Tore Pryser (born 9 January 1945) in Oslo, is a Norwegian historian. He is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Innlandet and has worked primarily on social history, local history, contemporary history, the history of the labor movement, the interwar period and the Second World War.
In addition to several books on various subjects, Pryser has written Norsk historie 1800-1870 : frå standssamfunn mot klassesamfunn (Norwegian history 1800-1870: from class society to class society), a textbook intended for undergraduate history students. He also wrote Volume 4 of the History of the Labour Movement in Norway, entitled Klassen og nasjonen : (1935-1946) (The Class and the Nation: (1935-1946)).
An overarching theme for Pryser's research on the German occupation of Norway is "betrayal and grey areas". While much of the history of the occupation has been black and white, Pryser has highlighted that much of the history of the occupation period is characterised by grey areas. The usual thing was not heroes and villains, but that most people in Norway adapted. Instead of a national focus, Pryser believes it is more informative to view the period from an international perspective. Then one will see that Norway was largely a peaceful place, with very little physical resistance.
Life and work Education Tore Pryser was interested in history from an early age, and began teaching the subject during his compulsory military service in Bodø in 1970, as a teaching assistant in the Royal Norwegian Air Force. There he also began researching his family history, and found that the family name came from an immigrant in the 19th century.Pryser 2024, p. 13 Pryser graduated with a cand. philol. majoring in history from the University of Oslo in 1974. There he was a research assistant (vit.ass.) for then associate professor Sivert Langholm on the so-called Ullensaker project, formal name Norsk samfunnsutvikling 1860-1900 (Norwegian Social Development 1860-1900).Pryser 2024, pp. 14, 18
Teaching and research in history Pryser was hired as a lecturer in contemporary history, a new degree program, at the then Hedmark/Oppland distriktshøgskole (Lillehammer University College) in Lillehammer in 1975,Pryser 2024, pp. 20–22 became associate professor in 1978, and was promoted to professor in 1993. Politically, Pryser was on the left and in his research and dissemination was particularly interested in history with a focus on ordinary people, often referred to as social history, and the great the great transformation, which he knew from the Ullensaker project.Pryser 2024, s. 14, 23 The connection between social history, political engagement and students' homework with the householder's life resulted in reports in the local newspaper Gudbrandsdølen Lillehammer Tilskuer and Billedbladet Nå, and it ended up being a topic in the Storting's question time. The result was that Pryser and his colleagues came out well on the issue, receiving the full support of the Minister of Church and Education Kjølv Egeland.Pryser 2024, s. 26–27
While working on local history in the area, he became aware that the preservation of archival material in the area was poor, and was involved in taking the initiative for what eventually became the Oppland Archive (today the Inland Archives).Pryser 2024, pp. 39–43 Tore Pryser and historian colleague Terje Halvorsen were the first two of the college's employees to achieve professorial competence based on research work at the then Oppland District College in 1993 (what is now the University of Innlandet), in Pryser's case as a professor of contemporary history.
Local history Tore Pryser has been broadly interested in local history, both in research and dissemination. He has given lectures, published in local history yearbooks, but has also been involved in preserving physical memories.Pryser 2024, p. 384 Since the late 1970s, Pryser has been involved in getting an updated municipal history for Lillehammer and Fåberg. Work did not begin until 1991, according to a plan Pryser had drawn up as head of Lillehammer's cultural board. The project was divided into three volumes, the first up to 1827, when Lillehammer became a city. The second volume covered the rest of the 19th century and the period up to 1914, while the third volume covered up to the 1990s. Although there were many challenges along the way, the authors, with support from Pryser and others on the editorial committee, managed to bring the project to a successful conclusion, and the three volumes were published as they were completed, the last in 2004.Pryser 2024, pp. 231–236
As part of his research on social history, Pryser also investigated the Thrane Movement (the first Norwegian workers' movement, named after its leader, Marcus Thrane), both locally in Ullensaker and elsewhere in Eastern Norway. Pryser's research led to him receiving an invitation to give a lecture on the Thranites at a seminar at the University of London in the early 1990s. The seminar was fruitful, not least because British historians believed that support for the Thranite Movement in Norway was very high, seen from an international perspective.Pryser 2024, pp. 46–47, 49–52
In 2009, Pryser initiated a book project about 1814 in Oppland (a former county in Norway). The purpose was to bring forward knowledge about others than just the participants at the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814. A total of 300 men; electors, and those who had signed declarations of support, were investigated to find sources about them that could be used in the book.Pryser 2024, pp. 231–236 In connection with the research and development of the book project, many people and institutions were involved in the process; the Regional State Archives in Hamar, the Mjøs Museum and the Gudbrandsdals Museums, the author Karsten Alnæs was also a supporter. From 2010, Tore Pryser gave several lectures about 1814, in 2014 alone there were over 40 lectures in various places in Oppland county. The research behind the book project showed the importance of kinship networks for the selection of electors, electors and signers of declarations of support for Christian Frederik. A concrete result of the project was the importance Hunn Gård had in the election of Eidsvollsmenn (members of the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll), which led to funds for the restoration of the main building on the farm. The project also led to attempts to document the position of women in 1814.Pryser 2024, pp. 386–390
Major historical works Pryser was approached by the publishing house Det Norske Samlaget, who wanted a revision of Arne Bergsgård's Norsk historie 1814-1880 (Norwegian History 1814-1880), which was a syllabus for undergraduate history students. He declined, as he believed the book was outdated. In 1981, Pryser was then asked by the publisher if he could write a completely new book about the period, intended as a syllabus for undergraduate students. Pryser agreed, and the book was ready in 1985, with the title Norsk historie 1800-1870 : frå standssamfunn mot klassesamfunn (Norwegian History 1800-1870: from class society to class society). The book received good reviews from reviewers, both from Øystein Sørensen in Dagbladet and Åsmund Egge in Klassekampen. In total, the book has sold nearly 20,000 copies.Pryser 2024, pp. 58–62 In the field of Norwegian nineteenth- and twentieth-century history, his 1985 tome is influential. In 1999 it was republished in an abridged version, Norsk historie 1814–1860, Frå standssamfunn mot klassesamfunn, as volume four of Samlagets norske historie, a series on Norwegian history spanning the years 800 to 2000. As the title indicates, Pryser's book has a social perspective on the period.
In the same year, in 1981, Pryser also received a request from Professor Edvard Bull Jr. to write a volume in the work Arbeiderbevegelsens historie i Norge. Bull accepted that the assignment from Det Norske Samlaget had to be completed first.Pryser 2024, p. 59 When he was ready to contribute to the work, he was assigned volume 4, which covered the period 1935 to 1948, which began with the accession of Johan Nygaardsvold's government. At an editorial meeting in March 1986, there was a discussion about the structure of Pryser's contribution, where historian Jakob Sverdrup was critical, especially of Pryser's main scheme, where the occupation was analyzed from the concepts of cooperation, adaptation and resistance.Pryser 2024, pp. 78–84 The book was published in 1988 as Klassen og nasjonen: (1935-1946), and received mostly good reviews.Pryser 2024, pp. 86–87
Board work in RHF
Pryser was appointed by the Norwegian Cabinet in December 1984 as a member of the Council for Humanistic Research (RHF), affiliated with the Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities (Norges almenvitenskapelige forskningsråd - NAVF) as a representative of the then district colleges. He was a council member of RHF for a total of six years, and it was a demanding position. In 1985, a total of 34 million kroner was distributed, and around 450 applications were processed. The literary scholar Atle Kittang was the chairman of the council, and Pryser was elected to the working committee and was given responsibility for handling the history applications, which gave him considerable influence. Pryser seems to have made a good effort for the district colleges in RHF, their percentage of applications for support was around 60, while the average overall was around 20.Pryser 2024, pp. 110–114
Pryser considers the most important project he participated in on behalf of the RHF was the series Handelsflåten i krig (The Merchant Navy at War), a total of five volumes, and he participated in the first meeting of the steering group in January 1987. In the early years, Professor Knut Einar Eriksen was the leader, while Pryser took over from the end of May/beginning of June 1991. The others in the steering group were Professors Olav Riste and Leiv Mjeldheim, with Arne Mathisen from the Norwegian War Sailors' Association. The book project was part of a project to make visible the efforts of the seafarers and the merchant fleet, at the state-owned shipping company Nortraship. For the Allies during World War II, this was Norway's most important contribution to the victory over Germany. The work in the steering group was demanding and there were many meetings, several of the authors of the various volumes were also behind schedule with the delivery of material.Pryser 2024, pp. 119–120
There was also internal conflict over the direction of the work. During a seminar at the Norwegian Maritime Museum in Oslo, Professor Arnljot Strømme Svendsen strongly criticized the title of the first volume, Nortraship : profitt og patriotisme, (Nortraship: profit and patriotism) as they saw profit as a derogatory term. The central union, the Norwegian Seafarers' Union, refused the historians from the project access to its archives, stating that "we do not trust the historians". It later emerged that the NSF had burned archive material, and there was speculation that the union wanted to hide its involvement in blacklisting seamen who were communists. In 1991, the first volume, Nortraship : profitt og patriotisme, by Atle Thowsen, was launched at a press conference at the Hotel Continental, where Pryser thanked Minister of Trade Bjørn Tore Godal, as chairman of the steering group. The following four volumes followed in the following years, and Guri Hjeltnes delivered the last, Krigsseiler : krig, hjemkomst, oppgjør, in 1997. It was received by Minister of Defence Jørgen Kosmo on behalf of the government, and the HIK project was completed after ten years of work.Pryser 2024, pp. 121–124 The five-volume work received generally good reviews, both from professional historians and journalists.
The Lillehammer Coup and Kai Holst