Amelie Posse-Brázdová (11 February 1884, in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

– 3 March 1957) was a Swedish author. She is also known for her work against

nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Amelie Posse was the daughter of

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Fredrik Arvidsson Posse and Auda Gunhild Wennerberg. She was married from 1904 to 1912 to the criminal psychologist Andreas Bjerre, with whom she had a son, Sören Christer Bjerre (1905-1967), who was declared insane in 1921 but eventually in adulthood became a journalist. Following her 1912 divorce from Bjerre, she married in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

the Czech artist Oskar (nicknamed Oki) Brázda (1887–1977) from 1915, and became the mother of Bohuslav (Slavo) (1916-1991; RAF pilot) and the artist Jan Brazda (1917-2012) with Brázda. During her second marriage, some fourteen years she lived in

, and in

Alghero Alghero (; ; ; ) is a city of about 45,000 inhabitants in the Italian province of Sassari in the north west of the island of Sardinia, next to the Mediterranean Sea. The city's name comes from ''Aleguerium'', which is a mediaeval Latin word m ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

, where she and her husband Oki were forced into exile for about one year due to the fact that during the First World War Oki, born in

Pardubice Pardubice (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 92,000 inhabitants. It is the capital city of the Pardubice Region and lies on the Elbe River. The historic centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Repub ...

being of Bohemian origin, of Austro-Hungarian nationality, was considered an enemy of Italy and so was his wife Amelie. From this experience Amelie published her first book in 1931, ''Den oförlikneliga fångenskapen'', which made her famous internationally in 1932 with the subsequent publication in English, ''Sardinian Sideshow'', and after 66 years was also translated and published in Italian with the title ''Interludio di Sardegna'' in 1998. After this period lived in Italy they returned in 1925 to

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

on the manor of Líčkov. She became known as a democrat and a

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

in her work and was a friend of president

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk Tomáš () is a Czech name, Czech and Slovak name, Slovak given name, equivalent to the name Thomas (name), Thomas. Tomáš is also a surname (feminine: Tomášová). Notable people with the name include: Given name Sport *Tomáš Berdych (born 198 ...

. In 1938, she returned to Sweden after an order for her arrest had been issued by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

. In 1940, she was one of the founders of the discussion-club Tisdagsklubben ("The Tuesday Club") in

. It was formally a discussion-club about culture, but its true purpose was to work against the expansion of nazism in Sweden. The club was in fact inaugurated the same day

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

occupied

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, on 9 April 1940. Tisdagsklubben was to be used as the center of the Swedish resistance movement in case Sweden was ever occupied by Nazi Germany. Amelie Posse was, like other members of the club, listed in German records as "Untrustworthy Swedes". A tiny museum with Amelie Posse memorabilia can be found at Örenäs slott, close to Posse's childhood home (torn down), near Landskrona in south Sweden.

Bibliography

*''Den oförlikneliga fångenskapen'', 1931. *''Den brokiga friheten'', 1932. *''Sardinian Sideshow'',1932. *''Roman Roundabout'', 1933. *''Ned med vapnen! En kampsignal mot kriget'', 1935. *''Vidare'', 1936. *''Further'', 1938. *''I begynnelsen var ljuset'', 1940. *''Bygga upp, ej riva neder'', 1942. *''In the beginning was the light'', 1942. *''Mellan slagen'', 1946. *''Kring kunskapens träd'', 1946. *''Kunskapens träd i blom'', 1946. *''Åtskilligt kan nu sägas'', 1949. *''Minnenas park'', 1954. *''När järnridån föll över Prag'', a book posthumously published in 1968. Barbro Alving edited the book before its publication. *''Interludio di Sardegna'', a translation of ''Sardinian Sideshow'' with several photos not published in the first edition, 1998. *''Allegro Caprese'', 2000. Her work has been translated into English, Danish Czech and Italian.

Sources

*Bokholm, Rune, ''Tisdagsklubben. Om glömda antinazistiska sanningssägare i svenskt 30-40-tal'', Atlantis förlag, Stockholm, 2001. *Levander, Hans, "Posse-Brázdová, Amelie", ''Svenska män och kvinnor 6'', Albert Bonniers Förlag, Stockholm, 1949. *Lövgren, Britta, "Posse, Amelie"'', Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon 143'', red Göran Nilzén, Stockholm 1996. *Strömberg Krantz, Eva, ''En ande som hör jorden till: en bok om Amelie Posse'', Carlsson, Stockholm, 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Posse, Amelie 1884 births 1957 deaths Women in World War II Swedish people of World War II Swedish countesses Swedish expatriates in the Czech Republic Writers from Stockholm Swedish women writers 20th-century Swedish women

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