Norwegian Destiny of Anatolii E. Heintz (1898–1975), Palaeontologist and Russian Emigré from St. Petersburg

Abstract

This article provides information on the life and work of Anatolii Evgenievich Heintz. Heintz was born and raised in St. Petersburg, became a Russian émigré in the so-called “first wave”, and ended up in Norway with his family after the revolutionary events in Russia in 1917–1920. Later Heintz became renowned in the world of science as a Professor, Academician, and one of the founding fathers of Norwegian paleontology, as well as a well-known promoter of scientific knowledge among the common people in Norway. At the same time he was an active participant and organizer of scientific expeditions to Spitsbergen (Svalbard) in search of fish fossils, but he also pioneered the protection of wild animals and establishment of natural parks on this Arctic archipelago. In this article Heintz’s life is examined against the background of social and cultural processes that Russian emigrants faced in the first and later waves of emigration in the 20th and 21st centuries, especially processes of socio-cultural adaptation and integration into their new country of residence. The authors compare the conditions for finding themselves and ways of preserving one’s Russianness in the large colonies of the Russian diaspora, which appeared in Berlin, Prague, and Paris, with the conditions in the northern periphery of Europe and a country like Norway. The paper focus on what Heintz did to preserve his Russian identity, and how he simultaneously struggled to become fully recognized as a Norwegian citizen.