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11-02-2008

Wergeland2008 – a website dedicated to the Norwegian poet

A website dedicated to the poet, the king of the 17th of May, educator, fighter and social reformer. Thus we are celebrating the poet's 200th anniversary. Children and young people constitute an important target group for the website and celebrations.

The structure of the website Wergeland2008 makes it easy to find comprehensive information without having any specific background knowledge.

Henrik Wergeland is one of Norway's national poets. Although he was considered to be a controversial figure by his contemporaries, posterity has seen him as a national hero. Wergeland2008 fits perfectly into the context of the Norwegian Year of Cultural Diversity 2008 and Stavanger as the European Capital of Culture 2008, the main theme of which is 'Openness to the World'. 

Wergeland fought tirelessly to lift the ban against allowing Jews into Norway - included in the second paragraph of the Norwegian Constitution - in his collections of poems 'Jøden' ('The Jew', 1842), 'Jødinden' ('The Jewess', 1844) and the pamphlet 'Jødesagen i det norske Storthing' ('The Jewish Cause in the Norwegian Parliament', 1842). The Norwegian Parliament lifted he ban against Jews only 6 years after Wergeland's death.

Edited by Kirsten Verling kirsten.verling@abm-utvikling.no

Wergeland2008 (Norwegian and Sami language)