The first photos, confirming the romantic rumors, were taken at the Lundmark brother’s gas station in Borgholm, Sweden. Carl XVI Gustaf stopped for gas with a young woman in the passenger seat. It was the future Queen of Sweden. She has been widely known for her commitment for humanitarian causes, children in need through the “World Childhood Foundation” and “Mentor” as well as “Silvia-hemmet” who works with old people affected by dementia. . . Silvia Sommerlath has now been Queen for 47 years.
Sven-Bertil Taube, Stockholm 2007.
A Swedish singer and actor, son of the composer, writer and artist Evert and sculptor Astri Taube. His music touched many hearts and he was also widely acclaimed as an actor, winning two Guldbagge-Awards, the Swedish equivalent of an Oscar. He died on November 11, 2022.
Stockholm, March 2018
Hédi Fried.
”When we stepped off the train we didn’t know where we had stopped. It was the extermination camp of Auschwitz. In front of us stood Doctor Mengele with a whip in his hand. He pointed and split us up: mother to the right, me and my sister Livia to the left. Mother was gassed to death and we survived. With the help of the Red Cross we finally made it to Sweden.
”Today I am afraid that history has taken a dark turn. We live in Sweden with a comfortable feeling of safety: surely it cannot happen here? We have to be vigilant and aware.”
The Old man and the sea. In real life.
I met Gregorio Fuentes in 1989. Or more correctly, I met his daughter. She slowly opened the door of the small family home in the seaside village of Cojimar and put a finger over her mouth. We had to be quiet. Her father was sleeping.
Más tarde en el día? Could we come back later, in the afternoon? And for God’s sake. Do not bring him any Rum or cigars. A few hours later, Gregorio Fuentes, the famous old fisherman, accredited by some biographers to be a model for the main character the book “The old man and the sea” by Ernest Hemingway, happily accepted our gifts of Rum and Cigars.
Ernest Hemingway lived in Cuba for twenty years, longer than he lived anywhere else, in a small hilltop estate by the name of Finca Vigía. Today the place is a museum where time seem to have stopped for a little while, the house seem to be still waiting for it’s master to come back from a lunch break to La Terraza in Cojímar or the Bodeguita del Medio or the Floridita in Havana. His glasses are on the bed, and the typewriter is perched on a tall table in the bedroom. Hemingway wrote standing up.
According to Hemingway, “Fuentes was a born seaman who rode out four hurricanes, swam through shark-infested waters to rescue a drowning man and could feel in his bones precisely where the biggest marlin, sailfish and tarpon would be running.”
Thirteen years later, Gregorio Fuentes died in Cojimar in,104 years old. He never got around to read Hemingways most famous book.
Anette Sallmander’s parents fled the Holocaust and found refuge in Sweden. Mojzesz Zylberszac and Kato Kirshner met at a refugee camp in Värnamo in 1946. But the policeman who issued the passport to Kato told her that ”Kato” was a nickname in Sweden and changed it to Katerina. She had survived Birkenau, Auschwitz and several German labor camps. Her mother, father and brothers, nine and seven years were gassed to death in Auschwitz.
Anette does what she can to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive - especially these days when right wing parties and neo-nazis again gain power.
Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren created many beloved characters in the land where Fantasy and Warmth rules. This photograph is taken in her beloved Vasaparken where she strolled every day. One day, when Astrid’s own daughter Karin was sick she asked her mom to tell her a story and Pippi Longstocking, a strong young girl, living in a big yellow house with a horse and a monkey with a Father working as a pirate was born.
Pippi Longstocking was a revolutionary story about a child, a girl even, living alone, challenging adult authority - creating a role model for millions of young girls around the world.
Mary Ellen Mark has been called “The most influential woman photographer of all times”. When I met her she was 72 years old and never contemplated quitting photography. She started photography by chance as a young child and has never regretted it.
One of her favorite subjects were just children, even if she did not have any herself. “I don´t want to be tied down. With children I don´t think I could have made a career. Many that want a large family have happy memories from one. I don´t.”
She died four years later, she is missed as a dear and generous colleague.
James Nachtwey curating his exhibition Memoria at Fotografiska in Stockholm.
Nachtwey is probably the world’s foremost photojournalist. Most of his work has centered on countries in war or going through a crisis.
He has been awarded many times for his wok
2001 he recieved the Wealth Award. In 2003 the Dan David-priset and 2007 the TED-prize.
Nachtwey has been awarded the Robert Capa gold medal five times for his exceptioal courage and dedication. He has won the World Press Photo twice and he is an humble, low key person who cannot even spell narcissism.
In short. He is James Nachtwey.
Elsa Viveca Torstensdotter Lindfors was a Swedish actress, born December 1920 and died October 25.
She was related to August Strindberg, Ingmar Bergman and Greta Garbo but world famous in her own name. She performed on Broadway, on Television and in major Hollywood productions. Among those she worked with were Sydney Pollack, Oliver Stone and Orson Welles.
Her final resting place is Uppsala old Cemetery.