A World Gone Mad: The Wartime Diaries

  My own received the following presents: Lasse a ski jacket, the promise of a ski cap, a story collection called From the Seven Seas, gloves, (both my books), a safety razor, marzipan, a shaving brush from Karin, soap from the Lindström cousins, money from Granny and Grandad and Auntie Anna, plus some money from me for a week in Storlien [skiing]. Camel [cigarettes] from Linnéa. Karin had lots of books: [Eric Linklater’s] The Wind on the Moon, [Erik Lundegård’s] Noses Like Question Marks, [Lucy Fitch Perkins’s] The Dutch Twins, a propelling pencil, a sewing box, a toothbrush, a set of undies, marzipan, plus a gorgeous bracelet from Anne-Marie, the high point of the evening, money from Granny and Grandad and Auntie Anna, Mary Poppins and Trekanten [The Triangle, by Inger Bentzon] from Alli and Matte, a painted wooden Dala horse from Britt-Marie Lomm, sewing things from Linnéa, I think that’s all, but it’s plenty.

  Tomorrow the Lindströms are coming for dinner. We’ll be having roast reindeer and fruit salad. Today we’re having black grouse. Any time now!

  I ought to give a list of my presents, too. Sture had been out shopping with the Hedners and the result was a splendid pair of gloves, a twin set I expect I’ll take back and change, some galoshes I shall change as well. Two pairs finest silk stockings. I had a fountain pen from Lasse, the one I’m writing with, he bought it second-hand, and a powder puff and some eau de cologne from Karin.

  Sture got ÖÄ’s Caricature Album [collection of classic comic drawings by Oskar Andersson], Hasse Z[etterström]’s Funny Company, [Frans G. Bengtsson’s] The Long Ships, a pile of coat hangers, half a litre of cognac and various bits and bobs from the children, that’s to say, The Long Ships was from Lasse, and Karin and Lasse gave him a subscription to [the Swedish] Reader’s Digest – and that’s all I can remember.

  Pippi is a great little kid who seems to be turning into quite a success. She’s been sold to Norway, too. As have Britt-Mari and Kerstin and I.

  NEW YEAR’S EVE

  So another New Year is almost upon us! They come round so quickly.

  Nineteen forty-five brought two remarkable things. Peace after the Second World War and the atom bomb. I wonder what the future will have to say about the atom bomb, and whether it will mark a whole new era in human existence, or not. The peace is not much to put one’s faith in, with the atom bomb casting such a shadow over it. They held a conference in Moscow and the papers claim the prospects for world peace are more hopeful as a result, but I shall take that with a pinch of salt. There’s desperate hardship in Germany, and people are short of food everywhere except here.

  The day after tomorrow I’m going to Småland, joining Karin who’s already there. Lasse set off on his trip to Storlien yesterday evening. Sture and I are spending New Year together, accompanied by Grandmother, who returns to her solitary existence in Furusund on Friday, the old stick. Tomorrow Sture and I are going for dinner at the Strand and then to the revue premiere at the Söder [theatre] – it was very different last year. As long as I can keep calm, everything will be fine.

  My ‘literary’ star has been on the rise this year and will no doubt wane in the coming months. Pippi got an amazingly enthusiastic reception from the critics, and the public, too, it seems. The verdict on Kerstin and I was more mixed, but I’m pretty happy with it all the same and Jeanna Oterdahl wrote that teenagers would like it a lot, and in fact I agree with her, because that sort of slanginess appeals to them. [My play] ‘If You Have Your Health and Strength’ got a bit of attention, but quite undeservedly because it’s not worth wasting words on.

  I’m looking ahead to 1946 with excitement and apprehension – for various reasons. Nineteen forty-five has been a very difficult year in parts, especially the first half, but the autumn, too. My job at the censor’s office came to an end this year when peace broke out. Since 10 September I’ve been a shorthand typist at the 1944 State Part-Time Work Commission.

  Karin’s completed her first term at Norrmalm Girls’ Grammar [at Sveaplan] and is getting on well. Lars flunked his English but got Ba [a satisfactory pass] in chemistry and one other subject, which is really good going for him. He’s got lots of friends and acquaintances – of both sexes – and is out a lot. Sture, on the other hand, is at home a lot.

  All the best for the New Year to me! To me and mine! And ideally to the whole world as well, though that’s probably asking too much. But even if it can’t be the best New Year, perhaps at least it can be a better one.

  [Press cutting from Dagens Nyheter, 21 August 1945: long article by Barbro Alving about the start of Quisling’s trial in Oslo.]

  The letter Astrid sent to Bonniers along with her manuscript of Pippi Longstocking on 27 April 1944.

  Bonnier’s famous letter of 20 September 1944, rejecting the manuscript of Pippi Longstocking.

  Glossary of Names

  Abrahamsson (Mr and Mrs), friends of Alice and Per Viridén, through whom they knew Astrid and Sture Lindgren

  Adin (Mrs), teacher of Astrid Lindgren’s daughter Karin

  Agapit, Jean -Jacques, French writer

  Alli, see Viridén, Alice

  Alvtegen, Barbro (193 7–), Astrid Lindgren’s niece, her brother’s daughter Anders, see Bené, Anders

  Anna, see Eriksson, Anna

  Anne-Marie, see Fries, Anne-Marie

  Astrid (1905–35), Swedish princess who married Crown Prince Leopold of Belgium in 1926, queen of the Belgians 1934–35

  Attlee, Clement (1883–1967), British prime minister 1945–51

  Badoglio, Pietro (1871–1956), Italian politician and general, prime minister 1943–44

  Bågstam, Tage (1917–2004), illustrator, presumably one of Astrid Lindgren’s colleagues at the censor’s office

  Barbro, see Alvtegen, Barbro

  Beckman, presumably a journalist at the Swedish news agency TT (Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå)

  Bedell Smith, Walter (1895–1961), American army officer and diplomat, Eisenhower’s chief-of-staff, US ambassador to the Soviet Union 1946–48

  Bené, Anders, son of Karin Bené

  Bené, Karin, one of the young mothers who used to meet in Vasa Park

  Berggrav, Eivind (1884–1959), Norwegian bishop and theologian, opponent of Quisling, kept under house arrest 1942–45

  Bernadotte, Folke (1895–1948), Swedish officer and diplomat

  Böök, Fredrik (1883–1961), Swedish literary historian and critic

  Boris III of Bulgaria (1894–1943), tsar of Bulgaria 1918–43

  Brauchitsch, Walther von (1881–1948), supreme commander of the German army 1938–41

  Brunius, Célie (1882–1980), Swedish journalist

  Capra, Frank (1897–1991), Italian-American film director

  Carol II of Romania (1893–1953), king of Romania 1930–40

  Chamberlain, Neville (1869–1940), prime minister of Great Britain 1937–40

  Christian X of Denmark (1870–1947), king of Denmark 1912–47

  Churchill, Winston (1874–1965), prime minister of Great Britain 1940– 45 and 1951–55, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 1953 Ciano, Edda (1910–95), daughter of Benito Mussolini, married Galeazzo

  Ciano 1930

  Ciano, Galeazzo (1903–44), Italian politician and diplomat, foreign minister 1936–43

  Clausen, Frits (1893–1947), leader of the National Socialist Workers’ Party of Denmark 1933–44

  Dad, see Ericsson, Samuel August

  Darlan, François (1881–1942), French admiral and politician, minister for the navy and the merchant fleet in the Vichy regime 1940–41, deputy prime minister, foreign minister and minister of the interior 1941–42

  De Gaulle, Charles (1890–1970), brigadier-general and leader of the Free France Forces 1940–44, head of the provisional government of the French Republic 1940–46 and president 1959–69

  De la Gardie, Pontus (1884–1970), Swedish count

  de Mumma, Kar, see Kar de Mumma

  Dieden, Elsebeth (‘Pelle’) (1906–95), friend of the Lindgren family

  Diktoniu
s, Elmer (1896–1961), Finland-Swedish writer, composer and critic

  Dönitz, Karl (1891–1980), German naval commander

  Dubois, Nils (1900–71), colleague of Astrid Lindgren at the censor’s office

  Eden, Anthony (1897–1977), British foreign minister 1935–38, 1940–45 and 1951–55, prime minister 1955–57

  Eisenhower, Dwight D. (1890–1969), Supreme Allied Commander in Western Europe during the Second World War, US president 1953–1961

  Elsa, see Gullander, Elsa

  Elsa-Lena, see Oliv, Elsa-Lena

  Emil, no information available

  Engberg, Arthur (1888–1944), Swedish Social Democrat politician, minister of ecclesiastical affairs 1932–36 and 1936–39

  Engström, Albert (1869–1940), Swedish writer and artist

  Ericsson, Gunnar (1906–74), Astrid Lindgren’s brother, national representative of the Swedish Rural Youth League 1936–42 and Centre Party member of parliament in the Second Chamber 1946–56

  Ericsson, Hanna (also referred to as Granny, Mum) (1879–1961), née Jonsson, Astrid Lindgren’s mother

  Ericsson, Samuel August (also referred to as Grandad, Dad) (1875–1969), Astrid Lindgren’s father

  Eriksson, Anna (1889–1986), Astrid Lindgren’s aunt, her father’s sister

  Eriksson, Tekla (‘Lecka’), sister-in-law of Gun Eriksson with whom Astrid Lindgren lived when she first moved to Stockholm

  Esse, see Stevens, John

  Eveo, see Olson, Erik Vilhelm

  Fåhreus, no information available

  Falk, Britta-Kajsa, friend of Lars Lindgren

  Fangen, Ronald (1895–1946), Norwegian writer, journalist and critic

  Father, see Lindgren, Nils

  Flory, see Shanke, Florence

  Franco, Francisco (1892–1975), Spain’s head of state and dictator 1939–75

  Frank, Hans (1900–46), German Nazi politician, executed at Nuremberg

  Fries, Anne-Marie (1907–91), Astrid Lindgren’s best friend from the time of their childhood, who worked with Astrid at the censor’s office

  Fries, Stellan (1902–93), husband of Anne-Marie Fries

  Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand, known as Mahatma (1869–1948), leader of the Indian National Congress, who advocated non-violent non-cooperation to achieve independence

  Gerhard, Karl (1891–1964), Swedish theatre director, actor and revue writer who opposed Nazism. During the Second World War he staged revues critical of Germany.

  Gierow, Karl Ragnar (1904–82), Swedish director and writer, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy 1964–77

  Goebbels, Joseph (1897–1945) German minister of propaganda 1933–45 Göran, see Stäckig, Göran

  Göring, Hermann (1893–1946), speaker of the German parliament, founder of the Gestapo, commander of the Luftwaffe 1935–45

  Grandmother, see Lindgren, Karolina

  Grandad, see Ericsson, Samuel August

  Granny, see Ericsson, Hanna

  Grieg, Nordahl (1902–43), Norwegian writer, journalist and freedom fighter

  Grimberg, Carl (1875–1941), Swedish historian and publisher

  Gullander, Elsa (1900–97), one of the young mothers who used to meet in Vasa Park

  Gullander, Nils Emil Sigurd (‘Sigge’) (1884–1971), married to Elsa Gullander

  Gunnar, see Ericsson, Gunnar

  Günther, Christian (1886–1966), Swedish foreign minister 1939–45

  Gunvor, see Runström, Gunvor

  Gustaf V (1858 –1950), king of Sweden 1907–50

  Haakon VII of Norway (1872–1957), king of Norway 1905–57

  Hägg, Gunder (1918–2004), Swedish middle-distance runner

  Håkansson, Hans, see Hergin, Hans

  Hamberg, Per-Martin (1912–74), colleague of Astrid Lindgren at the censor’s office, and a close friend

  Hanna, see Ericsson, Hanna

  Hans, see Hergin, Hans

  Hansson, Per Albin (1885–1946), party chairman the Swedish Social Democratic Party 1925–46 and Swedish prime minister 1932–46, apart from three months in 1936

  Hansteen, Viggo (1900–41), Norwegian lawyer and Communist politician, executed by the Quisling regime

  Harrie, Ivar (1899–1973), Swedish journalist, editor in chief of Expressen 1944–60

  Hedner, Brita, wife of Carl-Erik Hedner

  Hedner, Carl-Erik, lawyer at the Swedish motorists’ association Motormännens Riksförbund and a close colleague of Sture Lindgren. The Hedners and the Lindgrens also met socially.

  Hedner, Gunnel, second wife of Carl-Erik Hedner

  Heidenstam, Verner von (1859–1940), Swedish writer and poet, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1916

  Helbig, Inger (1940–), née Lindström, Astrid Lindgren’s niece, her sister Ingegerd’s daughter

  Helena of Greece (1896–1982), first wife of Carol II of Romania and mother of Michael I of Romania

  Hemmer, Jarl (1893–1944), Finland-Swedish writer

  Hergin, Hans (1910–88), born Håkansson, Swedish proletarian writer, married to Astrid Lindgren’s sister Stina

  Hergin, Stina (1911–02), née Ericsson, Astrid Lindgren’s sister

  Hess, Rudolf (1894–87), German Nazi politician, deputy Führer 1933– 41, captured in Scotland during an abortive attempt to broker peace with Britain

  Heydrich, Reinhard (1904–42), chief of the Reich security head office, deputy protector of Bohemia and Moravia, one of the main architects of the Holocaust, assassinated in Prague

  Himmler, Heinrich (1900–45), head of the SS 1929–45

  Hitler, Adolf (1889–1945), chairman of the Nazi Party, Chancellor of Germany 1933–45 and dictator 1939–45

  Hull, Cordell (1871–1955), American Democrat politician, US secretary of state 1933–44

  Hultstrand (Mr and Mrs), probably friends of Alice and Per Viridén, no further information available

  Ingegerd, see Lindström, Ingegerd

  Ingman, Brita, married to Nils Ingman, the two of them part of Astrid and Sture Lindgren’s social circle via their acquaintance with the Viridéns

  Ingman, Nils, married to Brita Ingman

  Ingrid from Brofall, married to Astrid Lindgren’s cousin Erik from Åbro

  Ingvar, see Lindström, Ingvar

  Ingvarsdotter, Inger, see Helbig, Inger

  Jerring, Sven (1895–1979), born Jonsson, Swedish radio presenter

  Jodl, Alfred (1890–1946), German general, signed Germany’s unconditional surrender on all fronts in 1945

  Johansson, Gerd (1929–39), young Swedish girl who was murdered

  Johnson, Eyvind (1900–76), Swedish writer, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1974

  Juliana, princess of the Netherlands (1909–2004), queen 1948–80, crown princess throughout the Second World War

  Kallio, Kyösti (1873–1940), president of Finland 1937–40

  Kar de Mumma (1904–97), pseudonym of Erik Zetterström, Swedish revue writer and columnist

  Karin, see Nyman, Karin

  Karlsson, Gustav Adolf (1884–1960), Swedish clairvoyant

  Karlsson, Karin, daughter of Johan Karlsson the cowman at Näs, where Astrid Lindgren grew up, and the same age as Astrid Lindgren’s daughter Karin

  Kivimäki, Toivo Mikael (1886–1968), Finnish prime minister 1932–36, ambassador to Germany 1940–44

  Kjellberg, Lennart (1913–2004), colleague of Astrid Lindgren at the censor’s office

  Kock, officer, no further information available

  Kurusu, Saburō (1886–1954), Japan’s ambassador to Germany 1939–41, later sent to the USA to conduct peace negotiations and interned after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941

  Kuusinen, Otto Wille (1881–1964), head of the Soviet Union’s puppet government in Finland 1939–40

  Lagerblad, Ragnar and Ingerborg, acquaintances of the Lindgrens. Ragnar was in the printing business.

  Lagerkvist, Pär (1891–1974), Swedish writer, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1951

  L
agerlöf, Selma (1858–1940), Swedish writer, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1909

  Lasse, see Lindgren, Lars

  Laval, Pierre (1883–1945), French politician, member of the Vichy regime and its prime minister 1942–44

  Leander, Zarah (1907–81), Swedish singer and actress, one of the biggest film stars in Germany during the Second World War

  Lecka, see Eriksson, Tekla

  Leopold III (1901–83), king of the Belgians 1934–51

  Lindgren, Karolina (also referred to as Mother and Grandmother) (1865–1947), Sture Lindgren’s mother

  Lindgren, Lars (‘Lasse’) (1926–86), Astrid Lindgren’s son

  Lindgren, Nils (also referred to as Father) (1868–1940), Sture Lindgren’s father

  Lindgren, Sture (1898–1952), Astrid Lindgren’s husband, managing director of the Swedish motorists’ association Motormännens Riksförbund 1941–52

  Lindner, Karl Gunnar (1901–43), Swedish aircraft pilot

  Lindström, Åke (1944–68), Astrid Lindgren’s nephew, son of Ingegerd Lindström

  Lindström, Ingegerd (1916–97), née Ericsson, Astrid Lindgren’s sister

  Lindström, Ingvar (1911–87), married to Astrid Lindgren’s sister Ingegerd

  Linkomies, Edwin (1894–1963), prime minister of Finland 1943–44

  Linnéa, see Molander, Linnéa

  Litiäinen, Karin, one of the young mothers who used to meet in Vasa Park

  Litvinov, Maxim (1876–1951), Soviet politician and diplomat, ambassador to the USA 1941–43

  Lomm, Britt-Marie (1932–), granddaughter of Astrid Lindgren’s neighbour at their summer cottage at Furusund

  Lövenskiöld Lövenborg, Carl Oscar Herman Leopold, Norwegian count

  Lupescu, Magda (1895–1977), married Carol II of Romania in 1947