...

. Dalgard was involved in the establishment of the

Norwegian Film Institute The Norwegian Film Institute () was founded in 1955 to support and develop the Norwegian film industry. On 1 April 2008, it was merged with Norwegian Film Fund, Norwegian Film Development, and Norwegian Film Commission to form the "'new' Norweg ...

and was a member of the state film board. Among his most famous works was ''

Gryr i Norden ''Gryr i Norden'' (Dawn in the North) is a Norwegian film from 1939 that was directed by Olav Dalgard. ''Gryr i Norden'' is the last film in the "worker trilogy." The other two films are ''Det drønner gjennom dalen'' (1938) and ''Lenkene brytes' ...

'' (1939). Dalgard both wrote the script and directed the film which was a dramatization of the Kristiania Match Workers' Strike of 1889 (). He also wrote a number of books about theater and film as well as biographies including (nonfiction, 1948), (nonfiction, 1951), (nonfiction, 1955), ''Lars Tvinde'' (biography of

Lars Tvinde Lars Tvinde (11 September 1886 – 25 June 1973) was a Norwegian stage and film actor. Biography Tvinde was born at Voss in Hordaland, Norway. He was the son of Knut Haldorsen (1843–1927) and Eli Jørgensdotter Leidal (1842–1927). He attend ...

, 1966) and ''Inge Krokann'' (biography of

Inge Krokann Inge Krokann (19 August 1893–27 September 1962) was a Norwegian writer. His most famous work is '' I Dovre Sno '' (1929), an epic story of the Loe family during the Middle Ages. Because his writing was full of local expressions and is so st ...

, 1970). Dalgard was chairman of the

Norwegian Literature Critics' Association The Norwegian Critics' Association (''Norsk litteraturkritikerlag'') is an organization for Norway, Norwegian critics in the newspaper and broadcasting professions. Former independent critic teams merged into Norwegian Critics Association in 199 ...

from 1953 to 1955, and president of the

Norwegian Humanist Association The Norwegian Humanist Association (; HEF) is one of the largest secular humanist associations in the world, with over 130,000 members. Those members constitute 2.3% of the national population of 5.47 million, making HEF by far the largest such a ...

from 1965 to 1977. From 1961, Dalgard received a government grant. He was a lecturer in theater history at the

Norwegian National Academy of Theatre The Oslo National Academy of the Arts (, ''KHiO'') is a tertiary institution in Oslo, Norway, that provides education in visual arts, design and performing arts. It is one of two public institutes of higher learning in Norway that teaches in v ...

() and at the Department of Theater Science at the

Personal life

In 1926, he married Anna Marie Sorteberg (1897–1968). They resided at Voll in

Akershus Akershus () is a county in Norway, with Oslo as its administrative centre, though Oslo is not located within Akershus. Akershus has been a region in Eastern Norway with Oslo as its main city since the Middle Ages, and is named after the Akers ...

. Psychiatrist was their son. In 1978 he accepted the

Arts Council Norway Honorary Award The Arts Council Norway Honorary Award () is awarded annually by the Arts Council Norway. The prize is awarded annually to a person who has made a significant contribution to Norwegian art and culture. The prize committee does not solicit nom ...

() and in 1979 he received the Literary Collection Literature Prize (). Dalgard died in

Bærum Municipality Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Akershus County, Norway. It forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). The administr ...

in 1980. The award , now known as ', was awarded for the first time in 1981. It is given annually to a reviewer in literature, film, or theater by the

Norwegian Critics' Association The Norwegian Critics' Association (''Norsk litteraturkritikerlag'') is an organization for Norwegian critics in the newspaper and broadcasting professions. Former independent critic teams merged into Norwegian Critics Association in 1998. The ...

().

Works

Books

* (1930) * (1933) * (1934) * (1936) * (1945) * (1951) * ''Lars Tvinde'' (1966) * ''Inge Krokann'' (1970) * (1972) * (1973) * (1974) * (1976) * (1978) * (1979)

Films

* ' (1935) * ''

Vi bygger landet ''Vi bygger landet'' (We Build the Country) is a Norwegian film from 1936, directed by Olav Dalgard. The film is a so-called "workers' film" that was created on behalf of the Workers' Educational Association (, AOF) to motivate voters in the citi ...

'' (1936) * ''

By og land hand i hand ''By og land hand i hand'' (Town and Country Hand in Hand) is a 1937 Norway, Norwegian drama film written and directed by Olav Dalgard, starring Hans Bille and Lars Tvinde. The film was made by the Norwegian Labour Party for the 1937 Norwegian loc ...

'' (1937) * ''

Det drønner gjennom dalen ''Det drønner gjennom dalen'' (English: ''A Boom through the Valley'') is a 1938 Norwegian drama film written and directed by Olav Dalgard, starring Tryggve Larssen and Ragnhild Hald. It follows the trials and tribulations of contemporary lumb ...

'' (1938) * ''

Lenkene brytes ''Lenkene brytes'' (The Chains Are Broken) is a Norwegian film from 1938 that was directed by Olav Dalgard and Fredrik Barth. ''Lenkene brytes'' is the second film in the "worker trilogy." The other two films are ''Det drønner gjennom dalen'' (1 ...

'' (1938) * ''

'' (1939) * ''

Om kjærlighet synger de ''Om'' (or ''Aum''; ; , ISO 15919: ''Ōṁ'') is a polysemous symbol representing a sacred sound, seed syllable, mantra, and invocation in Hinduism. Its written form is the most important symbol in the Hindu religion. It is the esse ...

'' (1946) * ''

Vi vil leve ''Vi vil leve'' (We Want to Live) is a Norwegian film from 1946 directed by Olav Dalgard and Rolf Randall. The film deals with the German occupation of Norway. The film studies professor Gunnar Iversen characterizes it as "an uneven and choppy fi ...

'' (1946)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dalgard, Olav 1898 births 1980 deaths People from Folldal People from Oppdal University of Oslo alumni Norwegian literary critics Norwegian writers Norwegian film directors Nynorsk-language writers Norwegian humanists Academic staff of the Oslo National Academy of the Arts Academic staff of the University of Oslo Mot Dag Sachsenhausen concentration camp survivors