Johan Scharffenberg | |
|---|---|
 Johan Scharffenberg in 1959 | |
| Born | (1869-11-23)23 November 1869 Moss, Norway |
| Died | 1 February 1965(1965-02-01) (aged 95) |
| Occupation(s) | psychiatrist, politician, speaker and writer |
Johan Scharffenberg (23 November 1869 – 1 February 1965) was a Norwegianpsychiatrist, politician, speaker and writer.
Scharffenberg was born inMoss as the son of military officer Hedvard Carl Scharffenberg (1819–1893) and Caroline Fredrikke Dietrichson (1825–1876). He was a nephew of priestJohannes W. C. Dietrichson. The family soon moved from Moss, and Scharffenberg grew up inKristiania,Hamar, andMolde. Hefinished his secondary education in 1888, enrolled in medicine studies in 1889 and took thecand.med. degree in 1897.[1]
Scharffenberg served as a physician and psychiatrist at psychiatric institutions and prisons, working inTrondhjem from 1903 to 1904 and then in Kristiania. He worked at the prisonBotsfengselet from 1919 to 1940 and was a chief physician atOslo Hospital from 1922 to late 1945, except for 1941 to early 1945.[1][2] In 1976, abust of him was raised at Oslo Hospital.[1]
He was an active participant in the contemporary debates, starting in the late 1880s. He issued the poetry collectionHjemløse Sange ('Homeless Songs') as early as in 1889, under the pseudonym Kai Lykke. In 1899 he wrote the bookReform av den medicinske undervisning ('Reform of the Medical Training'), which became unpopular in academic circles at the time. After issuing the three-volume workBidrag til de norske lægestillingers historie før 1800 ('Contributions to the History of Norwegian Medical Positions Before 1800) in 1904 and 1905, he applied for afellowship at theRoyal Frederick University in 1908. The Faculty of Medicine granted him the fellowship, but this was stopped by theCollegium Academicum (the university's board). Scharffenberg would later attract criticism by rejecting other methods, including that ofWilhelm Reich. He argued forless use of alcohol in the society, and was a member of the Alcohol Commission of 1910, which was established on his initiative.[1]
Scharffenberg was also asupporter of theNynorsk language, but was ambivalent to both nationalism and thedissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905.[1]
During the 1930s, Scharffenberg was highly critical of the emergence of Nazism in Germany. In a series of articles inArbeiderbladet in 1933 he concluded that Adolf Hitler was a paranoidpsychopath, and the Germanlegation in Oslo delivered several official protests claiming he was offending a foreign head of state.[3] After the rulingNazi Party in Germany passed theGerman Sterilization Law in 1933, however, Scharffenberg—a supporter ofeugenics—applauded the legislation and called for similar legislation in Norway.[4] A lecture held at theNorwegian Students' Society in September 1940, where he called for freedom and resistance, gave him enormous applause, and is regarded as one of the starting events of theNorwegian resistance movement against theNazi German occupation of Norway.[1] He was also arrested after the talk and held in detention for a few weeks.[3] After the war, Scharffenberg was selected to hold the welcome speech forKing Haakon when he returned to Norway in June 1945.[3] He participated in the public debate on thelegal purge in Norway after World War II, arguing againstthe use ofdeath penalty, and he warned against the occurrences where people took the law into their own hands and humiliated women who had had sexual relations with the occupants.[5]
Scharffenberg was 76 years old in 1945, but still participated in the public debate. He opposed Norwegian membership inNATO and even theUnited Nations, arguing that the state was too small to gain influence.[1] He was "in personal contact" with the people behind the NATO-critical, socialist newspaperOrientering.[6] He admired the Swiss political system, and saw the country's neutrality as an ideal for Norway in the 1950 bookNorske aktstykker til okkupasjonens forhistorie.[7] He was also a proponent of thereferendum, commonly deployed in Swiss politics.[1] In 1961 he stood forward as a member ofLandsforbundet for folkeavstemning, a lobby organization which worked to include the institution of referendums in theNorwegian Constitution.[8] He died in February 1965 in Oslo.[1]
{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
