Hans Fredrik Dahl (born 16 October 1939) is a Norwegian historian, journalist and media scholar, 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 Nazi collaborator who nominally headed the government of Norway during the country's occupation by Nazi Germ ...

, a Nazi collaborationist and

Minister President A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary system, parliamentary or semi-presidential system, semi-presidential system of government where ...

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 philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied pri ...

of the 20th century, and the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He served as culture editor of ''

Dagbladet ''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newsp ...

'' 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 ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

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 Tove Stang Dahl (born Tove Thiis Stang) (9 November 1938 – 11 February 1993) was a Norwegian legal scholar, criminologist, Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo from 1988 until her death, and a pioneer of " feminist jurisp ...

(''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 Francis Sejersted (8 February 1936 – 25 August 2015) was a Norwegian history professor and the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee (which awards the Nobel Peace Prize) from 1991 until 1995. Early life Sejersted was born in Oslo. He p ...

. In his younger days he defined himself as a

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

and

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

, and was elected head of the

Norwegian Students' Society Norwegian Students' Society ( no, Det Norske Studentersamfund) is Norway's oldest student society. The Norwegian Students' Society was established during 1813 in Oslo, Norway. Two years after the Royal Frederick University (today named the Univer ...

as the left-wing candidate in 1963. He converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

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

Career

Dahl has written two books on the history of the

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...

(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 ''Pax Leksikon'' is a Norwegian political encyclopedia published in six volumes by the Norwegian publishing house Pax Forlag from 1978 to 1981. Editors were Hans Fredrik Dahl, Jon Elster, Irene Iversen, Siri Nørve, Tor Inge Romøren, Rune Slagst ...

'' (1978–1981) and ''

Norsk krigsleksikon 1940-45 Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

'' (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 Dahl ...

''. 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 ( no, Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, 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 Univer ...

. In 2000 he received the

Fritt Ord Honorary Award Fritt Ord Award consists of two prizes awarded by the Fritt Ord Foundation (''Stiftelsen Fritt Ord''). Two prizes are awarded in support of freedom of speech and freedom of expression; the Fritt Ord Award ( no, Fritt Ords pris) and the Fritt Or ...

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