A World Gone Mad: The Diaries of Astrid Lindgren, 1939-45

Translator’s Note

Until 2013, seventeen leather-bound diaries lived in a wicker laundry basket at Astrid Lindgren’s familiar home address, 46 Dalagatan in Stockholm. The diaries cover the years 1939–45. Her own name for them was ‘The War Diaries’ and they are now accessible to the public for the first time. The diaries bulged with press cuttings, pasted in between Lindgren’s handwritten entries. She refers now and then to the time it has taken her to save newspapers and magazines, sift through them and select items to cut out for pasting into her note-books, but it was a task she set herself and she carried it through to the end, the number of cuttings increasing with every passing wartime year. In her preface to the Swedish edition, Kerstin Ekman, another eminent Swedish writer, expresses her admiration for Lindgren’s unusual resolve:

War diaries were kept by general staffs and units out in the field. Their operational maps, battle accounts and observations would form the foundation of future history writing. It is striking to think of this 32-year-old mother of two and office-worker taking on the same sort of task with such seriousness. But only for herself, to try to understand what was going on.

The Swedish edition includes facsimiles of quite a number of the two-page diary spreads featuring pasted-in newspaper cuttings. Here and there in this edition the reader will come across references to such accompanying cuttings and Pushkin Press has asked me to provide an explanatory note wherever one is necessary.

Astrid Lindgren’s own comments are in round brackets, whereas square brackets indicate clarifications added by the Swedish editors, with a few additions for this English-language edition, to provide a little more background information for a non-Swedish readership.

The ambition was to retain the overall character of the original, but dates and abbreviations have been harmonized. Biographical names have been corrected and some place names have been put into English. Where the original work was in English, or in long lists of Swedish works, book and film titles have also been rendered in English.

Then as now, Swedes often use ‘England’ as shorthand for any part of the British Isles, and that is Lindgren’s practice throughout her diaries. It seemed less jarring to render this as ‘Britain’ in the English-language edition.

SARAH DEATH

1939

Astrid and her husband Sture at home in Vulcanusgatan, 1939.

1 SEPTEMBER 1939

Oh! War broke out today. Nobody could believe it.

Yesterday afternoon, Elsa Gullander and I were in Vasa Park with the children running and playing around us and we sat there giving Hitler a nice, cosy telling-off and agreed that there definitely was not going to be a war – and now today! The Germans bombarded several Polish cities early this morning and are forging their way into Poland from all directions. I’ve managed to restrain myself from any hoarding until now, but today I laid in a little cocoa, a little tea, a small amount of soap and a few other things.

A terrible despondency weighs on everything and everyone. The radio churns out news reports all day long. Lots of our men are being called up. There’s a ban on private motoring, too. God help our poor planet in the grip of this madness!

2 SEPTEMBER

A sad, sad day! I read the war announcements and felt sure Sture would be called up but he turned out not to be, in the end. Countless others have got to leave home and report for duty, though. We’re in a state of ‘intensified war readiness’. The amount of stockpiling is unbelievable, according to the papers. People are mainly buying coffee, toilet soap, household cleaning soap and spices. There’s apparently enough sugar in the country to last us 15 months, but if nobody can resist stocking up we’ll have a shortage anyway. At the grocer’s there wasn’t a single kilo of sugar to be had (but they’re expecting more in, of course).

When I went to my coffee merchant to buy a fully legitimate quarter-kilo of coffee, I found a notice on the door: ‘Closed. Sold out for today.’

It’s Children’s Day today, and dear me, what a day for it! I took Karin up to the park this afternoon and that was when I saw the official notice that all men born in 1898 [Sture’s year of birth] would be called up. I tried to read the newspaper while Karin went on the slide but I couldn’t, I just sat there with tears rising in my throat.

People look pretty much as usual, only a bit more gloomy. Everybody talks about the war all the time, even people who don’t know each other.

3 SEPTEMBER

The sun is shining, it’s a nice warm day, this earth could be a lovely place to live. At 11 a.m. today Britain declared war on Germany, as did France, but I don’t know exactly what time. Germany had received an ultimatum from Britain demanding an undertaking by 11 o’clock to withdraw its troops from Poland and enter into talks, in which case the invasion of Poland would be deemed never to have happened. But no undertaking had been received by 11 o’clock and Chamberlain said in his speech to the British nation on this Sunday afternoon: ‘consequently this country is at war with Germany’.

‘Responsibility […] lies on the shoulders of one man,’ Chamberlain told the British parliament. And history’s judgment of Hitler will certainly be damning – if this turns into another world war. Many people see this quite simply as the fall of the white race and of civilization.

The various governments are already jawing about who’s to blame. Germany claims that Poland attacked first and that the Poles could do whatever they wanted under the protection of the Anglo-French guarantee. Here in Sweden we can’t see it any other way than that Hitler wants war, or that he can’t see any means to avoid it without losing face. It’s pretty clear that Chamberlain did his utmost to keep the peace; he gave way in Munich for no other reason. This time, Hitler demanded ‘Danzig and the Corridor’ but deep down he probably wants to rule the whole world. What line should Italy and Russia take? Polish sources say the first two days of war cost 1,500 lives in Poland.

4 SEPTEMBER

Anne-Marie came round this evening and we have never had a more dismal ‘meeting’. We tried to talk about things other than the war, but it was impossible. In the end we had a brandy to cheer ourselves up, but it didn’t help.

A big British passenger steamer with 1,400 people on board has been torpedoed by the Germans, who deny having done it and claim the ship must have run into a mine. But the British wouldn’t have laid mines off the north-west coast of Scotland. I believe all the surviving passengers were rescued (60 died, no, more, 128?), some of them by Wenner-Gren on the Southern Cross, out on a pleasure trip with his tanks full of the oil he’s been hoarding. He’s been scolded roundly in the press for his crazy stockpiling.

The British mounted a bombing raid over Germany and dropped not bombs but leaflets – saying that the British people don’t want to be at war with the German people, only with the Nazi regime. The British presumably hope there’ll be a revolution in Germany. It’ll annoy Hitler, at any rate. He’s decreed hard labour for anyone caught listening to foreign radio stations and the death penalty for those spreading information from foreign broadcasts to other citizens.

A bomb from an unidentified plane fell on Esbjerg in peaceable little Denmark, destroyed a house and killed two people, one of them a woman.

The bus service in Stockholm is to be restricted from tomorrow. Our streets already look deserted, now that use of private cars has been banned.

Today I assembled my little stockpile in a corner of the kitchen, ready for storage in the attic. It comprises: 2kg sugar, 1kg sugar lumps, 3kg rice, 1kg potato flour, 1½kg coffee in various tins, 2kg household cleaning soap, 2 boxes Persil, 3 bars toilet soap, 5 packets cocoa, 4 packets tea and a few spices. I shall gradually try to collect up a bit more, because prices are bound to rise soon. Karin called for a drink of water after I put her to bed last night. ‘At least we don’t have to worry about saving water.’ She thought we’d be able to live on water and jam if we had a war.

5 SEPTEMBER

Chamberlain delivered a radio address to the German people – who aren’t allowed to listen.

There’s still nothing happening on the western front. But it seems clear that Germany is giving Poland a good thrashing.

I bought shoes for myself and the kids, before the prices go up: two pairs for Karin at 12.50 kronor a pair, one pair for Lasse at 19.50 and one pair for me at 22.50.

6 SEPTEMBER

They say the French put up placards on the western front: ‘We won’t shoot.’ And that the Germans replied on their placards: ‘Nor will we!’ But it can’t be true.

From tomorrow, all heavy goods vehicles will be subject to restrictions, as well.

7 SEPTEMBER

All quiet at the Schipka Pass [on the Swedish island of Gotska Sandön, strategically placed in the Baltic]. But the Germans will soon be in Warsaw.

8 SEPTEMBER

Yes, they’ve made it. Poor Poland! The Poles maintain that if the Germans were able to take Warsaw, it means the last Polish soldier has been crushed.

17 SEPTEMBER

The Russians marched into Poland today as well, ‘to safeguard the interests of the Russian minority’. Poland’s now as far down on its knees as it can get, so they must be thinking of sending a negotiator to Germany.

There’s still not much action on the western front, but according to today’s paper Hitler’s planning a huge air offensive against Britain. We hear of very worrying developments at sea: countless ships torpedoed or blown up by mines. Supply routes to Germany must be more or less cut off, I think.

3 OCTOBER

The war carries on as usual. Poland has surrendered. It’s total chaos there. Germany and Russia have divided the country between them. It seems simply incredible that such a thing can happen in the twentieth century.

Russia is the one benefiting most from this war. Once the Germans had crushed Poland – only then did the Russians march in and take their share of the spoils, and no small share, either. It’s generally assumed that the Germans aren’t particularly happy about this state of affairs, but they can’t say anything. Russia’s making a whole series of demands in the Baltic states – and getting what it wants.

There can be no doubt that Germany is waging war on us, the neutral countries. All our ships in the North Sea are being captured and sunk. They’ve got spies in the ports checking up on cargoes and destinations, and we’re not the only neutral country whose ships are being sunk. I can’t see what they hope to achieve.

There’s still nothing much happening on the western front.

Here at home, we have various minor inconveniences to cope with. There’s no white sewing thread to be had, for instance. And we’re only allowed a quarter-kilo of household soap at a time.

Lots of people are now unemployed as a result of the crisis. It’s a shame nobody’s shot Hitler. The coming week is going to be ‘dramatic’, Germany and Britain have both promised. Germany’s expected to propose a peace treaty that Britain can’t accept. But people all over the world want peace.

14 OCTOBER

The punch-up has started in earnest and it affects us now, primarily Finland of course, but it’s only a short step from there to here. Russia’s ‘invited’ the foreign ministers of the Baltic states to Moscow, one by one, and now it’s Finland’s turn. Foreign Minister Paasikivi is spending several days with Stalin, keeping Finland, us and the whole world in suspense. Helsinki has evacuated large sections of its population and the country is preparing for a war it would dearly have loved to avoid. The solidarity of the Nordic peoples is greater than ever. King Gustaf has invited all the Nordic heads of state to a conference in Stockholm next week. For now, Finland is putting its trust in Sweden. We’re expecting general mobilization here soon. Lars has come home from school with a list of kit he’ll need if they are evacuated and Mrs Stäckig and I went to PUB [department store] today to buy rucksacks and underwear for our lads.

A British battleship, the Royal Oak, has been sunk. There were 1,000 men on board; I don’t know how many they were able to save.

18 OCTOBER

Today, the four Nordic heads of state and their foreign ministers gathered here in Stockholm at the invitation of King Gustaf. This historic day was favoured with brilliant sunshine and it looked very festive with all the flags flying, down in the centre of town. Pelle Dieden and I had lunch at the Opera Grill. In the evening, hundreds of thousands gathered in the area round the palace. We were at home and heard it on the radio. Around 10, their three majesties and President Kallio came out onto a balcony above Lejonbacken [the slope up to the palace] to a jubilant reception from the crowd. ‘Kallio, Kallio,’ they roared, so the sweet little man was forced to come out a second time. The eyes of the world are on Stockholm at the moment. Roosevelt and all the presidents of the South American republics have sent telegrams of sympathy to King Gustaf.

Paasikivi goes back to Moscow on Saturday evening and then we’ll see what happens.

12 NOVEMBER

Paasikivi and the other Finns are still in Moscow, where they’ve been taking part in the festivities to commemorate the Revolution. Sillanpää has won the Nobel Prize and all the other Nordic countries are collecting money for Finland.

Nobody knows yet how things will turn out, but in the past few days the eyes of the world have been turned elsewhere. There was a bomb in Munich the other day, an assassination attempt on Hitler, who was there for the anniversary of the attempted Putsch in 1923. He made a speech in the Bürgerbräukeller, and 20 minutes after he left the hall some kind of bomb or infernal machine went off, killing 8 people and injuring 60. Unfortunately the timer was running 20 minutes slow. Though perhaps one shouldn’t say unfortunately, because the attack is only generating more hate and the Germans are blaming the British for it, as they do everything else.

There’s still nothing happening on the western front but the suspense is awful and everyone expects a German offensive to dwarf anything the world has ever seen.

Wilhelmina of Holland and Leopold of Belgium launched a renewed drive for peace; they treasure their poor countries.

Parts of Holland have already been deliberately flooded for defence purposes. They expect a German invasion any day.

Just imagine if we could have peace! Peace on earth! It was Armistice Day yesterday, 21 years since the end of hostilities.

30 NOVEMBER

Eli, Eli, lemi sabachtani! Who’d want to live in this world! Today the Russians bombarded Helsinki and several other places in Finland. Meanwhile they’re also trying to push forward on the Karelian Isthmus, but seem to have been beaten back there. We’ve been poised between hope and despair for a long time, but when the Finnish delegation came home from Moscow without having reached any agreement, everything was suddenly quiet and calm. Many of those evacuated from Helsinki came back again. Then the Russians suddenly turn round and say Finnish snipers have been active on the border, which the Finns deny. But the Russians want a fight – and now they’ve started one, even though they have world opinion against them.

I can’t remember a day as black as this! I was at the National Association of Wholesalers today. In the morning the messenger boy came in and announced the dreadful news, which none of us ever thought would really come to pass. My knees felt shaky all day; and this evening I was at Anne-Marie and Stellan’s – in mourning. What lies ahead, what fate awaits us? And poor Finland!

7 DECEMBER

What terrible times we live in! Finland is keeping Russia blocked with incomparable gusto. But in their rancour, the Russians resorted to using gas yesterday. Bitter battles are raging on the Karelian Isthmus and round Petsamo. There’s been no aerial bombardment, though, because of the weather. The Russians are poorly equipped and find the snowstorms hard going. They’ve lost a lot of people and the whole world is full of admiration for the Finnish armed forces. But the civilian population up north, fleeing across the Swedish border, is in dire straits. Here in Sweden, people are mad keen to donate all they can to Finland. Tons of clothes and money are being collected and sent off. I went up to the attic myself the day before yesterday and grabbed up everything I could find, including Sture’s ‘coachman’s coat’ and Mother’s [her mother-in-law’s] gruesome cardigan. Though I think the Finns already have enough trials – without Mother’s cardigan.

The whole world is intensely pro-Finland. Germany alone is