‘The whole world is burning!’
An exhibition about courage and fear based on Astrid Lindgren’s war diaries. The exhibition was held in the former vicarage at Näs, right next to the Pavilion. Visitors are transported back to the years of war 1939-1945, but the exhibition also looks inwards and to the future. Is history repeating itself? Does it have to be? What can we do to prevent it?
‘Astrid Lindgren’s war diaries’
On the day the Second World War breaks out in 1939, Astrid Lindgren starts keeping a diary. She lives with her husband and two children in Stockholm. She has not yet made her mark as a writer. Through the thoughts she shares in her war diaries from 1939-45, Astrid Lindgren creates a unique, private historical document. At the same time, she forms her independent view of the world and lays the foundation for her role as a moulder of opinion later in life.
‘The whole world is burning!’
Against the backdrop of Astrid Lindgren’s war diaries, the exhibition asks questions about our current times – a time when fascism and racism are once again gaining ground in Europe and more and more voices are beginning to warn of new confrontations and even a new world war. The exhibition features unique material, thanks to the co-operation of Astrid Lindgren’s family and the publisher Salikon. It is produced by the Foundation for the Preservation of Astrid Lindgren’s Work and will first be exhibited at Astrid Lindgren’s Näs.
Astrid Lindgren’s War Diaries 1939-1945
Throughout the Second World War, Astrid Lindgren kept a diary in which she wrote about everyday life in Stockholm and what was happening in the world. In total, 17 diaries have been published as books. A unique document from an ordinary citizen and one of the world’s most famous Swedes. The war diaries received a lot of attention when they were released in 2015, just before the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
“We all desire peace. So is there any possibility at all of our changing fundamentally, before it’s too late? Of our learning to distance ourselves from violence? Of our trying quite simply to become a new kind of human beings? But how could we go about that, and where should we start? I believe that we should start from the bottom. With the children.”
From Never Violence! Astrid Lindgren’s acceptance speech when she received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1978
