Carol and Carl's Sweden Heritage Trip 2024

    Learning about Carl and Karin Larsson and visiting their former home in Sundborn (now a museum, 3 hours nw of Stockholm), was a highlight of our trip. The rural home this artist couple established beginning in 1888 and continuing for the next 30 years   became an integral part of Swedish national culture and even influenced the development of the  folkhem  concept - society akin to a family, looking after one another and emphasizing equality and consensus. This idea became a foundation for social democratic ideals there. One of Carl's paintings of the house itself.     Their vision of a home was unique for bourgeois life at that time, and truly reflected the old Swedish proverb that the home is the mirror of the soul. Family, functionality and shared space were central. It was “child friendly, positive, inexpensive. There was no best room. All the doors were open....There was a summer atmosphere indoors, even when the snow was whirling ou...

      Sweden has an advanced welfare society, perhaps more so than any country in history. It reflects a longstanding and widely shared understanding and national commitment among Swedes to support a humane and caring society. We grew to appreciate this during our trip. We even began to  feel  some of the positive vibes and security that permeate daily life for Swedes. And are often so lacking in the U.S. ·        We never throughout our travels saw a property that appeared run down ·        There was no obvious homeless population, and only a few people on the street seeking charity. ·        The weather was beautiful (Ok, that’s not a result of any social policy, but it contributed to the vibes) ·        No one seemed negative or critical of their situations, though there was some grumbling about taxes ·        N...

   Perhaps no Swede has received as much international acclaim as Raoul Wallenberg.  Only 31years old, he organized and led an effort that rescued thousands of Hungarian Jews from deportation and likely death. Leveraging Swedish and U.S. support, he fearlessly and boldly challenged, bribed and tricked the Nazis and Hungarian Arrow Cross fascists over a six month period. Wallenberg as he is depicted in the advertising for an exhibit about him at the Holocaust Museum in Stockholm.     Arriving in Budapest in July 1944, he was armed only with fluency in German and Hungarian.  But with Swedish diplomatic cover he built a network of 300 people to support the work.  Wallenberg initiated a series of bold rescue actions, including designing and issuing protective (fake) Swedish passports (Schutzpasses), establishing 31 safe houses under Swedish protection, and directly intervening to save Jews from deportation trains and death marches. Monument to Wallenb...