Kristiania
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) 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 ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
(1 January 1905 – 28 May 1960) 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 ...
psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...
, noted for her work among children and adolescents in Norway where she is known as "the mother of Norwegian pediatric and adolescent psychiatry." She was also active in the
Norwegian resistance
The Norwegian resistance (Norwegian: ''Motstandsbevegelsen'') to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began after Operation Weserübung in 1940 and ended in 1945. It took several forms:
*Asserting the legitimacy of the exiled government, ...
during
World War II
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 ...
, and was named as one of the
Righteous among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...
by
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
.
Biography
Caroline Schweigaard Nicolaysen (known in her childhood as Bitteba) was the youngest of four children born to Vilhelm Bernhoft Nicolaysen, an Army officer, and Anna Horn. She grew up in the section of Oslo known as
Homansbyen
Homansbyen is a neighborhood in Frogner borough in Oslo, Norway. The area is named for the lawyer brothers Jacob (1816-1868) and Henrik Homan (1824-1900).
Area
The area is located between the streets of Pilestredet in the east, and Uranienbor ...
, apparently an active and curious child, but also unusually sensitive. According to her son Helge Waal, she was prone to
psychosomatic
A somatic symptom disorder, formerly known as a somatoform disorder,(2013) gymnasium at home, due to illness. She attended the
Oslo Cathedral School
Schola Osloensis, known in Norwegian language, Norwegian as Oslo Katedralskole (''Oslo Cathedral School'') and more commonly as "Katta",
starting in the fall of 1921, where her schoolmates included
Trygve Bull
Trygve Friis Bull (13 August 1905 – 16 March 1999) was a Norwegian lecturer and politician. He was a member of Mot Dag in the 1920s and 1930s, and contributed to the magazines ''Mot Dag'', ''Clarté'' and ''Kontakt''. During World War II he ...
,
Karl Evang
Karl Evang (19 October 1902 – 3 January 1981) was a Norwegian physician and civil servant.
He was born in Oslo, Kristiania as a son of assisting secretary Jens Ingolf Evang (1873–1914) and Anna Beate Wexelsen (1875–1954). He was a brother o ...
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 ...
, became politically active as a radical socialist, and finished her medical studies in 1930. She was associated with the
Mot Dag
Mot Dag (, 'Towards Day') was a Norwegian political group. The group was active from the 1920s to the early 1930s and was first affiliated with the Labour Party. After World War II, many of its former members were leaders in Norwegian politics and ...
movement and worked as an editor in the periodical Æsculap. The political convictions she developed as a student set the foundation for a lifelong engagement in social causes, especially related to the needs of children, adolescents, and women.
Plagued with her own emotional problems all her life, she first underwent
psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
with Harald Schjelderup in Norway while she was a student. In 1927 she married the writer
Sigurd Hoel
Sigurd Hoel (December 14, 1890 – October 14, 1960) was a Norwegian author and publishing consultant, born in Nord-Odal. He debuted with the collection of short stories (The Way We Go) in 1922. His breakthrough came with (Sinners in Summertim ...
. She continued her psychoanalysis in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
as a student under Salomea Kempner, and in 1933 and 1934 she was accepted in the German and Danish-Norwegian Psychoanalytic associations, respectively. In 1936, Sigurd Hoel and she divorced, and in 1937 she married Wessel Waal and took the last name Waal for good.
While in Berlin, Waal became associated with
Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich ( , ; 24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was an Austrian Doctor of Medicine, doctor of medicine and a psychoanalysis, psychoanalyst, along with being a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. The author ...
and accompanied him when he fled Nazi persecution by moving to Norway. She continued her training first under another refugee from the Nazi regime, the
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n
Otto Fenichel
Otto Fenichel (2 December 1897 in Vienna – 22 January 1946 in Los Angeles) was a psychoanalyst of the so-called "second generation".
Education and psychoanalytic affiliations
Otto Fenichel started studying medicine in 1915 in Vienna. Already ...
, and then with Reich until 1939, when she opened her own psychoanalytic practice and joined the staff at Gaustad psychiatric hospital, where she remained on staff until 1947.
During the
German occupation
German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...
of Norway from 1940 to 1945, Waal became active in the underground resistance to the occupation. Among other activities, she was central in assuring the escape of Jewish children from Oslo, thereby saving them from
deportation
Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...
and certain death. For this effort, she was named among the Norwegian Righteous among the Nations. She was also active in the Norwegian clandestine intelligence service, XU.
In the spring of 1945, she was briefly arrested and escaped to Sweden.
Waal resumed her professional activities immediately after the war. She remained on the staff at Gaustad and also at
Ullevål hospital
Ullevaal Stadion () is an all-seater football stadium located in Oslo, Norway. It is the home ground of the Norway national football team, and the site of the Norwegian Cup Final. From its opening in 1926 to 2009 it was the home ground of FK ...
, but also worked in
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, and
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, with
Serge Lebovici
Serge Lebovici (10 June 1915, Paris – 11 August 2000, Marvejols) was a French psychiatrist and psychoanalyst.
References
1915 births
2000 deaths
Child psychiatrists
French psychiatrists
French psychoanalysts
20th-century French physici ...
. She was remembered by Cyrille Koupernik as "that Norwegian madwoman". In 1951, she was board certified as a psychiatrist, and in 1953, as one of the first in Norway, within paediatric and adolescent psychiatry.
Soon after her application to be the chief of staff at the newly formed Institute for Paediatric and Adolescent Psychiatry at
Rikshospitalet
Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet is one of the four main campuses of Oslo University Hospital in Oslo, Norway. It was an independent hospital, ''Rigshospitalet'', later spelled ''Rikshospitalet'' ("The National Hospital"), from 1826 to 2009 ...
was turned down (supposedly because her physical presentation was messy) in 1951, she started her own institute, named Nic Waals Institutt; first in her basement in the suburb Husebygrenda and eventually to the "blue house" in Munkedamsveien near
Skillebekk
Skillebekk is a neighbourhood of Oslo, Norway. It is located near Solli plass in the West End of Oslo, and is served by the station Skillebekk on the Skøyen Line
The Skøyen Line ( no, Skøyenlinjen/''Skøyenlinja'') is a tramway line running ...
.
Waal remained professionally active as the director of her institute until her death in 1960, also finding time to help juvenile offenders. She had two children with Wessel Waal, the psychiatrist Helge Waal (who also became her biographer) and the child psychologist Berit Waal Skaslien. She divorced Waal and married Alex Helju in 1951, who died in a boating accident in 1954.
Professional contributions and legacy
In spite of her personal problems, Nic Waal maintained an active and passionate professional life, integrating advocacy on public health issues, a strong interest in teaching, and clinical discipline into a broad range of issues in her field. She made lasting contributions within the areas of:
* The practice of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, usually within the context of Wilhelm Reich's framework but independently of his views. She did pioneering research and clinical work within the field of somatic psychiatric diagnostic techniques.
* Paediatric and adolescent psychiatry as a distinct field in Norwegian mental health
* Human sexuality, particularly among children and adolescents.
* Education - her institute provided educational programs for six distinct professions, including non-medical professionals such as psychologist, social workers, and clinical educators
When interviewed by the
Norwegian radio
There are many radio stations in Norway. For a more comprehensive list see List of Norwegian-language radio stations. Norway is in the process of transitioning all radio stations away from FM broadcasting to Digital Audio Broadcasting only. The cou ...
shortly before her death, she said:
The Nic Waal Institute, though renamed for some time, now continues as a leading regional teaching and clinical institution in Oslo under the auspices of Lovisenberg Diakonale Sykhus.
Literature
* - a book on the medium of film and its effect on children.
* - a book on parenting infants.
* - "Personality diagnosis with the purpose of structural descriptions - a publication of her institute.
* - an outline of Waal's somatic diagnostic methodology.
* - published posthumously, but translated to several languages, on the role of parenting and sexual neuroses.
* - selected writings by Nic Waal.
* - biography authored by her son, Helge Waal.
* - biographical essays of
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...
,
Knut Hamsun
Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to consciousness, subject, perspective a ...
,
Sigurd Hoel
Sigurd Hoel (December 14, 1890 – October 14, 1960) was a Norwegian author and publishing consultant, born in Nord-Odal. He debuted with the collection of short stories (The Way We Go) in 1922. His breakthrough came with (Sinners in Summertim ...
,
Agnar Mykle
Agnar Mykle (8 August 1915 – 15 January 1994) was a Norwegian author. He became one of the most controversial figures in Norwegian literature in the 20th century.
Early life
Born in Norway's third largest city, Trondheim, Mykle was often si ...
, and others
* - anniversary publication for her institute.
Nic Waal – her activity to save Jews' lives during the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
, at
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...