Saturday, October 07, 2006
Part 3 – Enlightenment needed
In the two previous entries – part one and two – I challenged the readers to idenitrify the author of the quotes and when the text was written. Malte hit the mark. He wrote: "I've solved it: it was Ingemar Ingers in Göteborgs Handels- & Sjöfartstidning on 29th of July 1950! It's on the Internet." Malte is correct so here is the rest of the text from that precise article."In a tourist pamphlet on the Island of Hven it is stated that the old Church on Hven originates from the time of the Erik Dynasty. In an article about the vicarage of Brandstad – the oldest in Skåne – it says that it originates from the time of King Sigismund. In a description of a Scanian country church it says the pulpit came into existence during the great days of Gustav Adolf. In a chronicle from Höör in a Scanian magazine, it was mentioned that the date on the church bell was 1632 and it continues “one of its first ringing of the bell (tolling of the knell) was for Gustav Adolf”. You could continue like this for a long long time. I have mentioned these examples in order to demonstrate that in Skåne – and of course also outside of Skåne – there is a rather compact ignorance about the province’s early history”.The point Mr Ingers is making is that the Scanian history before 1658 (the year of the Swedish invasion) was unknown to people in 1950 and that such exhibits of ignorance was common 55 years ago. Kings Erik, Sigismund or Gustav Adolf were not Scanian but Swedish kings long before 1658. But they are portrayed as if they had any influence over the historic events in Skåne before that year. Incredible!
Well, has it changed? No, the ignorance is still compact. The Scanian background is still hidden behind closed doors in schools and mass media.
How is it possible that a large piece of history in a region in Europe is still, even today, almost totally unknown to more than a million people in Skåne? Is there any other region in Europe where the people are still similarly kept ignorant of their historic background in the same way as here? I doubt it.
Maybe this is something for the new culture and education ministers to consider now when they are moving in to the power corridors of the Swedish government.
Labels: International
