Big-game hunter Denys Finch Hatton
Haverholme Priory.Earl of Winchilsea.The family estate in Lincolnshire
Baroness Karen Blixen.The author of " Out of Africa ".
Lasse Nilsson. Kaisa Komulainen-Nilsson
Let me face you with a private assumption about why I and maybe you do remember some sites, cities, faces, persons and events for years. Three cities are mentioned above:
The Swedish city, Vingåker, the capital of France, Paris and Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. What do the cities have in common? Why do I recall them all too often? My statement is that if you move people who are dedicated in some or another field, they would let you know about their interests, dreams, ambitions wherever they go or settle- I think.If you had been my students I would ask you some questions connected to some words letting you explain to me the importance of the words. Let me make a test. Question one is: Kjesæter and Vingåker and the Second World War? Those Norwegians who left Norway to fight the German occupation of the country, do remember
the name Kjesæter because they all had to be questioned about why they left Norway in spring 1942. The castle Kjesæter is situated close to Vingåker in Sødermanland.Not
all of the refugees had a good reason for leaving the country and some of them were sent by the Germans to spy on the Norwegian soldiers. Many of the young men married the beautiful Swedish girls and many have only good memories from the stay in Vingåker during the war. Due to my age I was not among the refugees. The Norwegians
made Vingåker and the castle Kjesæter know to many in Norway. They came, they stayed
and left and made local history in Vingåker. My assumption might not be too bad. Let
me continue with my lecture about my settlement theory. Two friends of mine have recently also settled in Vingåker.They left the busy life in Stockholm and have decided make it in Nederhult, Vingåker. A splendid and bold decision, I think. Kaisa
Komulainen- Nilsson and Lasse Nilsson have decided to work for the community by being active in local politics representing the party, Venstrepartiet Vingåker.
Several public meetings have already been arranged.Two dedicated persons who have many interests like literature, cooking, gardening, reading, writing and they are not afraid of making mistakes or make it known in public about negative conditions
of the city of Vingåker. Norwegian refugees, Norwegian soldiers and two persons from Stockholm are making Vingåker an interesting site to go to. You are all welcome to Vingåker to study Norwegian military history or visit Nederhult and get splendid food made by the Swedish refugees from Stockholm or you may buy cheap cloths there.
Think about it - next stop Vingåker. Let me move to Paris to make you believe in my settlement theory. As being my student I ask you to connect the following sentences to a city in France: " La Generation perdue " or " The lost generation " or " A rose is a rose is a rose " famous expressions for those of you who do love reading.
Right -it is Paris after the First World War and the maker of the famous words is the American author Gertrude Stein. She was born in Pennsylvania, USA, in 1874 and died in 1946. She loved Paris -like many of us do. She settled in Paris too. Ernest
Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Dos Passos, F. Scott Fitzgerald,Ezra Pound,Sherwood Anderson, Waldo Pierce, Sylvia Beach and T.S. Eliot are writers who met Gertrude Stein in Paris to talk about the secret of writing. They all made Paris know to the world by writing about the city they all loved. Ernest Hemingway wrote a nice book about his memories in Paris:" A Moveable Feast "- or a love declaration to Paris.I
continue to make you believe in my assumption by moving to the city of Nairobi.
Kenya was a British colony and administrated by the British. Why Nairobi? What is so important about Nairobi? The answer is that I try to make you believe in moving educated and qualified people to a site and that they make the site famous for generations due to their activities and work. This time I will ask you about some persons who made Kenya and Nairobi well-known to the whole world. Denys Finch Hatton,Karen Blixen, Beryl Markham (my favorite)and Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke.
Many books have been written about them all during the time they dominated the public life in Kenya before the Second World War. Movies have been made too about the mentioned persons: " Out of Africa " is the most famous. Karen Blixen published her famous book about her African farm after having left Nairobi and settled in Denmark. Her house in Nairobi is a museum.Beryl Markham was the first woman to earn an aviator's licence in British East Africa. She was the first woman to cross the Atlantic east-to-west solo by plane in 1936. Denys Finch Hatton - educated at Eton and Oxford- a famous hunter, was killed in 1931 in a plane crash. His grave is a tourist site to-day. Baron Bror
von Blixen-Finecke did hunting in Africa with Ernest Hemingway and assisted him in writing about hunting.He also set up a medical group to assist Norway in the fight against Germany and later moved back to Sweden.
My conclusion is that I have hoped to make you believe in moving people to far away sites to make the places well-known to the whole world or if you want to set up a plant anywhere, you need to make people aware of the work you have done.No excuse for being passive and not active, my friends. Good luck. Finally -some photos of
persons mentioned and sites.
