Schejelderup Ferdinand

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Biografie:
Ferdinand Schejelderup (1886- 1955)
On July 29, Ferdinand Schjelderup passed away peacefully at Tyinholmen, surrounded by his beloved mountains. He had only reached the age of 69, but he had accomplished much. His intense work during the war and during the difficult years that followed, had affected his heart, but this did not prevent him from undertaking long excursions in the mountains whenever opportunities offered, summer or winter.
In the Norwegian Resistance Movement, Schjelderup took a leading part. His mental and physical courage combined with sound judgment, his thorough knowledge of international history and law and his unequalled familiarity with every part of his country and its people, made him singularly well suited for this task. At the solemn state funeral, Mr. O. C. Gundersen, a member of the Supreme Court and formerly Minister of Justice, gave a true picture of the man and his work.
These were his words:
One day, 46 years ago, Ferdinand Schjelderup was sitting on a mountain summit in the north of Norway, of which he with two other youngsters had made the first ascent. We can see him before our eyes as he described their adventure: " We remained for a long time at the cairn, for after the intense nervous and muscular exertion we had just gone through, our minds were as if swept clean and receptive of the wealth of beauty that was ours. The sun was just plunging into the Arctic Ocean. Red-golden did it disappear behind the horizon, leaving the ocean on fire where parts of it were visible between magic black mountains and shining white glaciers. Beneath the peaks lay bright, black and emerald-green small lakes encircled by birchwood, and up to us through the calmness came sounds of the clamour of solitary gulls and cormorants. It was summer night in Arctic Norway.''
' The young man of 23, who felt his mind swept clean after staking all he possessed of strength to attain his end, characterised his own nature through the words he then wrote. It became his habit to live in that way : a mountain peak, a glacier, a lawsuit, a contest, whatever it might be, he demanded of himself the maximum effort of body and soul, of intellect, sensibility and will-power, never giving in till he could enjoy the releasing pleasure of having gained his aim and of again getting his mind clean and open, receptive of fresh impressions. Many years later - it was during the war and the subject, the Kirkenes Teachers he wrote about the "deed, which more than anything helps to mould the mind." To be sure, Ferdinand Schjelderup was made for deeds. Chiselled more through action than through contemplation, he had an entirely undisturbed instinctive faculty. He could do things, assert things, realise himself with such absolute confidence, because it was his true nature to do so.
But there v1as much more than activity and desire for action in this nature of his. In the midst of all the activity he displayed, a shy reserve was at the bottom, always afraid of hurting and offending, with a profound piety towards death, the great unknown, combined with a simple and strong capacity to love all human beings. He was an amiable man, loved by many, and not only those who were his intimates.
He had crossed Norway in all directions afoot, and few were better acquainted with how people live and work in this country. He had friends everywhere, peasants and mountain-dwellers, people he would immediately get in contact with, thanks to his spontaneous conception of their minds and conditions of life. I have met some of them and their eyes beamed with joy when his name was mentioned, " Yes, that Schjelderup, he is a likeable fellow," they would say.
Ferdinand Schjelderup was full of everything essential in this world. History he studied continuously. History was a matter alive to him, ever renewing itself the more his field of view widened, allowing him a deeper penetration into it.
As a young lawyer, Ferdinand Schjelderup came early to the front. Not that he had any particular talent for work at the Bar, for words did not come to him easily, and thoroughness was more characteristic of him than swiftness of thought. But what an amount of work he must have thrown into his lawsuits, for he won the majority of them. He simply could not be brushed aside.
?At a comparatively young age he was called to become a member of the Supreme Court of Justice, in which position he found his right place. Non-doctrinaire, rich in knowledge, as intensely taken up with his work as any man could be, he threw all his ability and power into every single case. He frequently worked to the limit of over-exertion and sometimes beyond that. Was it necessary to work so hard ? Might he not have taken it easier, so that he could have remained with us still for a while? No, he had to. He was impelled by his nature and by his interpretation of what must be exacted from the administration of justice: that administration of justice is based on the current flow of isolated cases, big and small, all of which require the same thorough handling, so that everyone may feel that every single case has been tried and weighed, as far as human judgment goes.
?Then came the war debasement, injustice, confusion. Someone had to take up the strife, when the Resistance was still seeking a clear line and a firm intention to follow. That Ferdinand Schjelderup was the one to march out on the first summons and to remain in the first rank, was a matter of predestination, a consequence of all he had been, of all he had done and of all he stood for. He became ·absolutely indispensable to the country. Unfailingly sure of what the contest signified, he was just as confident in the strength and will inherent in our nation. Now he could make full use of all his qualities: red-hot in his will, but cold in his appraisements, firm in his resolutions, but nimble in the selection of his ways of action. He has himself written the History of the Occupation, and that is well. But in books others will be writing, Ferdinand Schjelderup's name will shine in the foreground amongst those who made history. Our nation owes him a lot, of which this state funeral is a token.?
Schjelderup was one of our best mountaineers of his generation. Like most .Norwegian climbers, he started scrambling in early boyhood, gradually acquiring experience and skill in company with other youngsters and with only little assistance from professional guides. Apart from one season in the Alps and one or two visits to the Lake District, Schjelderup 's climbing activities were limited to the mountains of Norway. But these he knew better than anyone. He had an exceptional faculty for finding the most remote and practically unknown groups.
Innumerable are the peaks he climbed, many of them first ascents. Amongst the best known of these are Kjærerringa from Maradalsskaret, Stedtind, Svolvrergjeita and Strandatind. The latter was climbed twice, from opposite sides. In the second ascent, a rather trying one, he was accompanied by Wm. Cecil Slingsby, then a man of about sixty years of age.
In spite of their difference in age, Slings by and Schjelderup were great friends. They had, in fact, much in common. Not only their true love of nature and of the free, simple life amongst the mountains, but they had also the same open friendly and cheerful disposition, a personal charm which nobody could resist.
The writer had a letter from Schjelderup, written only a few days before he died. He was entirely happy. He had just experienced the wonderful transition from winter to summer in the hills, from the time the first flowers would break through the snow. But he felt tired. Shortly afterwards he passed into the eternal peace, into the quietness of the mountain world he so dearly loved.
C. W. Rubenson
Quelle: Alpine Journal Vol. 60. Nr. 291, 1955, Seite 409-412


Gestorben am:
29.07.1955