Gerda as Red Cross volunteer (WWI) / Sepia Saturday 596

 

Sepia Saturday 596

The Sepia Saturday prompt picture this week shows a group of soldiers. I'm no expert on uniforms, but I guess it's from WWII. (If you know better, feel free to enlighten me.)

In my great-uncle Gustaf's postcard album, I'm still on the year 1913. But after 13 comes 14, and WWI - and some postcards with military scenes sent from his sister Gerda, who happened to be in France when that war broke out, and not able to get back to Sweden until after it was over. 

I don't know what employment Gerda managed to find (or maintain) in France during the war. She also probably wasn't able to write anything very revealing on the postcards. 

But in her photo album, there is one photo showing that at some point, she must have done some volunteer work for the Red Cross. Judging by the uniforms, and knowing that she spent WWI in France, I think it must be from those years.

Gerda in the middle, with the cross visible on her armband

As mentioned in last week's Sepia post, a decade or so later, Gerda started working for the Swedish Count & Countesse Bernadotte. During WWII (and after) she was still employed by them. Folke Bernadotte, closely related to the Swedish royal family, was vice president of the Swedish Red Cross during WWII. Towards the end of the war, he negotiated directly with Heinrich Himmler for the Red Cross and managed to rescue more than 30.000 prisoners of war from concentration camps in Germany in the so-called  'White Buses' operation. 

After WWII, Folke was chosen as mediator for the UN in the Arab-Israeli conflict, but was sadly assassinated by a Zionist group in Jerusalem in 1948. My great-aunt Gerda remained with his widow Estelle (born Manville) for many more years to come, though - long past normal retirement age. Estelle eventually got remarried, but not until the same year Gerda died (1973). (Gerda was born 1881, so lived to be 91 or 92.)

This past week, I've been re-reading/listening to a biography about Folke Bernadotte: A Forgotten Hero by Shelley Emling (2019). Well worth reading (although alas not including any glimpses from the servants' quarters of his household).

G.059.02 - G.060.01 Gustaf moves to Värmland (1913)

After the excursion to 1932 in the previous post (with Gerda to Egypt), we're back in 1913, and with her brother Gustaf. He's been back from America for a couple of years, staying at the family farm in the province of Västergötland. But a change is coming up...

To: Herr Gustaf Ekman, Storegården, Fristad (Västergötland)
From: Edla Jansson (or Johnsson?), Speked, Värmlands Nysäter (Värmland)

Speked den 5/2 1913 (?)

Jag skulle skriva till dig. Jag undra om du ente har [fått] brevet samt kort som jag sände dig för en tid [sedan]. Ja nu är det vintern och före så nu är det körning i skogarna om dagarna. Jag hoppas att Gustaf skriver snart. Hälsningar från oss alla. Tecknar Edla Jansson (Johnsson?)

I was to write to you. I wonder if you haven't got the letter and card that I sent you some time ago. It is winter now and they are driving timber on sleighs in the woods in the daytime. I hope Gustaf will write soon. Greetings from us all, through Edla Jansson (Johnsson?).

Edla's handwriting is not all easy to interpret, and the date of the card had me puzzled. At first I read it as 5/9 1912, but that seemed not to fit with it being winter. I think it must be 5/2 1913. 

Whatever the date, the card probably gives a clue to why - as will be seen from cards to come - some time between New Year and Easter 1913, Gustaf moved to Speked, Värmlands Nysäter (in the province of Värmland). He seems to have stayed there for about a year ; and from the message on this card we can guess what kind of work he was doing. I don't know who Edla was, or how they knew each other. But in America, Gustaf had worked at a sawmill and lumber yard (in Galteton, Pennsylvania), and so was well qualified for working with timber. 

Edlas handstil är inte helt lätt att tyda, och speciellt datumet vållade mig huvudbry. Jag läste det först som 5/9 1912 - men det verkade inte riktigt stämma med texten, som talade om vinter.  5/2 1913 verkar passa bättre.

Oavsett datum, så ger det här kortet en ledtråd till varför Gustaf (som följande kort kommer att visa), någon gång mellan nyår och påsk 1913 flyttade upp till Speked, Värmlands Nysäter. Han tycks ha blivit kvar där ca ett år, och från meddelandet på det här kortet gissar jag att det arbete han utförde där hade koppling till skogsbruk och timmerkörning. Jag vet inte vem Edla var, eller hur de kände varandra. Men i Amerika hade ju Gustaf arbetat på sågverk/brädgård (i Galeton, Pennsylvania), så var van vid den typen av arbete.

To: Herr Gustaf Ekman, Speked, Nysäter (Värmland)
From: E Osbeck (April 1913)

Fristad d. 18:4 -13
Storegården

Hjärtligt tack för vänlig hågkomst! Må väl!
Högaktningsfullt, E. Osbeck

Fristad 18.4.1913
Storegården

Many thanks for remembering me. Godspeed!
Yours sincerely, E. Osbeck

To: Herr Gustav Ekman, Speked, Nysäter (Värmland)
From: Anna G. (April, 1913)

Fristad d. 18:4 -13

Ett hjärtligt tack för vänliga hågkomsten. Njut af "Värmland du sköna och herrliga land"!
Vänligen, Anna G.

Fristad, 18.4.1913
Many thanks for remembering me. Enjoy beautiful and lovely Värmland!
Best regards, Anna G.

(Not familiar with the Swedish provinces? Click on Maps/Kartor just under the blog header.)

Gerda in Egypt, 1932 / Sepia Saturday 595

(Temporarily side-stepping the postcard album chronology with this post...)

This week, Sepia Saturday 595 offers a prompt picture showing an unknown mother and child riding a donkey on a beach:

This made me think of a photo of Gerda (older half-sister to my grandmother), sitting on a donkey in front of a pyramid in Egypt:

As with most photos in Gerda's photo album, there is no date or comment to accompany it. I know she travelled to several foreign countries, employed as lady's maid to rich ladies; but I have very few details about all that. So when was she in Egypt? 

A couple of years ago, when sorting through a bunch of postcards which had not been fitted into the album, I found this one (below), which probably provides the answer:

To: Gustaf Samuelsson, Storegården, Fristad, Sweden

(For some reason, by now Gustaf had gone back to using his birth surname, Samuelsson)

From: Gerda. Sent from Cairo, 20th March 1932 (a Sunday)

Cairo den 20-3-32
Käre bror! Sänder dig en hälsning härifrån, reser igen om tisdag till vanliga adressen. Kära hälsningar, syster Gerda

Cairo 20.3.32 

Dear brother, sending you a greeting from here. On Tuesday I'll be leaving again for the usual address. Love, sister Gerda

From info I got back in 2013 from a grandson to Gerda's older sister, I know for certain that in March 1932, Gerda was in the employ of Estelle Bernadotte, married to the Swedish count Folke Bernadotte af Wisborg, nephew to the king of Sweden, Gustav V. In an email to me, he mentions a sort of ID document in French dated 9 March 1932, stating that then she's employed in Paris at Square Lamartine no 3 as "domestique au service du comte Bernadotte de Wisborg, neveu du Roi de Suède". 

So if on the 20th of the same month, Gerda is sending a postcard from Cairo, I'd say there is no doubt that she was there with the Bernadottes. It even seems likely that the French ID document was written for that journey.

When I google "Cairo 1932", I find Congrés de Caire or the First Congress of Arab Music, "a large international symposium and music festival that was convened by King Fuad I in Cairo, Egypt, from March 14 to April 3, 1932". [Wikipedia] 

I'm not familiar with the diplomatic relations between Sweden and Egypt at the time, but it seems to me that if this was an international event convened by the king of Egypt, it's not unlikely that Count Bernadotte was attending as representative for the Swedish royal family. (The dates seem to fit "too" well for it to be a pure coincidence.)

As for the photo of Gerda in front of the pyramid, I suppose that if they were in Cairo for a week, she was also given a bit of time off for sight-seeing - perhaps an outing to the pyramids together with other servants? (I'd love it if I could also find out who the men accompanying her in the photo were, but that's probably too much to hope for!)

When she writes that she'll be going back to "the usual address", I suppose that could mean either back to Paris (if they had just been making an excursion to Egypt from there), or back to Stockholm, Sweden. (The next card I have is from August 1932, and then she was back in Stockholm. But that leaves four months unaccounted for in between.)

---

Svenska:

Veckans inspirationsbild från Sepia Saturday (595) - en okänd kvinna och ett barn sittande på en åsna på en strand - får mig att göra en liten avvikelse från den kronologiska genomgången av Gustafs vykortssamling. Bilden leder mina tankar till ett foto i Gerdas fotoalbum, där hon sitter på en åsna framför en av Egyptens pyramider. Som vanligt saknas anteckningar om datum eller plats - fast platsen råder det ju i det här fallet inte mycket tvivel om!  

Jag vet att Gerda reste till flera avlägsna länder under sina anställningar som kammarjungfru hos välbärgade damer. Men när var hon i Egypten? 

För ett par år sedan, när jag gick igenom en bunt med kort som inte fått plats i Gustafs vykortsalbum, så hittade jag ett som antagligen ger svaret på gåtan - skrivet av Gerda till Gustaf, från Kario, daterat den 20.3 1932 (vilket var en söndag). 

Cairo den 20-3-32
Käre bror! Sänder dig en hälsning härifrån, reser igen om tisdag till vanliga adressen. Kära hälsningar, syster Gerda

För ett antal år sedan, 2013, fick jag en del kompletterande data om Gerdas anställningar i ett email från Bengt W, barnbarn till Gerdas syster Emma. Jag har fortfarande inte lyckats få klarhet i exakt när Gerda trädde i tjänst hos Estelle Bernadotte - om det var redan från 1928 när paret gifte sig, eller något senare - men BW nämner "ett sorts identitetsbevis på franska utfärdat 9 mars 1932 om att hon är anställd i Paris på Square Lamartine no 3 som 'domestique au service du comte Bernadotte de Wisborg, neveu du Roi de Suéde'."

Så om Gerda var i Kairo den 20 mars 1932, så råder knappast något tvivel om att hon var där tillsammans med paret Bernadotte. Det verkar t.o.m troligt att det där id-dokumentet skrevs specifikt for detta ändamål!

Men vad var då anledningen till att makarna Bernadotte besökte Kairo i mars 1932? När jag googlar på "Cairo 1932" så leder mig detta till en Wikipedia-artikel om en internationell kongress om arabisk musik, sammankallad av kung Fuad, och som pågick från 14 mars till 3 april 1932. Jag är inte bekant med de diplomatiska förbindelserna mellan Sverige och Egypten vid den tiden, men om denna kongress var ett initiativ av den egyptiske kungen, så förefaller det inte otroligt att Bernadottes var där som representanter för det svenska hovet. Datumen verkar stämma lite "för" bra för att vara ett rent sammanträffande.

När det gäller fotot på Gerda vid pyramiden, så antar jag att om de var i Kairo i vecka, så fick även medföljande tjänstefolk någon ledighet för att titta på sevärdheter - t.ex. en utflykt till pyramiderna. (Att lyckas få reda på vilka männen på ömse sidor om Gerda på fotot är, är dock antagligen inte att hoppas på.) 

När Gerda skriver att hon på tisdag reser tillbaka "till vanliga adressen", så antar jag att detta syftar antingen på Paris (om resan till Egypten bara var en utflykt från en längre vistelse i Paris), eller på Stockholm. (Nästa kort med tidsangivelse som jag har är från augusti 1932, från Stockholm. Men det är ju hela fyra månader senare.)

G.057.02 - G.058.03 Happy New Year 1913

 

Längjum Storegården d. 1:1-13 (1.1.1913)
Godt nytt år önskas Eder! E Osbeck
Happy New Year to you! E Osbeck

I recall another recent card in the album signed E Obk, that must be the same person. I think the first name may have been Ernst, but I don't know where I got that from. (Possibly from hearing the name mentioned some time in the past; but I'm not sure.) The card being written from the same address as it's addressed to makes me wonder if he was a friend temporarily staying with them, or maybe a farmhand living there? 

Gott Nytt År - Happy New Year

Tillönskar fam. Ekman (Norrköping 31.12.1912)
(from Gustaf's brother Oscar & family)

Gott nytt år 1913! Tillönskas av Sally, Hildur o Nils

Happy New Year 1913! from Sally, Hildur & Nils

This card was (presumably) written by my grandmother Sally (born in February 1900, so soon to turn 13). Nils was her  brother, 1½ years younger. Hildur (20) was half-sister to Sally and Nils on their mother's side; and step-sister to Gustaf. 

Anonymous card, sent to Gustaf at Storegården in 1912.

[Chicago, March 1912]

Best Wishes for  a happy Easter from a friend

G.056.01 - G.057.01 God Jul 1912

Merry Christmas 1912

At Christmas 1912, Gustaf has been back home from America about 1½ years, and is still living at Storegården, Fristad  - the family farm (in the province of Västergötland, Sweden), run by his older brother Carl.

All is well that ends well
said he who ate
... Christmas Ham ...

From: Oscar & family (Norrköping, dec 1912) 

God Jul tillönskas & hjärtl. hälsn. samt d:o tack för allt "klappande". Samtl. instämmer häri. /Oscar - Skall snart skrifa bref.

Merry Christmas and best wishes from all of us, and thanks for all the presents!. /Oscar - I will write a letter soon. 

(Oscar is another brother, and he and his family seem to be living in Norrköping now - in the province of Östergötland - since all their cards are sent from there.)

(embossed card)

En Glad och fridfull jul tillönskas av  (Anna? Emma?)

Wishing you a happy and peaceful Christmas 

The card was sent from Chicago, obviously by a Swedish friend there, but the name is hard to read. 

God jul och gott nytt år tillönskas av Ruth. Välkommen hit till oss, beder Ruth.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Ruth. I bid you welcome to us. /Ruth

I don't know who Ruth is, and alas there is no postmark to reveal where she wrote from. What I do know (from postcards coming up in the next few pages in the postcard album) is that in the spring of 1913, Gustaf would move to Värmlands Nysäter (in the province of Värmland). He seems to have remained there until December 1913, and then moved on to Brålanda (in the province of Dalsland), where seems to have stayed until 1918. (I.e. more or less through the whole period of WWI in Europe.)  I think he worked as a farmhand. I'm not sure whether this implies that there wasn't enough work for him at his brother's farm - or if perhaps, after a couple of years back home (after his years in America), he again found himself longing for a more independent life.

God Jul - Merry Christmas

 

Glad jul önskas er alla. Kära hälsningar, Ester.

Merry Christmas to all of you, with best wishes from Ester 
(one of Gustaf's older sisters)