Didrik Arup Seip
Encyclopedia
Didrik Arup Seip was Professor of North Germanic languages at the University of Oslo
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...

.

He earned his doctorate (dr.philos.) in 1916 and was appointed professor the same year, retiring in 1954. Together with Herman Jæger, he edited and published the collected works of Henrik Wergeland
Henrik Wergeland
Henrik Arnold Thaulow Wergeland was a Norwegian writer, most celebrated for his poetry but also a prolific playwright, polemicist, historian, and linguist...

 in 23 volumes (Samlede Skrifter : trykt og utrykt, 1918–1940). From 1937 until 1945, he served as the rector of the university.

Seip was a member of the Administrative Council, the temporary civil government of Norway during German military occupation
Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany
The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany started with the German invasion of Norway on April 9, 1940, and ended on May 8, 1945, after the capitulation of German forces in Europe. Throughout this period, Norway was continuously occupied by the Wehrmacht...

, in 1940. He was removed from his post as rector of the university in 1941. He was interned by the Nazis at Grini concentration camp, and was later transferred to Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...

, but was released in 1943 as a direct result of the efforts made by the Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 explorer Sven Hedin
Sven Hedin
Sven Anders Hedin KNO1kl RVO was a Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, and travel writer, as well as an illustrator of his own works...

, using Hedin's relations with many high-ranking German Nazi officials, including Hitler. He wrote about his life during the war in his 1946 book: At home and in enemy country.

Even while being held prisoner, Seip carried out official university ceremonies, including the immatriculation of some students who also were imprisoned in Germany during the war.

He was an honorary doctor at the University of Hamburg (1938) and at Sorbonne (1945). He obtained the Norwegian "Storkors av St. Olav." (1945)

He was the grandfather of professor of pediatrics Ola Didrik Saugstad
Ola Didrik Saugstad
Ola Didrik Saugstad is a Norwegian pediatrician, who is internationally recognized for his research on resuscitation of newborn children. He is the most widely cited Norwegian pediatrician....

.

Bibliography: Tuneld, John (1904–1982), Didrik Arup Seip : en bibliografi / ved John Tuneld ; med inledning av Trygve Knudsen ; utg. av Bymålslaget. Oslo : Norske Samlaget, 1981.
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