Hidden Nazi past: Ole Ivar Lovaas during the German occupation of Norway

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Gjerde, Å. B. (2025). Hidden Nazi past: Ole Ivar Lovaas during the German occupation of Norway. History of the Human Sciences, 38(3-4), 58-81. https://doi.org/10.1177/09526951251324102

Publication date: 14 May 2025 Added to AutiHub: 8 Oct 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
1
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 1 (100.0%)
  1. Åsmund Borgen Gjerde *

Abstract

Ole Ivar Lovaas – a Norwegian-born professor of psychology at UCLA – is considered a pioneer in the development of interventions for autistic children based on Applied Behaviour Analysis. According to previous accounts, Lovaas and his family were forced farm workers during the German occupation of Norway between 1940 and 1945, when Lovaas was 13–18 years old. This article shows that the Løvaas family were in fact members of the collaborationist fascist party Nasjonal Samling. His father, Ernst Albert Løvaas, was a prominent leader in the propaganda apparatus of the German-installed fascist government. Ole Ivar Lovaas himself was an active participant in, and a local leader of, the fascist youth movement. The article concludes by comparing these revelations about Lovaas to previous similar revelations about another important figure in the history of autism, Hans Asperger.

Bibliography cited by this reference

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Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 28 Oct 2026 01:01.

Cited references
88
With a DOI
28
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
59
2 / 88 (2.3%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
14 / 88 (15.9%)
References with detected author names
74 / 88 (84.1%)
Without detected author names
14
Without a structured title
13
Without a stable identifier
56
References with raw author names still to review
13
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
105
From DOI or external metadata
105
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
13
26 / 105 (24.8%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 79 / 105 (75.2%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
3 / 105 (2.9%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 3 / 26 (11.5%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 3 / 84 (3.6%).
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