Carol and Carl's Sweden Heritage Trip 2024

    In April-May 1945 Sweden orchestrated a series of rescue and evacuation operations that transported around 20,000 Jewish survivors from concentration camps in Germany to safety in Sweden. One of those rescued, from Bergen-Belsen, was Carl’s cousin's mother. Welcomed by the Swedes, she stayed, met her husband who had come separately from Poland, and gave birth there to his cousin.  Until our trip to Sweden, Carl did not know that his cousin had this Swedish "back story."    Frida described the Swedish relief workers as “angels, well-dressed, mostly blonde, tall women with diamonds on their fingers that sparkled so brightly they hurt her eyes.” Some were killed in allied bombing raids (the war was still going on).      One of the rescue operations came to be known as the “White Buses” because it used buses and trucks painted white with red crosses to make them easily identifiable as neutral, humanitarian vehicles. Others were rescued ...

   Swedes drink a lot of coffee, an average of 3-4 cups/day. It is one of the highest rates of consumption in the world, and we most became aware of this going on picnics with cousins or friends. Picnic baskets always contain a large thermos (or two) filled with coffee.     But coffee culture in Sweden is not only about the ubiquity of the beverage. It is also about the cherished custom of fika. Fika is a centuries-old tradition revolving around the importance of regularly taking a coffee break, not only at work or with colleagues, but also with friends, family and at home on weekends. It is everywhere, as our friend Stina says, “from the kitchen table to the corridors of Parliament.” And here is one of the best parts: fika almost always involves a sweet treat too, with a cinnamon bun (kanelbulle) being the most traditional. (Every year on October 4 Swedes celebrate Cinnamon Bun Day .) Carol and our friend Stina getting ready to enjoy Fika with Stina's homemade cinna...

    At the Maritime Museum in Göteborg last week, the 2 nd museum we visited there with a kids’ playroom, we chanced upon a group of men, each with a young child in tow. It struck us that this was “so Swedish” (but we didn’t react quickly enough to ask for a photo). Sweden, as most know, provides one of the most comprehensive childcare benefits in the world. They aim to support work-life balance, encourage gender equality, and ensure children's well-being. A group of Swedish daddies similar to the ones we saw in the Maritime Museum.        Parents have access to 480 days of paid parental leave per child, at about 80% of their wage with weekends paid too. Ninety days are reserved for each parent, meaning that parents have paid access to only 390 days if, for example, the father does no childcare (“use it or lose it”). This is meant to encourage more equal sharing, specifically getting fathers involved. And it works! The introduction of these “daddy mont...

  The lyrics/melody might not have worked but the famous song that Baez highlighted at Woodstock (and many others including Paul Robeson, Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen have also sung) should really have started,  I dreamed I saw Joel Emmanuel Hägglund last night ,  alive as you and me.  Says I, “But Joe, you're ten years dead,” “I never died," says he. "I never died," says he.    Joe Hill, indeed, has never died.  He was born Joel Emmanuel Hägglund, October 7, 1879, in Gävle, Sweden. And Sweden – especially Gävle - maintains a strong connection to this working class icon, affirming the international character of the labor movement.   One of the memorials to him in Joe Hill Park.Nexxt to his picture is this quote: "No one will for bread be crying. We'll have freedom, love and health when the grand red flag is flying in the workers' commonwealth." His was a large and poor family, whose fate worsened in 1887 when Joe’s father, a railroad worker, ...

  We’re not talking about the real Vladimir Putin (though there is that too – more later), but the name. Sweden is not apparently the land of freedom we thought, because Swedish authorities (the Tax Agency in fact) have BANNED parents from naming their baby ‘Vladimir Putin.’ Imagine that!  But lest you – and the actual Vladimir - accuse Swedes of disrespecting their villainous neighbor, for the record these names have also been banned: ‘Lucifer,’ ‘Pilzner,’ ‘Ford,’ and ‘Q.’ Not sure what this Swedish baby's name is, but it is not Vladimir Putin.     More seriously, the significant decision Sweden (also Finland) recently took to enter NATO is related to a real fear of Putin and his apparent ambition to restore Russia to its former Tsarist “glory.” We’ve heard this sentiment from a number of people. Sweden’s wariness of Russia has deep historic roots, with significant conflict and war between them in the 18 th -19 th  centuries, and the loss of part of its te...

  Workers' Union Halls are not something we tend to think about much. Denmark is different. Its Arbejdernes Forsamlingsbygning is an imposing 5-story Copenhagen building with a union history going back to 1879, a current focus on sharing that rich history of labor organizing and struggle  with the Danish people ( Arbejdermuseet  “Workers' Museum”), and a commitment to a future when this and other Union Halls around the world are recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Worker's Museum in Copenhagen.     How many meetings, debates, and cultural events for the working class were held here over the years in its ornate and extraordinary 2 nd  floor labor “sanctuary,” still maintained today with much of the original interior, hanging red union flags and hand carved depictions of workers at their work. And it is still hosting labor-related events! The Banquest Hall        A formative struggle for the Danish labor movement occur...

   It is only a small fishing boat, but Elisabeth K571 had a large mission in October 1943. Almost all Danish Jews escaped the Holocaust primarily because of fishermen like Einar Larsen, owner of Elisabeth K571. His boat remains in  Dragør Harbor as a living monument to the rescue, which one survivor called an "audacity of compassion and courage."    The Elisabeth K571 on display in beautiful Dragør Harbor, about 1/2 hour south of Copenhagen.         Under the cover of darkness, Larsen carried 70 Jews to safety in Sweden, over 12 km in choppy and dangerous waters. Larsen wasn’t the only one. Hundreds of boats were used in the effort over a three-week period, some making multiple trips;  including small fishing boats, sailboats, rowboats and some larger boats.  Some of those rescued paid their saviors, the Danish Resistance paid others and no one was left behind for want of finances. Over  7,000 Jews plus non...

Medical debt is a huge problem in the U.S., affecting millions and causing two-thirds of personal bankruptcies.  The majority are  employed, college-educated homeowners  with  health insurance . This problem doesn’t exist in Sweden. We learned why when we queried our over-70  Öland   Island birding guide. He didn’t mince words in answering and gave us a clear example. Last year doctors diagnosed his wife with pancreatic cancer. At a specialized cancer center far from their southeastern rural home, surgery removed the cancer. She spent over a week there and then another week in a hospital closer to home, and of course there has been lots of additional time in medical offices for diagnosis and follow-up. She is now cancer-free. Their cost? “Zero,” he said. Health Centre in southern Sweden. In Lund municipality, a little larger than Tompkins County and home to a very large university, there are about 18 health centres of varying types, both public and private....

   Carol's ancestors are from  Småland, and  Nils Dacke was the heroic and revered peasant leader who exemplified the independent spirit that Småland was known for. Between 1542-43 he led an uprising against King Gustav Vasa by  Smålanders .    Excessively high taxes imposed by the king primarily to fund his Baltic expansionist ambitions burdened the people, and they also suffered from his centralization of power, restrictions on their freedom and attempt to establish a Protestant state church (Swedish reformation).    With widespread popular support, Dacke’s peasant army succeeded in bringing all of Småland as well as neighboring areas out from under the monarch's grip. They defeated the royal forces in several battles, forcing Gustav Vasa to negotiate. So Dacke won a peace agreement with the king on November 8, 1542,  and agreed not to move on to Stockholm with his army .  Småland gained a degree of independence. The Nils Dac...

  Within twenty or so years after Samuel Petersson left Småland in 1849, four of the remaining six children (one had died), followed the same route to America.  Lars Johan, 33 years old when he left with his wife, Johanna Sofia Svensdotter and three children (five more were born in the U.S), was one of them (1866).    By the 1860s, emigration was almost a way of life for  Smålanders, and the flood of humanity would continue to gush for half a century. At least one-quarter of the more than 1 million emigrants from Sweden in the period after 1860 came from Småland. Like Lars Johan they were primarily landless workers and small farmers. Things had worsened considerably as a tripling of population since 1750 meant tillable land became more and more scarce, resulting in ever more destitution and periodic famine conditions (there were three crop failures during this period). Population growth was a result of three factors mainly: Swedish men were no longer cannon fodd...

  Samuel Petersson’s home, where he lived as a crofter (tenant farmer) for thirty or so years before leaving for America in 1849, is now a barren piece of land in  Källeberg, Rumskulla . We visited it this past week, along with many other locations related to Carol’s heritage. This was the precious place where Samuel's wife Greta Catharina bore seven children between 1826 and 1838, including Lars Johan, Carol’s great great grandfather. Carol and Yngve Svensson (her "third cousin once removed") co-organizers of the family reunion that brought 70 American and Swedish family members together in Hamra, Rumskulla, Sweden.    However precious, it was not economically productive or viable for the family. This small piece of land couldn’t have been much even to begin with, given the famously rocky soil of  Småland. It allowed the family just to barely eke out a living primarily with livestock. Samuel and Greta depended on only a few cows, a horse and some sheep. We...

The Vasas Sinking    The Vasa, Stockholm’s most popular museum, has only one exhibit. It’s all about the Vasa, one of the largest warships of its time, taking three years to build, but less than 30 minutes to sink on its maiden voyage (1628), and then over 300 years to be recovered, resurrected, mostly restored (98% intact). History, science, archeology and mystery are all there. One of Sweden’s greatest achievements and embarrassments at the same time.    The Vasa was not just a warship but also a showcase of Sweden’s wealth and powe r. It was not only brimming in cannons but also magnificent iconography honoring Sweden and King Gustavus Adolphus. But the exhibit is weak on  context, especially about Sweden’s great power ambitions that lay behind it all. The Vasa represents not only a marvelous story about an incredible feet of engineering and restoration – all detailed in the museum - but also a powerful reminder of Sweden’s role as a regional 17 th  cent...