Marholmen's history since 1900

The story of Marholmen

Imagine going back just over a hundred years. To 1917. That's when Selma Blomberg steps ashore on Marholmen.

She's 41 and has been a widow since her husband Herman passed away thirteen years ago. Her days are filled with hard work at the Rörstrand porcelain factory, earning 100 kronor a month. That money needs to cover her and her two children. The small family lives in a one-room apartment on Helsingegatan in Stockholm, without central heating and with a dry toilet in the yard.

Selma is a working woman. She's poor, works hard, and her health isn't great. She hasn't had a single day off in her entire adult life. Until today, that is, when she arrives on Marholmen. She'll be staying at the rest home here for two weeks, completely free. She can barely believe it's true. How is this even possible?

The answer takes us back four years. It was then, in 1913, that wholesaler Nils Berg and his wife Hanna made a decision. They decided to donate their beloved island, Marholmen, to the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) and build a convalescent home here for working-class women. Nils had managed to build a fortune, and Hanna was involved in women's issues. They both had their working lives behind them and everything they could wish for. Why not do something meaningful and important with their money? And so they did.

At the same time as the Rest Home, the Forest Cabin for female workers is built. A year later, the Holiday Home for men and their families is completed. But Nils has more plans.

In 1924, two years after Hanna passed away, Nils donated the rest of his fortune to Birkagården Folk High School in Stockholm. He wanted to promote public education, especially "the educational needs of women working in factories." This sparked the next idea, and in 1926, the Folk Education Home opened on Marholmen. The first course for women took place here that same year.

The education and course activities expanded to include the trade union movement. In 1937, the first trade union course was held, a week-long program for members of Transport. This trend continued, with thousands upon thousands of trade union members gaining new knowledge through these courses. In 1983, the Kommunal trade union purchased Marholmen. With 80 percent female members, it stands as Sweden's largest women's organization. Could there be a better successor to Nils and Hanna's legacy?

Back to Selma. She's spending two weeks at Vilohemmet here on Marholmen with thirteen other working women. They're bathing, strolling through the summer greenery, going on land and sea excursions, picking flowers, chatting in the white garden chairs, and doing all those lovely summer things. On rainy days, they stay inside, reading or playing cards or other board games. Basically, they're just relaxing.

When summer is over, a total of 52 women have been at the Rest Home. The committee summarizes that ”...most of the women have gained weight and regained health and strength, thus the result corresponds to the foundation's purpose.”

For Selma, two weeks off was an impossible dream. As a working-class woman, she didn’t have the financial or political opportunities. It would be another five years before women in Sweden even got the right to vote, and a two-week holiday only became law in 1937.

It's easy to think, 'wow, many people had it tough back then.' But the truth is, far from everyone can afford a vacation even today. Almost one in ten children in Sweden lives in economic poverty. For many of these 186,000 children, going away on vacation, staying in a cabin or caravan, is nothing more than what it was for Selma – a dream. Can we do something for them? Yes.

Here at Marholmen, we continue to work for a sustainable society in many ways. One example is our 'Family Time' initiative, which gives families who don't have the financial means the chance to come here and relax. You can read more about our commitment here on our website.

Why? Because we can. And we want to. Just like Nils Berg and Hanna once wanted. Hanna passed away in 1922, Nils four years later. But their idea lives on. The story continues.

The Merchant Couple Nils & Hanna Berg's Marholmen

In the late 1880s, Nils Berg bought the Marholmen property, which was separated from Solö farm. On Marholmen, he had his first summer villa built, which sadly burned down in the 1930s. At the start of this century, he had the so-called 'Finnish villa' (today Villa Hanna) constructed, based on designs by the highly acclaimed Åland architect Lars Sonck. That's the house you see pictured above. Around the same time, he also had a farm built on the estate, fully equipped with the most modern technology of the era. A student dormitory with about twenty double rooms was added to the farm. The facility was meant to be an agricultural school. It's hard to grasp what led him to invest so much capital and energy into such an idea, especially since industrialism had already begun its triumphant spread even in Sweden. The Marholmen venture would eventually turn out to be a miscalculation, which was likely uncommon for a man like him.

In 1909, Sweden experienced a major labor conflict, which ended in defeat for the workers. The Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen) lost about half of its members. They couldn't afford to pay membership fees, and many working-class families faced tough times.

Back then in Stockholm, the evening newspaper 'Aftonavisan' was published, which the Berg couple read. In it, the investigative journalist of the time, editor Gerhard Magnusson, wrote articles about poverty and hardship, often ending with a direct plea for help. The Berg couple read these and were deeply moved. Nils Berg was a man of action. He suggested to the Ersta Deaconess Institution that they establish a retreat for working wives on Marholmen, but for some unknown reason, Ersta turned down the offer.

Then Berg turned to LO, which had a very strained economy after the disastrous labor conflict, and they accepted the proposal. The boarding house at the closed agricultural school would become a summer home for tired women from the working class.

The donation letter reads as follows: “Through unemployment, whether a consequence of labor market fluctuations or due to disputes between employers and workers, suffering and hardship are caused not only for the impoverished worker himself, but also for his wife and children, who thereby endure an entirely undeserved plight. Especially the wives of workers are at such times exposed to severe trials, which dampen their spirits and undermine their health; moreover, women of the working class are often in urgent need of rest, which is not available to them.

To some extent contribute to remedying the mentioned grievances and at the same time express the view that it is the obligation of capital to take into account the victims of unemployment... we, spouses, hereby donate the property mentioned below to the Bergska donation.

The Bergian donation included the larger part of the Marholmen estate, complete with a farmhouse, residential buildings, and the very first summer villa, plus capital worth about SEK 500,000 – which was a huge sum back then! Two years later, the so-called holiday home, now known as the Art Nouveau house, was added. The donation was officially presented in November 1913, with LO chairman Herman Lindqvist and Hjalmar Branting in attendance. They were also there for the inauguration of the convalescent home during the warm summer of 1914. This donation was considered incredibly important for the labor movement. One newspaper even sarcastically remarked that now workers could strike all they wanted and just head out to Marholmen to enjoy 'honeymoon days'!

Marholmen Folk High School

Forgot their table companions

Några hektar med Marholmsvillan kvarstod i Bergs ägo. Vad skulle väl kunna göras med denna rest? 1922 dog hustrun Hanna i en hjärntumör. De gemensamma somrarna på Marholmen var slut. Någon gång 1923 kom Berg att träffa rektorn vid Birkagårdens folkhögskola, Natanael Beskow, på en middag. De båda herrarna hade så mycket att tala om, att de glömde sina bordsdamer. Ohövligt, men bra för skolan. Efter ytterligare diskussioner beslöts att resten av Marholmen skulle testamenteras till en fond kallad Marholmens folkbildningshem. Här skulle Birkagårdens folkhögskola kunna hålla sommarkurser för kvinnliga elever, främst unga kvinnor som arbetade i industrin. Tobaksmonopolet kom att bli en stor elevleverantör till sommarkurserna.”Tobaksplantorna” kallades flickorna ibland. Gamla ”tobaksplantor” samlade på 60-talet in pengar för att skänka barnen på Marholmen två optimistjollar, som döptes till Nicko och Tina.

Berg had a school building and a dormitory built in the national style of the 1920s, designed by Carl Alfred Danielsson-Bååk, the same architect who had previously designed the Semesterhemmet/Jugendhuset. Elsa Beskow, the well-known artist and storyteller, was Natanael's wife. She contributed with the color scheme on and in the houses. 400,000 was set aside for a support fund. 1926 saw the opening of Marholmen's folk education home, and the first summer course started with 21 girls, 18 of whom were factory workers, two maids and a deputy hostess.

Berg hade rätten att bo kvar i villan så länge han önskade. De första två åren kunde han resa ut till Marholmen med en sjuksköterska. Hans ohälsa hade tilltagit. Säkert gladdes han åt att nu också se så många unga människor på sin gamla ö, han som inte själv lyckades få några barn. Hur som helst så lyckades han förverkliga sina humanistiska ideal på sin egen sommarö. Den hade nu förvandlats till den ”arbetarnas holme”, som testamentet talade om. Nils Berg gick bort i Februari 1928, 86 år gammal. En hedersman var han i alla sina dagar. Den blomsterkrans han av tradition har på sitt porträtt varje midsommar är sannerligen välförtjänt.

Here's an excerpt from the 1924 will:

”…för att fullfölja min och min hustrus avsikter med Bergska donationen att göra Marholmen till en ”arbetarnas holme” och för att tillmötesgå det behov av fortsatt utbildning i kunskaper och färdigheter, som – genom samhällsutvecklingen och det efter utvidgade medborgerliga rättigheter medborgarna påvilande ökade ansvaret – framträder hos såväl manliga som kvinnliga medborgare och som särskilt de industriarbetande kvinnorna torde känna trängande, ehuru de av ekonomiska skäl äro förhindrade att tillfredställa detta bildningsbehov… förordnar jag härmed som min yttersta vilja… att efter min död med nedan angivna egendom skall bildas en en fond, benämnd ”Marholmens folkbildningshem”, beträffande vilkens ändamål, förvaltning och revision följande bestämmelser skola gälla…”

Nils Berg as a person

Nils Berg var en allvarligt lagd människa. Hade han alltid varit det? Frågan är omöjlig att besvara. I de brev till föräldrarna som han skrev, då han vistades på annan ort, finns inte plats för någon humor. Han hade gått i Privata nya elementar skolan 1853-59 – den skola där Carl Jonas Love Almquist tidigare hade varit rektor. Skolan var för sin tid modern och satsade på moderna språk, men krävde bara måttliga latinkunskaper. Säkert har lärare och kamrater påverkat Berg. Den blivande internationelle köpmannen hade ”a” i svenska språket, franska och engelska, men bara ”ba” i tyska, det som kom att dominera 1800-talets tre sista decennier i Sverige och Östersjöländerna. Troligen hade han haft en vrång tysklärare, vilket många andra har haft.

Nils Berg praktiserade i sin ungdom i Tyskland och England för att lära språken ordentligt. I brev till sin mor uttalar han sin avsky för den bigotta och gudsnådeliga anda, som rådde i det prästhem i Richmond, där han var inackorderad. ideliga böner och psalmsång med gälla stämmor. Bönerna måste bedjas på knä. Detta var en osympatisk sida av England. En annan gällde närmast motsatsen. I ett brev karaktäriserar han engelsmännen som ”ett maskinfolk, så praktiskt att de ej kan förstå vad som ej kan utryckas i siffror”.

Hyckleri och förkonstling liksom kall materialism avskydde han: Hans sociala inställning grundlades under denna tid.. I vilohemmets matsal lät han långt senare hänga upp tänkespråket ”Ärlig man talar sanning”. Natanael Beskows omutliga radikala kristendom torde ha gjort djupt intryck på Berg.

He saw her through the window

1892, då han fyllt 50 år, gifte han sig med den tjugo år yngre Hanna Maury, som då arbetade på Gumaelius annonsbyrå. Frieriet tillgick så, att Berg stegade upp till Hannas arbetsgivare, fröken Gumaelius, som han kände sedan gammalt. Han sade: ”Vid första bordet i rummet härintill sitter en dam, som ser så snäll ut och alltid är så flitig. Henne skulle jag vilja lära känna”.

Berg's office was across the street, on the same floor level. Miss Gumaelius brought the two together, and this led to a thirty-year and – as far as we know – happy marriage. His beloved wife came to mean an immense amount to Berg. Among other things, she could temper his easily excitable temperament.

Fair is fair

The story of the lost steamboat points to a sense of justice bordering on rigidity. Once in the eighties, Berg had bought a shipload of dyes, which went from London to St. Petersburg. The steamboat with the cargo was lost in the North Sea. It was insured in St. Petersburg, but for some unknown reason, the insurance company refused to pay out the compensation.

Förgrymmad reste Berg S:t Petersburg, där han köpte försäkringsbolaget. Han lär ha förlorat 250 000:- på affären, men han fick ut sin försäkring. Gillis Hammar, rektor för Birkagårdens folkhögskola 1931 – 1952, har kallat Berg för ”Karl XII som grosshandlare”.

Ignored inflation

En gång på 1870-talet hade Berg fått en förfrågan om han vilja sälja några tomter på Bastugatan på söder i Stockholm. Berg svarade ja och nämnde sitt pris, som ansågs för högt. Någon affär blev inte av. Tio år senare kom samma spekulanter tillbaka och frågade hur mycket tomterna nu kostade. Bergs svar blev: ”Det bud som jag har gett , det har jag gett!” Priserna hade visserligen stigit, men han stod fast vid sitt gamla bud.

No heavy drinking at the holiday homes.

På LO-hemmen rådde spritförbud – så hade Berg bestämt. När några ”gubbar” på semesterhemmet en gång skickade bud till Berg i villan och undrade om inte kunde låna dem lite whiskey, brusade Berg upp. ”Vet herrarna inte att det är förbjudet att dricka sprit på hemmen”? Är det så att ni önskar en toddy, är ni välkomna till mig”. Så talar den stränge gentlemannen. Tänkespråken ”Ärlig man talar sanning” och ”Allt hvad du gör, gör rätt” stämde nog ganska väl in på denne originelle grosshandlare.