Thomas Christian Wyller (16 September 1922 – 24 April 2012) was a professor of
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
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 ...
. He is regarded as one of the founders of political science as an academic discipline in Norway,
and his area of interest was modern
political history
Political history is the narrative and survey of political events, ideas, movements, organs of government, voters, parties and leaders. It is closely related to other fields of history, including diplomatic history, constitutional history, social ...
.
Early and personal life
Wyller was born in
Stavanger
Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...
, as a son of barrister Trygve Christian Wyller (1888–1960) and Anne Kathrine Dons (1891–1982). He is a brother of philosopher
Egil A. Wyller.
[ His father was ]Nacht und Nebel
''Nacht und Nebel'' (German: ), meaning Night and Fog, was a directive issued by Adolf Hitler on 7 December 1941 targeting political activists and resistance "helpers" in the territories occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II, who were to ...
prisoner in Germany.
Career
Wyller finished
Finished may refer to:
* ''Finished'' (novel), a 1917 novel by H. Rider Haggard
* ''Finished'' (film), a 1923 British silent romance film
* "Finished" (short story), a science fiction short story by L. Sprague de Camp
See also
*Finishing (disa ...
his secondary education in 1941, and enrolled 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 ...
as a student of philology.[ Being involved in resistance work, he was arrested in August 1942 (underground newspapers) and transferred to the concentration camp ]Grini
Grini is a district in northeastern Bærum, Norway.
Concentration camp
The name Grini is best known from the concentration camp of the same name, but this camp lay further west and had no actual connection to the Grini area.
History
The name ...
where he stayed until the war ended in May 1945. During his stay at Grini, he passed an examination in Latin with best possible result, with professor of philology Eiliv Skard
Eiliv Skard (19 October 1898 – 30 September 1978) was a Norwegian classical philologist.
Personal life
He was born in Levanger as a son of educators Matias Skard (1846–1927) and Gyda Christensen (1868–1916). The family moved to Kristians ...
as examinator, and Francis Bull
Francis Bull (4 October 1887–4 July 1974) was a Norwegian literary historian, professor at the University of Oslo for more than thirty years, essayist and speaker, and magazine editor.
Early and personal life
Bull was born in Kristiania, so ...
as censor, both professors being long-term camp detainees. Wyller was involved in the secret news service inside the camp, where news from London Radio was distributed to the prisoners. In 2002 he published the book ''W/25X. Motstandskampen på Grini'', about the resistance work at Grini. ''W'' and ''25 X'' was the code name for the outside and inside espionage leaders, respectively, and ''25 X'' was also used as codename for the espionage group inside the camp. Shortly after the war, Wyller was a member of the group of former Grini prisoners who started the magazine ''Ungdom!'', Wyller being one of the editors.[
In the 1950s Wyller did research on the history of Norway during the occupation. He wrote the book ''Fra okkupasjonstidens maktkamp'' in 1953. ''Nyordning og motstand'' from 1958 is his doctoral thesis on Norwegian organisations during the attempts of nazification during the first years of the ]German occupation of Norway
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 ...
. When Wyller received his dr.philos. degree in 1958, this was the first doctorate in political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
in Norway.[
Wyller was chairman for ''Norsk statsvitenskapelig forening'' from 1958 to 1961. He was appointed 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 ...
in 1968, and held this position until his retirement in 1992.[ He died on 24 April 2012.]
Selected works
*
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyller, Thomas Christian
1922 births
2012 deaths
Writers from Stavanger
Norwegian resistance members
Grini concentration camp survivors
Norwegian political scientists
20th-century Norwegian historians
Norwegian magazine editors
University of Oslo alumni
Academic staff of the University of Oslo