Nils Hjelmtveit (21 July 1892–30 October 1985) was a

Norwegian 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 ...

educator and politician for the Labour Party. He was mayor of

Stokken Stokken is a former municipality in the old Aust-Agder county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1919 until 1962 when it was merged into the newly-created Moland municipality. Today, the area is a part of the present-day municipality of ...

, MP from 1925 to 1930, Minister of Education and Church Affairs from 1935 to 1945 and County Governor of Aust-Agder from 1945 to 1961.

Early career

He was born at Hopland in

Alversund Alversund is a village in Alver municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the mainland of the Lindås peninsula, along the shore of the Alverstraumen strait. The village sits between the villages of Alverstraumen (acr ...

municipality as a son of farmer Nils Hjelmtveit, Sr. (1861–1911) and his wife Ingebjørg Herland (1865–1893). He graduated from Stord Teacher's College in 1913, and was hired as a teacher in Eydehamn in the same year. He was promoted to headmaster in 1918. In December 1918, he married Karen Adelma Andersen (1894–1991).

National politics

From 1919 to 1920 he also published the

temperance Temperance may refer to: Moderation *Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed *Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion Culture *Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...

weekly magazine ''Egden''. Hjelmtveit was a member of

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

from 1919 to 1937, and served as mayor from 1923 to 1928 and 1932 to 1935. He also chaired the school board from 1921 to 1922. He was elected to the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

from

Aust-Agder Aust-Agder (, en, "East Agder") was a county (''fylke'') in Norway until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Vest-Agder to form Agder county. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which was 2.2% of Norway's population. Its area was . The ...

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

and

1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith becomes the first Director-General. * January 7 * ...

, serving two terms. In 1935, when

Nygaardsvold's Cabinet __NOTOC__ Nygaardsvold's Cabinet (later becoming the Norwegian government-in-exile, Norwegian: ''Norsk eksilregjering'') was appointed on 20 March 1935, the second Labour cabinet in Norway. It brought to an end the non-socialist minority Governm ...

assumed office, Hjelmtveit was appointed Minister of Education and Church Affairs. He reportedly had to be strongly persuaded by

Johan Nygaardsvold Johan Nygaardsvold (; 6 September 1879 – 13 March 1952) was a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party who served as the 21st prime minister of Norway from 1935 to 1945. From June 1940 until May 1945, he oversaw the Norwegian Government-in-ex ...

. Some of the cases that were decided during Hjelmtveit's tenure were naming of the committees that prepared the

University of Bergen The University of Bergen ( no, Universitetet i Bergen, ) is a research-intensive state university located in Bergen, Norway. As of 2019, the university has over 4,000 employees and 18,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 194 ...

Riksteatret Riksteatret (English: National Traveling Theater) is a Norwegian touring theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or ima ...

and the

Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund The Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund ( no, Statens lånekasse for utdanning) is a government agency that allocates loans and grants to Norwegian and certain foreign students for their education. Lånekassen was established in 1947. Lånekass ...

, closing of the teachers' colleges at

Hamar Hamar is a List of cities in Norway, town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hedmarken. ...

and

Notodden Notodden () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city and List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold og Telemark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Øst-Telemark. ...

, the language reform of 1938, poet's grant to

Arnulf Øverland Ole Peter Arnulf Øverland (27 April 1889 – 25 March 1968) was a Norwegian poet and artist. He is principally known for his poetry which served to inspire the Norwegian resistance movement during the German occupation of Norway during World ...

, construction of Kringkastingshuset and the signing of a Norwegian-Czechoslovak cultural cooperation treaty. From 1940 to 1945 Hjelmtveit was exiled in London together with the rest of Nygaardsvold's Cabinet, because of 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 the ...

. Hjelmtveit later defended the cabinet's actions on 9 April 1940, when they fled from the invading Germans. The war memoirs ''Vekstår og vargtid'' came in 1969. While exiled he wrote the book ''Education in Norway'', published 1946. Between the war's end ( 8 May 1945) and Hjelmtveit's return to Norway, Alv Harald Helland and

Terje Wold Terje Wold (23 August 1899 – 6 September 1972) was a Norwegian judge and politician for the Labour Party. Terje Wold was born in Evenes. He graduated as cand.jur. in 1921. He worked as a jurist, becoming a Supreme Court Justice of Norway in ...

filled in as Minister of Education and Research. He stepped down in June 1945, when

Gerhardsen's First Cabinet Gerhardsen's First Cabinet, often called the Unification Cabinet ( no, Samlingsregjeringen), was a Norwegian government appointed to serve under Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen between 25 June and 5 November 1945, in the aftermath of the Second W ...

took over. On 1 December 1945 he became County Governor of Aust-Agder, a post he held until 1961. He headed the Norwegian delegation to found

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

in London in 1945, and also headed the delegation for UNESCO's 1st General Conference in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1946. Hjelmtveit was a temperance activist, and was a local board member of the

International Organisation of Good Templars The International Organisation of Good Templars (IOGT; founded as the Independent Order of Good Templars), whose international body is known as Movendi International, is a fraternal organization which is part of the temperance movement, promotin ...

. He was a member of the council of

Vinmonopolet Vinmonopolet ( en, The Wine Monopoly), symbolized by Ⓥ and Colloquialism, colloquially shortened to Polet, is a government-owned alcoholic beverage retailer and the Alcohol monopoly, only company allowed to sell beverages containing an Alcohol b ...

from 1929, deputy chair from 1932 to 1935, and then chair from 1946. He was also a board chairman of the newspaper from 1929 to 1934, a board member of the

Norse Federation The Norse Federation ( no, Nordmanns-Forbundet) is a Norwegian non-profit organization that was founded in 1907, and is under the patronage of the monarch of Norway, currently King Harald V. The organization states that its purpose is to "unit fri ...

, deputy chair 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 ...

from 1946 to 1957 and chair from 1957 to 1965. In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s he wrote local history books about

Nordhordland Nordhordland is a traditional district in the western part of Norway. The district consists of the northern portion of the old Hordaland county (now in Vestland county), north of the city of Bergen. It includes the municipalities Alver, Austr ...

. He was decorated with 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 ...

in 1954, and died in 1985 at

Flosta Flosta (historic: ''Flougstad'') is a former municipality in the old Aust-Agder county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1902 until its dissolution in 1962. It is currently part of the municipality of Arendal in Agder county. The admini ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hjelmtveit, Nils 1892 births 1985 deaths People from Lindås Stord/Haugesund University College alumni Norwegian educators Norwegian temperance activists Labour Party (Norway) politicians Mayors of places in Aust-Agder Members of the Storting Government ministers of Norway Norwegian expatriates in the United Kingdom Norwegian World War II memoirists County governors of Norway Ministers of Education of Norway International Organisation of Good Templars