Elsa Brändström: Forskjell mellom sideversjoner

Elsa spent her childhood in [[Linköping]] in Sweden. From 1906 to 1908, she studied at the ''Anna Sandström Teachers Training College (''Anna Sandströms högre lärarinneseminarium'') in [[Stockholm]] but returned to St. Petersburg in 1908. Her mother died in 1913. Elsa was in St. Petersburg at the outbreak of [[World War I]] and volunteered for a position as a nurse in the [[Imperial Russian armyArmy]].

In 1915, Elsa Brändström went to Siberia together with her friend and helpernurse [[Ethel von Heidenstam]] (1881-1970) for the Swedish [[Red Cross]], to introduce basic medical treatment for the [[Germans|German]] and [[Austrians|Austrian]] [[POW]]s. Up to 80 percent of the POWs died of cold, hunger and diseases. As Elsa Brändström visited the first camp and witnessed the inhuman situation, she decided to dedicate her life to these soldiers. The men from Germany and Austria, so many close to death with [[Typhoid fever]], looked upon the tall, blue-eyed, blond-haired nurse and benefactress and she became known as the '''"Angel of Siberia"'''.

Back in St. Petersburg, she began the establishment of a Swedish Aid organisation. Her work was severely hindered by the outbreak of the October Revolution in the year 1917. In 1918, the Russian authorities withdrew her work permit, but she did not give up. Between 1919 and 1920, she made several trips to Siberia until she was arrested in [[Omsk]] and even condemned to death for spying,<ref>[[Harry Graf Kessler]], ''Tagebücher 1918 bis 1937.'' (actually he wrote, she was formally condemned to death twice by the Soviet authorities) Editor: Wolfgang Pfeiffer-Belli. Frankfurt am Main (1982)</ref> later the sentence was revoked and Brändström was interned in 1920. After her release, she returned to Sweden (via [[Stettin]] with the ship ''MS Lisboa'', where the German government gave her an official public reception) and organised fund-raising for the former POWs and their families,. afterwardsAfterwards she emigrated to Germany.

In 1922 her book, ''Bland krigsfångar i Ryssland och Sibirien'' was published. It was later translated and published as ''Among POWsprisoners of war in Russia and& Siberia 1914-1920'', was(London: publishedHutchinson. 1929). From then onwards she looked after former POWs in a rehabilitation sanatorium for home cominghomecoming German soldiers inat Marienborn-Schmeckwitz in Saxony. She bought a mill named "Schreibermühle" close to [[Lychen]] in ([[Uckermark]]) and used it as resocialisationre-socialization centre for former POWs. Schreibermühle had extensive lands including fields, forest and meadows on which potatoes and other crops could be grown. This was most useful at that time because the [[Deutsche Mark|German Mark]] was an unstable currency and lost value from day to day.

In 1923, she undertook a six-month tour in the [[United States]], giving lectures to raise money for a new home for children of deceased and traumatised German and Austrian POWs. On her trip she raised US$100,000 and traveled to 65 towns. At a stop at [[Gustavus Adolphus College]] in [[St. Peter, Minnesota]], Brändström wore clothing of the Swedish Red Cross and "spoke about her thrilling experiences in Russia and Siberia during and after the war."<ref>{{cite news|title=Students Appreciate Impressive Message of Elsa Brandstrom|url=https://www.arcasearch.com/usmngus/ |newspaper=Gustavian Weekly|date=10 April 1923|archiveurl=https://gustavus.edu/library/archives/ |archivedate=30 April 2014 |location=College and Lutheran Church Archives, Gustavus Adolphus College|page=4 |deadurl=no |accessdate=13 June 2014}}</ref>

In 1929 she married her great love Heinrich Gottlob Robert Ulich, a German Professor of [[Pedagogy]]. Afterwards, she moved together with him to [[Dresden]]. In 1931, she sold the "Schreibermühle" and donated her other home, ''Neusorge'', to the Welfare Centre in [[Leipzig]]. She founded the "Elsa-Brändström-Foundation-for Women" (the foundationwhich awarded scholarships to children from Neusorge). On 3 January 1932, her daughter Brita was born in [[Dresden]].

In 1933, Robert Ulich accepted a lectureship at [[Harvard University]] and in consequence the family moved to the USA. Here Elsa gave aid to newly arrived German and Austrian refugees. In 1939, she opened the "Window-Shop", a restaurant which gave work opportunities for refugees in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]], [[Massachusetts]].

At the end of [[World War II]], she started to raise funds for starving and shelterless women and children in need in Germany, and as a result,through the organisations [[CARE International]] (Co-operative for American Relief in Europe) and [[CRALOG]] (Council of Relief Agencies Licensed for Operation in Germany) were established. MassiveSizable funds were collected from Americans and especially from [[German American]]s, who accounted for >25% of the USAmerican population.<ref>In the 1990 U.S. Census, 58 million Americans (ca. 20%) claimed to be solely or partially of [[German American|German descent]].</ref> She undertook a final lecture tour in Europe on behalf of the "Save the Children Fund".

Elsa Brändström could not undertake her last planned journey to Germany because of illness. She died in 1948 of bone cancer and was buried in Cambridge, Massachusetts. HerWhile her daughter Brita stayed with her husband and children in the USA, Elsa Brändström-Ulich'sher husband Robert returned to Germany where he died in 1977 at [[Stuttgart]].

A ceremony at Arne-Karlsson-Park in Vienna on 16 September 1965 preceded the official opening of the XXth International Conference of the Red Cross. In the presence of Austrian civilian and military authorities, members of the Swedish colony, leaders of the Austrian Red Cross and many conference delegates, a monument to Elsa Brändström was unveiled. This monument, by the sculptor [[Robert Ullmann]], stands as a testimony of gratitude to the famous Swedish nurse's work for [[Germans|German]]-[[Austrians|Austrian]] prisoners during the [[First World War]].<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/pdf/RC_Nov-1965.pdf ''In Memory of Elsa Brandstrom''](International Review of the Red Cross''], 5th Year, No. 56, November 1965, pp. 613–614</ref>