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
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, SaburÅ (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