15 Facts About Johan Scharffenberg

Johan Scharffenberg was a Norwegian psychiatrist, politician, speaker and writer.

Johan Scharffenberg was a nephew of priest Johannes W C Dietrichson.

The family soon moved from Moss, and Johan Scharffenberg grew up in Kristiania, Hamar, and Molde.

Johan Scharffenberg finished his secondary education in 1888, enrolled in medicine studies in 1889 and took the cand.

Johan Scharffenberg served as a physician and psychiatrist at psychiatric institutions and prisons, working in Trondhjem from 1903 to 1904 and then in Kristiania.

Johan Scharffenberg worked at the prison Botsfengselet from 1919 to 1940 and was a chief physician at Oslo Hospital from 1922 to late 1945, except for 1941 to early 1945.

Johan Scharffenberg was an active participant in the contemporary debates, starting in the late 1880s.

Johan Scharffenberg argued for less use of alcohol in the society, and was a member of the Alcohol Commission of 1910, which was established on his initiative.

Johan Scharffenberg was a supporter of the Nynorsk language, but was ambivalent to both nationalism and the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905.

Johan Scharffenberg was arrested after the talk and held in detention for a few weeks.

Johan Scharffenberg was 76 years old in 1945, but still participated in the public debate.

Johan Scharffenberg opposed Norwegian membership in NATO and even the United Nations, arguing that the state was too small to gain influence.

Johan Scharffenberg was "in personal contact" with the people behind the NATO-critical, socialist newspaper Orientering.

Johan Scharffenberg admired the Swiss political system, and saw the country's neutrality as an ideal for Norway in the 1950 book Norske aktstykker til okkupasjonens forhistorie.

Johan Scharffenberg was a proponent of the referendum, commonly deployed in Swiss politics.