The Ministry of Culture and Enlightenment ( no, Kultur- og folkeopplysningsdepartementet) was a

government ministry Ministry or department (also less commonly used secretariat, office, or directorate) are designations used by first-level executive bodies in the machinery of governments that manage a specific sector of public administration." Энцикло� ...

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 ...

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 ...

, established on 25 September 1940, and closed down at the end of

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 ...

. The ministry was set up on 25 September 1940 by ''

Reichskommissar (, rendered as "Commissioner of the Empire", "Reich Commissioner" or "Imperial Commissioner"), in German history, was an official gubernatorial title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and Nazi Germany. Germa ...

Josef Terboven Josef Terboven (23 May 1898 – 8 May 1945) was a Nazi Party official and politician who was the long-serving ''Gauleiter'' of Gau Essen and the ''Reichskommissar'' for Norway during the German occupation. Early life Terboven was born in Essen ...

as a consequence 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 ...

during World War II. It consisted of three departments and four directorates. The ministry was initially headed by Gulbrand Lunde until 30 November 1942, and thereafter by Rolf Jørgen Fuglesang One of the departments, the Propaganda Department, was renamed Department for Popular Enlightenment in 1944. The best known directorate was the Norwegian Press Directorate. 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), the

National Gallery of Norway The National Gallery ( no, Nasjonalgalleriet) is a gallery in Oslo, Norway. Since 2003 it is administratively a part of the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design. , the admission cost is 100 Norwegian kroner. History It was establishe ...

, the

Norwegian National Academy of Fine Arts The Norwegian National Academy of Arts ( no, Statens kunstakademi) is a Norwegian Academy offering studies in the area of Fine Art. The Academy currently offers 3-year bachelor and 2-year MA programmes. The "Norwegian National Academy of the Arts" ...

and all other non-scientific museums were subordinate to the Pressedirektoratet. The department was modelled after the ''Reichskommissariats Hauptabteilung Volksaufklaerung und Propaganda'' (" Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda"), trying to spread

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

ideology in

. Documents from this department are archived by the

National Archival Services of Norway The National Archival Services of Norway ( no, Arkivverket) is a Norwegian government agency that is responsible for keeping state archives, conducts control of public archiving and works to preserve private archives. It is subordinate to the Mi ...

References

Website
of the

* Norway in World War II Nazi propaganda organizations Government ministries of Norway

Ministries established in 1940 Ministries disestablished in 1945 1940 establishments in Norway {{Norway-gov-stub