Bjørnson engaged actively on the Slovak side in their fight for the right to use the Slovak language, and several Slovaks are invited to the central celebrations in Norway.
No other Norwegian has ever written more than Bjørnson and through the Norwegian national anthem “
Ja, vi elsker”, his words are still on everybody’s lips.
Even though his involvement in politics at times interrupted his literary production, he managed to write 15 novels, 21 major plays and a high number of poems. In addition, he became one of Norway's greatest orators, he wrote several thousand articles, and it is estimated that he wrote more than 30,000 letters. Several of his books have been translated into Slovak.
No topic was too small, nor was any topic too big. He wrote about the size of the gravel used on the roads around his estate Aulestad in the local papers or about international politics in prestigious European papers. His speeches and articles were hugely influential, which did not necessarily mean Bjørnson became a popular man.
Already from the age of fifteen, he was strongly impressed and influenced by the historical events in Europe. He was more interested in politics than university exams, and was also very passionate about theatre. At that time, the language of the Norwegian theatre was pure Danish. Bjørnson was strongly provoked by this and continuously argued that the dramatic language should be Norwegian. Bjørnson’s views were radical at that time, but are now a natural part of today’s societies.
He not only became a spokesman for voting rights being extended to commoners, he argued for a general vote that in due time also would include women. He was a strong advocate for the rights of minorities in a multicultural and multilinguistic society.
During the last twenty years of his life he wrote hundreds of articles in major European papers. He attacked the French justice in the Dreyfus Affair, and he fought for the rights of children in Slovakia to learn their own mother tongue. “To detach children from their mother tongue is identical to tearing them away from their mothers breasts,” he wrote.
Bjørnson’s support for the Slovaks was based on his principled stand against oppression. He was a democrat and lifelong advocate for oppressed peoples and their right to speak their mother tongue. His support for the Slovak side didn’t mean that he was against Hungarians in general. On the contrary, he emphasized that it was Hungarian politicians and their magyarisation he was against.
Bjørnson died on the 26th of April 1910 in Paris. The way he engaged himself in public affairs and conducted his life is reflected in his last words written on his deathbed: “Good deeds save the World!”
Trine Skymoen
Norwegian Ambassador to Slovakia