News of Norway, issue 7, 1999
Prior to the millennium, several Norwegian newspapers have asked their readers whom they consider to be the century's most important Norwegian. Aftenposten's readers have spoken: the polar explorer, humanist, scientist, and diplomat Fridtjof Nansen won the nomination, closely followed by royal runners-up King Haakon VII and King Olav V, proving the Norwegian's royal loyalty.
Nansen's many nicknames reflect his spectacular achievements: The Humanist. The Freedom Fighter. The Universal Talent. Norway's Greatest Son. Nobel Peace Prize winner Fridtjof Nansen is, for most Norwegians, the very symbol of Norwegian virtues-bravery, skill, stamina, humanity. All of these are qualities Nansen strived to exemplify in his many adventures and travels.
To the North Pole
Fridtjof Nansen was the ultimate athlete. Before he was seventeen he won the national distance skating championship, and a year later he broke a world speed skating record. The following year he won the national cross-country skiing race in his first attempt, and he continued to win it for the next eleven years until he retired.
Nansen entered the university at the age of 20 to study zoology. In the following year he joined a sealing ship on a voyage of several months to the East Coast of Greenland. Later, he admitted that he already then knew he would return to the arctic areas.
In 1882 he went on his first voyage to the Arctic Ocean with the ship "Viking". Six years later he crossed Greenland, and in 1983, together with Hjalmar Johansen, he explored the North Pole with his specially designed ship "Fram" ("Forward"). The adventures told of this trip still thrill new generations of Norwegians. It is said that the artist Erik Werenskiold borrowed Nansen's features when portraying Olav Tryggvason for Snorri's Sagas.
But Nansen wasn't only a domestic character. He represented Norway internationally, especially as an envoy to London from 1906-08. Before that, he was a crucial factor in the peaceful dissolution of Norway's union with Sweden in 1905.
Humanitarian achievements
Fridtjof Nansen's humanitarian achievements were fueled by his simple creed: Charity means practical politics. Nansen got involved in the relocation of 450,000 refugees of war from 26 countries in 1920. The famous Nansen Passport saved an innumerable amount of people in 1921, when 30 million Russians were saved from starvation. During the Greek-Turkish war, Nansen helped many minority groups return to their native countries. In 1924, he helped bring peace to the region. The Armenian tragedy, in which approximately 900,000 people were killed by the Turks, was an emotional and poignant event for Nansen. For his efforts, he was named the first ever UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and in 1922 he received the Nobel Peace Prize. Nansen is remembered not only in Norway. In 1995, he was celebrated in Russia on a 50 ruble gold coin, and in 1996, Armenia put Nansen's picture on a stamp. Fridtjof Nansen died on May 13, 1930 at 68 years of age.
"Deserved award"
Nansen biographer Øystein Sørensen applauds the decision. "Nansen was Norway's first national hero and, even though he was born in the previous century, he maintained that status throughout this century," the author of Fridtjof Nansen-Man and Myth told Aftenposten. "He was a serious scientist, no wimsy hotheaded adventurer. He made a great impact, not only for Norwegians, put for people all over the world."
"Kindness achieves more than cruelty"
In his Nobel address, Nansen did not spare those he held responsible for the famine in Russia in 1921. "In all probability their motives were political. They epitomize sterile self-importance and the lack of will to understand people who think differently...They call us romantics, weak, stupid, sentimental idealists, perhaps because we have some faith in the good which exists even in our opponents and because we believe that kindness achieves more than cruelty."
FACTS/Results of Aftenposten's reader survey
1. Fridtjof Nansen
2. King Olav V
3. King Haakon VII
4. Thor Heyerdahl
5. Einar Gerhardsen
6. Knut Hamsun
7. Gro Harlem Brundtland
8. Edvard Munch
9. Roald Amundsen
10. Sam Eyde