Reidar Omang (26 November 1897 – 15 October 1964) was a Norwegian historian, librarian and archivist.

Early life and education

Reidar Omang was born in

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 ...

(now Oslo), Norway. His father, Simen Oscar Fredrik Omang (1867-1953), was a noted botanist. Omang took

matriculation Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term ''matriculation'' is seldom used no ...

from the

Skien Skien () is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsjø area and Bø. The administrative ...

public school in 1916. He took his Cand.mag. degree 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 1924 and Cand. philol. in 1930.

Career

Teaching career

He was a teacher in

Telemark Telemark () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway. Telemark borders the counties of Vestfold, Buskerud, Vestland, Rogaland and Agder. In 2020, Telemark merged with the county of Vestfold to form the county o ...

Kviteseid Kviteseid is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional districts of Vest-Telemark and Upper Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kviteseidbyen. Other villages in Kviteseid ...

from 1918 to 1919 and at

from 1919 to 1920. From 1923 to 1935 he was employed at the

Library. During 1928–1935, he was also chief of the Manuscript Collection. From 1928 to 1945, he was librarian at the Norwegian Royal Palace. In 1935, he was appointed chief of the Foreign Ministry archives. a position he had until 1960.

World War II

During the

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

, he led the evacuation of documents from the Foreign Ministry archives to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. In 1941 he went to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and worked in the

Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( Norwegian or ''Utenriksdepartementet''; or ''Utanriksdepartementet''; UD) is the foreign ministry of the Kingdom of Norway. It was established on June 7, 1905, the same day the Parliament of ...

until liberation. He also edited several governmental documents on Norway, including treatises on Norway's relation to Sweden, on the

Altmark Incident The ''Altmark'' incident (Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Altmark''-affæren; German language, German: ''Altmark-Zwischenfall'') was a naval incident of World War II between British destroyers and the German tanker German tanker Altma ...

, and on the relation between the

government-in-exile A government-in-exile (GiE) is a political group that claims to be the legitimate government of a sovereign state or semi-sovereign state, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile usu ...

and the resistance movement. After the war, Reidar Omang published the two volume series ''Norsk utenrikstjeneste'' from 1955 to 1959. From 1961 he served as national archivist, a position he held until his death in 1964. Reidar Omang was a member 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 ...

from 1957. He was also knighted by first class of the Royal

Order of St. Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav (; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav II, known to posterity as St. Olav. Just be ...

.Tor Ragnar Weidling:''riksarkivar'' (Store norske leksikon)
/ref>

Selected works

*''Regjeringen og hjemmefronten under krigen'' (1948) *''Norges forhold til Sverige under krigen 1940–45'' (3 bd., 1947–50) *''Altmarksaken 1940'' (1953) *''Norge og stormaktene 1906–14'' (1957)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Omang, Reidar 1897 births 1964 deaths 20th-century Norwegian historians Librarians from Oslo Norwegian archivists Academic staff of the University of Oslo Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters