Johan Fridegård, known as Jan Fridegård, grew up in a stately home outside Enköping and made his debut in 1931 with the poetry collection Den svarta lutan. Before his debut, he worked in several different professions but was periodically unemployed and without income.
Fridegård wrote articles for the revolutionary magazine Brand, and his first novel, En natt i juli (A Night in July), was published in 1933. The theme of liberation is portrayed in the autobiographical suite of novels Jag Lars Hård (1935), Tack för himmlastegen (1936), and Barmhärtighet (1936).
During the mood of preparedness for the Second World War, Fridegård began to write about the rebellious slave Holme in Trägudars land (1940), Gryningsfolket (1944) and Offerrök (1949).
Fridegård moved several times in his life and lived during the latter part of his life at Bredmansgatan 7A in Uppsala.
A museum has been dedicated to Jan Fridegård at Övergran church in Håbo.
Image description: Jan Fridegård in his home, Uppsala 1948. Photo: Paul Sandberg / Upplandsmuseet. [The image is cropped] Click here for an uncropped image
At the age of 17, Atterbom became one of the leading members of the Musis Amici society (later the Aurora Society), which sought to reform Swedish literature in a neo-Romantic spirit.
The literary revolution that Atterbom wanted to lead began in 1810 with the critical and satirical journal Polyphemus. Together with V.F. Palmblad, he started the journal Phosforus, which claimed poetry as a spiritual force capable of transforming life.
With his friends Geijer, Palmblad and Törneros, Atterbom had an amiable and soulful family relationship, and in Malla Silfverstolpe's salons, Atterbom and other Romantics were intimately at home for decades.
Atterbom became professor of theoretical philosophy in 1828, professor of aesthetics and modern literature in 1835 and was also a member of the Swedish Academy from 1839.
His works include the fairy tale play Fågel Blå (1814), the lyrical fairy tale play Lycksalighetens ö (1824-1827) and Samlade dikter (1837-1838). In Svenska siare och skalder (1841-1845), Swedenborg, Ehrensvärd and Thorild are portrayed. Stiernhielm, Dahlin, Kellgren and Bellman are also portrayed.
Image description: Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom, painting by Johan Gustaf Sandberg 1831, Photo: Nationalmuseum / Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped] Click here for an uncropped image
Gösta Knutsson came to Uppsala in 1927 and graduated in Latin and classical antiquities in 1931. He was chairman of the General Choir 1959-1970 and secretary of OD.
As chairman of the student union from 1936 to 1938, Knutsson became a representative and hallman for Radiotjänst in Uppsala and thus began his career in Swedish Radio.
As a radio man, Knutsson became known above all as the organizer of quiz shows, which for a long time were one of Swedish Radio's biggest successes. The program "Who knows what" began to be broadcast in 1939 together with Gösta Knutsson's colleague "the all-knowing" Einar Haglund.
First edition of Pelle Svanslös och taxen Max from 1944, published by Bonniers Barnbibliotek. Photo: Upplandsmuseet.
Gösta Knutsson at his desk, Uppsala 1942. Photo: Gunnar Sundgren / UUB.
For several decades, Knutsson hosted a number of popular entertainment programs, such as the Monthly Magazine, the Unprepared Speakers' Club, the Tricky Club, and even programs for the youngest radio listeners.
While working in radio, Knutsson became one of Sweden's best-known children's authors. In 1939 he published the children's book Pelle svanslös på äventyr, which was a great success and was translated into ten languages. The book started a series of twelve books about Pelle, Maja, Bill and Bull, Elake Måns and the other cats.
Erik Gustaf Geijer, one of Uppsala's greatest cultural personalities of all time, was born in Ransäter in Värmland and came to Uppsala as a student in 1799. As an informant, he spent 1809-1810 in England where he carefully observed social and cultural life.
Geijer's understanding of the intellectuals' criticism increased during a trip to Germany in 1825, and he began to take a more realistic approach to the fantasies of Romanticism. He expressed this in Minnen (1834).
Geijer realized the importance of the middle class in society and the legitimacy of its demands for freedom, and as a result of the changed social analysis there was a political reorientation away from conservatism. He announced this 'apostasy' in 1838.
Geijer's ability to see and formulate the essential contexts of his time made him a strong voice in opinion-forming. Among his most significant works are Svea Rikes hävder (1825), which depicts Sweden's oldest history, and History of the Swedish People (1832-1836).
Geijer was a brilliant lecturer, a profound scholar and one of the leaders of the literary circles in Uppsala in the 1830s. He was also at the center of musical life, composing songs, piano sonatas, string quartets and other instrumental music.
Erik Gustaf Geijer was a professor of history from 1817 to 1847 and became a member of the Swedish Academy in 1824. He lived at Svartbäcksgatan 17 and then moved to Övre Slottsgatan 2. In 1846 Geijer moved to Stockholm.
The following is taken from the poem "Natthimmelen" from Samlade skrifter, Band 1-13 1849-1855.
Alone I progress on my path,
longer and longer the road stretches;
Alas, my goal is hidden in the distance.
Daylight is fading. Space becomes nocturnal.
Soon only the eternal stars I see.
But I do not complain about the day,
I am not dismayed by the coming night;
for of the love that goes through the world,
a streak also fell into my soul.
Gustaf Fröding was born at Alsters manor in Värmland and was deeply rooted in Värmland's mill and manor life through his family. He came to Uppsala in 1880 and lived at Övre slottsgatan 13 in a farmhouse and took a single exam. Fröding joined the radical circles of the Verdandi association and wrote parodic poems and comradely songs.
He returned to Karlstad where, after writing notices in various newspapers, he was employed by Karlstadstidningen. An inheritance in 1888 brought financial independence and Fröding left his employment.
Between 1889 and 1890, Fröding spent time in a 'mental institution' in Görlitz due to mental problems. It was there that he experienced his first major creative period, when the bulk of his debut collection of poems, Gitarr och dragharmonika, was completed, making him Sweden's foremost poet at the time.
The following example of Fröding's poetry, entitled "I ungdomen", is taken from Gitarr och dragharmonika, 2nd edition, 1893:
The river sparkles so beautifully,
it chirps so merrily in the furrow.
Here I lie lazy, like a spoiled son
in the lap of my mother nature.
It sings and smells and shines and smiles
from earth and sky and everything I see.
It is as if the wind carries a message to me
about happy days, which are striped,
my blood is in turmoil, I think I am in love
- in whom? - alas in everything that breathes.
I wanted everything in heaven and earth
was close to my heart in the form of a girl.
In 1894 New Poems was published and in 1896 Splashes and Tabs. However, his health deteriorated and Fröding was hospitalized at Ulleråkers Hospital from 1896-1905.
Gustaf Fröding died on February 8, 1911 and was buried in the Old Cemetery in Uppsala on February 12. After the burial in Klara Church in Stockholm, the coffin was taken by special train to Uppsala. In his speech, Archbishop Nathan Söderblom said the following words at the coffin:
"Three little books came out - and a whole language has grief".
Many of the people of Uppsala met the coffin when it arrived in Uppsala. Then the coffin, wrapped in torchlight in the winter twilight, was taken to the cemetery. Erik Axel Karlfeldt spoke at the grave.
Official, Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Dag Hammarskjöld grew up in Uppsala, where his father, Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, was governor. From 1936 to 1945, Hammarskjöld was State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, moving to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1946.
In 1947-1948 he was a Swedish delegate to the OEEC negotiations, Cabinet Secretary in 1949-1951, and Consultative Minister in 1951-1953. Hammarskjöld was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1953 and the following year succeeded his father as a member of the Swedish Academy.
Hammarskjöld's leadership skills were necessary to streamline the complex UN organization, and his personal integrity, diplomatic skills and commitment to the UN idea gave authority to his role as Secretary-General.
Dag Hammarskjöld died in 1961 in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the same year.
In 1963 his diary entries were published under the title Vägmärken. In the Peace Chapel in Uppsala Cathedral there is a memorial stone with the inscription:
