Tolerance and Compassion - Henrik Wergeland and His Legacy

In 2008 Norway will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of one of its greatest poets, Henrik Wergeland. Wergeland was a child of the European Enlightenment and grew up in a time of momentous change for Norway.

His reputation as a national poet is due as much to his passionate political and social engagement as to his poetry. All his life he worked tirelessly for religious tolerance, freedom through knowledge and enlightenment, and equality between nations and social classes, guided above all by his profound compassion for humanity.

With his fiery, impetuous temperament and zeal for knowledge, Wergeland would have become deeply engaged in the global challenges we face today.

We would have seen him fighting for a more equitable distribution of the world’s goods, for nature and the environment, for inter-religious and intercultural understanding; Wergeland regarded religious orthodoxy as an obstacle to political development.

He would have continued to champion the cause of freedom of expression and of the press, which he described as “the people’s diadem”.

We have not yet fulfilled Wergeland’s prophesy that “freedom’s tricoloured rainbow will fire its rays into the heart of Europe, and one day, unbroken, encircle the earth!” If we are going to take the principle that all human beings are of equal worth seriously, we must continue Wergeland’s legacy and dare to confront reality. We must refrain from creating enemies out of stereotypes based on lack of knowledge.

Wergeland understood this very well. In his own way he fought for the weak and preached tolerance between faiths: “Every religion has a gentle and loving heart” he wrote.

Wergeland’s broad involvement in social issues also took the form of practical initiatives that were to have significant effects for years after his death. He believed in humanism as a basis for action. He was a true cosmopolitan in the literal sense of the word, and his most important sociopolitical work bears the signature “Cosmopolita”.

We have an obligation to follow up what Wergeland began. We must examine our consciences and intensify our efforts to further the cause of tolerance, cultural equality and respect for human dignity.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is contributing to the anniversary celebrations in the form of a project entitled “Tolerance and Compassion”. It is addressed to children, young people and adults of all ages and is being carried out in cooperation with the City of Kristiansand, Norwegian Children and Youth Council and the House of Literature in Oslo.

This book provides a short presentation of the diversity of the poet’s work from a literary and political perspective, and gives a voice to the young people of today through the views of three pupils at the school Wergeland himself attended in Oslo.

We must ask ourselves: Have we become more tolerant? Do we understand each other better? How can we “extend the frontiers of hope”, which Wergeland saw as the fundamental condition for human progress?

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[Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS, Oslo, April 2008]

• The Wergeland anniversary's web site
• About Wergeland on The National Library's web site