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Attacks of rage
and alcohol abuse
Hilda Johansen
was able to handle
her husband's long
absences. It was when
he was at home that
things got out of hand.
"The worst was at night, the cold, dark
winter nights. He chased me around in my
nightclothes, around the house all night,
while he constantly showered me with in-
sults and angry reproaches ... When, as he
did several times, he took me by the throat
and with teeth-gnashing fury declared
that it would be a joy to strangle me, then
I thought I would die. "
Thus wrote Hilda Johansen (1868 - 1956)
in a letter to the courts in 1906. She
wants a divorce. Her husband, the Arctic
explorer Fredrik Hjalmar Johansen,
struggled with extensive alcohol abuse.
The abuse had begun in earnest when
they moved to Tromsø in 1901 after he
was appointed a company commander
in the Army. The rages then came more
often, and he struck her with either his
bare hands or with objects he found
nearby:
"He emptied the water jug's contents over
me several times, and threw different
things at me -- bottles, glasses, cand-
lesticks with lighted candles, and often
burning lamps. He always threw things
with a great deal of force. My husband is
very strong. "
Took his own life
Fredrik Hjalmar Johansen (1867-1913)
found his way into Norway's history
books by participating in Nansen's Fram
expedition and Roald Amundsen's South
Pole expedition. Even though he helped
save the lives of his superiors, fame
eluded him, and he found himself in the
shadows. After seeing his family life, his
career and finances go to ruin, Hjalmar
Johansen took his own life in 1913.
His wife was then left to take care of their
four children alone. Despite this, all her
children passed their upper secondary
school exams, which was quite uncom-
mon for that time.
"Hilda was doubtless a strong woman,
and I marvel that she was able to hold
out so long in Tromsø. I remember her
as a special combination of dignity and
determination, but at the same time with
a gentleness that was out of the ordinary.
She was engaged in society around her,
but she was also very family oriented,
and after they separated in 1905, she
lived completely for her children," said
Fred Johansen, the grandson of Hjalmar
and Hilda. "I have only fond memories
of my grandmother, but it's not until my
adulthood that I have understood what
she went through to help her children
grow to adulthood."
"The sun of my life"
Despite all the struggles in his grand-
parents' marriage, in particular during
the Tromsø period, Fred Johansen is
convinced that the two were very fond of
each other.
"Her long letters, which waited for him
both in Madeira on the way south, and
in Tasmania on the way north, tell me
that he still played a big role in her life.
And he called her 'the sun of my life' in
the last letter I have found between the
two - before he shot himself. There was
no other person for them," he said.
Hilda Johansen was also the first female
in the nation to have a job at the Nor-
wegian National Bank, which happened
with Fridtjof Nansen's help. But it is also
how she managed to support her family
after her husband's death.
"My grandmother's efforts in the 'home
front' were on the same order of magni-
tude as the challenges my grandfather
faced on the ice," says Fred Johansen.
Sources: The Norwegian Encyclopaedia, Fred Johansen:
Hilda and Hers
, 2009, Norwegian Polar History, Per-Egil
Hegge:
Just one will
.
University of Tromsø –
Labyrint E/11
•••
45
Hilda Johansen on her 80th birthday. Photo:
Lauritz Larsen/Tom Riis
Fredrik Hjalmar Johansen. The picture
dates from the Fram polar expedition to the
North Pole, from 24 June 1893 to 13 August
1896. Photo: Frederick Jackson/National
Library