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36-644: Kurt Haijby was born in Stockholm in 1897 as Kurt Johansson, and died there in 1965. His father was a wine merchant and a fishmonger by appointment to the Royal Court. In 1912, while selling " majblomma " charity pins, Kurt and another boy scout were granted an audience with King Gustaf V of Sweden . Johansson later worked as a waiter, clerk, actor, and illusionist. He was convicted to hard labour six times for several cases of theft and fraud between 1915 and 1925. While trying to escape prison in 1923 he fatally shot

72-624: A roman à clef , detailing his ostensible relationship with the King. Half of the first printing of 1,000 copies was bought by the Chief Constable, funded by the Royal Court. Haijby's ex-wife Anna bought the remainder. Haijby reported his forced detention in the asylum at Beckomberga to the Attorney General of Sweden. These papers were immediately classified but were smuggled out of the Attorney General's office by Vilhelm Moberg, and

108-656: A child he was an avid reader; he published his first writing at the age of 13. Moberg worked as a farmer and forest laborer, and later at glassblowing before and between his various studies. In 1916 he nearly emigrated to the United States, following his uncle and aunt, but ultimately decided to remain in Sweden with his parents. Largely self‑educated, Moberg studied at Kronoberg County Folk High School in Grimslöv from 1916 to 1917, and at Katrineholms Praktiska Skola,

144-564: A grant using a police officer as a middleman, Haijby was made to believe that the money came from the Court. Haijby was, allegedly because of pressure from the court, committed to an asylum in 1941. In the meantime, another scandal, the Kejne affair , had broken in the press where celebrity author and journalist Vilhelm Moberg wrote lengthy articles about homosexual conspiracies among Swedish officials. In 1947, Haijby used his own money to publish

180-526: A license needed to sell wine and liquor, which severely set back his business. He applied to the King - an archaic possibility stemming from now-defunct royal absolutism, but a legal possibility of last appeal (akin to an appeal to the privy council in the Commonwealth) - and was granted an audience in 1933 to put forward his case. During this royal audience, King Gustav V, a 75-year-old widower, allegedly seduced Haijby. Haijby's wife, on learning about

216-639: A musical. Among his other works are Raskens (1927) and Ride This Night (1941), a historical novel of a 17th‑century rebellion in Småland , acknowledged for its subliminal but widely recognised criticism of the Hitler regime . A prominent public intellectual and debater in Sweden, Moberg was recognized for his vocal criticism of the Swedish monarchy (most notably after the Haijby affair ), describing it as

252-464: A police officer, being convicted of manslaughter after successfully convincing the court he was about to commit suicide and hit the policeman by accident. Once released, Johansson changed his name to Haijby and spent a nomadic life in France and the United States. In 1931, Haijby opened a restaurant with his second wife Anna, a widow ten years his senior. Being a convicted criminal, he could not acquire

288-561: A private school in Katrineholm , from 1917 to 1918. Moberg contracted the Spanish flu in 1918, and was sick for half a year. After his illness, Moberg took a position on the newspaper Vadstena Läns Tidning in Östergötland , which published many of his stories between 1919 and 1929. In 1926, Moberg made his breakthrough as a playwright when his comedy Kassabrist had a successful run in Stockholm. He published his first novel Raskens

324-504: A report, the King said to his Court Superintendent: "There must not be a scandal, but do it with as little money as possible". Haijby was given 1,500 kronor by the Royal Court lawyers and encouraged to emigrate to the United States , where he was promised an additional 3,000 kronor to start a new life. Haijby claimed that, upon arrival in the US, there was no money for him. He eventually returned to Sweden where he once again asked for support from

360-740: A servile government by divine mandate , and publicly supporting its replacement with a Swiss‑style confederal republic . He spoke out aggressively against the policies of Nazi Germany , the Greek military junta , and the Soviet Union , and his works were among those destroyed in Nazi book burnings . In 1971, he scolded Prime Minister Olof Palme for refusing to present the Nobel Prize in Literature to its recipient Alexander Solzhenitsyn – who

396-471: A small paper disc, and a metal pin, in a different colour combination each year. Hallberg was an active member of Gothenburg's charity movement, and had the idea of selling mayblomma pins, to raise funds for tuberculosis research. Born in 1869 in Onsala, she was the youngest daughter of a captain and a farmer's daughter. Her father left the family in 1870 to emigrate to the US. She is thought to have married

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432-528: A tobacco dealer in 1888 and got involved with Gothenburg charity work in 1890. After seeing her daughter with a Gustavus Adolphus Day paper badge, she founded a committee including Frigga Carlberg , a feminist social worker and writer, as well as the municipal physician ( stadsläkare ) K. J. Gezelius. Despite others doubting her idea, she ordered 100,000 blue-coloured paper flower pins and decided to sell them for 10 öre each (equivalent to SEK6.46 in 2023), an affordable price for most. Her campaign became

468-492: A tremendous success. Around 139,000 Mayflowers were sold on 1 May 1907 in Gothenburg – exceeding even Beda's expectations. A local newspaper wrote the following: The blue flower has won. The whole city celebrates it. You see it everywhere, wherever you come, on lapels and coats, scarves and shawls. Businessmen, civil servants, workers, old men and children, tram conductors, police officers, kayakers, drivers – they all carry

504-542: The Svea Court of Appeal . After the death of King Gustav V in 1950, the confiscated roman à clef was re-distributed in 1952 and was reprinted in 1979. Haijby had reported the treatment he had received to the Swedish Chancellor of Justice . The results of the investigations, the bulk of which were classified until 2002, effectively acquitted the monarchy. There is nothing to support the claim that Haijby

540-487: The Court and perhaps much more from the King's private funds. Haijby would ultimately claim that he was King Gustaf's lover in the years between 1936 and 1947. In 1938 Haijby was arrested for child sexual abuse of an 11-year old and a 13-year-old boy and put in custody at the asylum of Beckomberga . This was the result of political pressure from the Governor of Stockholm , Torsten Nothin . The psychiatrist in charge of

576-729: The Royal Court, among them a male servant and chauffeurs, claimed that they were given money to keep quiet concerning their own intimate contacts with the King. Majblomma The Majblomma (definite form: Majblomman ; Swedish for 'mayflower') is a paper flower pin sold by schoolchildren in Sweden to raise funds for charity. The Mayflower fundraiser was started in Onsala by Beda Hallberg in 1907, and has taken place in April and May every year since. The flower pin design has four parts; two groups of five-leaved paper petals, often

612-460: The Royal Court. For several years, money from the Court financed a number of Haijby's failed enterprises, including a coffee store and a boarding house at the Trystorp estate. There is no evidence of outright blackmail on Haijby's part, but it can be argued that the Court was attempting to buy his silence. In all, Haijby received 170,000 Swedish kronor (equivalent to 4,700,000 kronor in 2009) from

648-470: The Swedish Court, officially after molesting a hotel bellboy. Unlike most Gestapo prisoners, Haijby was not tortured and, most of the time, kept in decent conditions. Charges were then brought against him for sexual relations with two young boys under Paragraph 175 , and he was sentenced to prison and banished to Sweden in 1940, having served his sentence. Once reunited with his ex-wife, who gave him

684-454: The Swedish stage and television, or were adapted as feature films by directors such as Ingmar Bergman ( Lea och Rakel / Leah and Rachel ; Malmö City Theatre 1955) and Alf Sjöberg ( Domaren / The Judge ; 1960). Moberg had become a member of a young Social Democrats club in 1913. In his works, he often expressed a republican (anti‑royalist) point of view. He was strongly influenced by

720-594: The asylum did not believe that Haijby was in need of psychiatric care and he was eventually discharged. The child abuse case was never brought to a criminal court. In 1939, a new deal was arranged in which Haijby was forced to emigrate to Germany, then under rule by the Nazis , who engaged in intense suppression of homosexual conduct . After a short while in Berlin, he was put in prison by the Gestapo , probably by request of

756-472: The facts that surfaced in the Kejne affair and Haijby affair , in which Moberg took an active part. From the 1950s, Moberg participated in debates about the Swedish monarchy , bureaucracy, and corruption. In addition, he devoted much time to help individual citizens who had suffered injustice. Much like others of his generation of Swedish authors from a working‑class background, such as Ivar Lo‐Johansson , Harry Martinson and Moa Martinson , Moberg depicted

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792-576: The first nine years of his life at the tenement soldier's cottage in Moshultamåla that his father Karl Moberg, a territorial soldier, took over in 1888. In 1907 the family moved to a small farm in the village of Moshultamåla. This had been the family home of his mother Ida Moberg; they had lost it due to poverty. Money from her family in America enabled them to buy the property back. Moberg had only limited schooling from 1906 until 1912. However, as

828-947: The flower and feel that everyone is happy to be involved. It is the ideal of ideas: simple, enthusiastic and poignant. The colours of the Swedish majblomma from 1926 to 2023. During the early years, the shape could vary somewhat. Following the initial success in Sweden, similar mayflower fund raising took place in Finland (1908), Norway and Denmark (1909), The Netherlands and Belgium (1910), Russia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and France (1911), Britain and Estonia (1912), Algeria (1913), Cuba (1916), The US (1922) and India (1932). However, as tuberculosis rates in Europe declined, most international charities eventually disbanded, and now only remain in Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Estonia (today with different missions). Vilhelm Moberg Karl Artur Vilhelm Moberg (20 August 1898 – 8 August 1973)

864-549: The following year. Moberg became a full‑time writer when the financial success of Raskens enabled him to devote himself entirely to writing. Many of his works have been translated into English, and he is well‑recognized in the English‑speaking world among those interested in Scandinavian culture and history. In his autobiographical novel, A Soldier with a Broken Rifle (Swedish: Soldat med brutet gevär ), he speaks to

900-531: The importance of giving voice to the downtrodden, illiterate classes of his forebears. This viewpoint also formed his History of the Swedish People, I–II (Swedish: Min svenska historia, berättad för folket , I–II), published in 1970–71 in both Swedish and English. He had intended the history to have more volumes, but he never finished it. As a playwright, Moberg wrote 38 works for the stage or for radio (1919–1973). Some were produced as lighter classics of

936-410: The life of the dispossessed, their traditions, customs, and everyday struggle. His novels are important documents of social history, and trace the influences of various social and political movements in Sweden. Moberg's most famous work is The Emigrants series of four novels , written between 1949 and 1959, that describe one Swedish family's emigration from Småland to Chisago County, Minnesota in

972-638: The main characters featured in The Emigrants Series . The Vilhelm Moberg Society, headquartered in the Swedish Emigrant Institute, promotes publications, research and popular interest in Moberg's works. Moberg struggled with severe depression in the last years of his life. He committed suicide by drowning himself in a lake outside his house. He left a note to his wife saying: "The time is twenty past seven; I go to seek in

1008-690: The mid‑19th century. This was a destiny shared by almost one million Swedish people, including several of the author's relatives. These novels have been translated into English: The Emigrants (1951), Unto a Good Land (1954), The Settlers (1961), and The Last Letter Home (1961). His literary portrayal of the Swedish‑American immigrant experience is considered comparable to Ole Edvart Rølvaag 's work depicting that of Norwegian‑American immigrants. From 1948 to 1960, Moberg lived in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California . While there he wrote

1044-500: The popular The Emigrants series. The Vilhelm Moberg House is located on Carmel Point at 2423 San Antonio Avenue, near Isabella & Martin Way. Moberg also lived for a time in the guesthouse of Gustaf Lannestock, his friend and translator, at 26085 Scenic Road. Swedish film director Jan Troell in 1971–72 adapted the books into two major feature films, The Emigrants (based on the first two novels) and The New Land (based on

1080-433: The recurrent meetings in 1936, filed for divorce, citing her husband's homosexual relationship with the King as cause for divorce. Fearing the allegations would become public knowledge, officials of the Royal Court convinced the couple to settle for an amicable no-fault divorce and separation by paying Anna Haijby 15,000 kronor. Despite their legal separation, the couple continued to live together until her death. According to

1116-429: The second two), both starring Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann as Karl Oskar and Kristina. These were nominated for several Academy Awards , and The New Land won Golden Globe Awards . The musical Kristina från Duvemåla (English title Kristina ) (1995) by ex‑ ABBA members Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson is based on Moberg's The Emigrants Series . A later film adaptation, known simply as The Emigrants

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1152-405: The whole affair thus came to public attention. The actions of officials to suppress the claims caused acrimonious debate in parliament and the media. As a consequence, the criminal court charged Haijby for acts of blackmail. In 1952, after a dubiously held trial, Haijby was sentenced to eight years of hard labour for blackmail under aggravated circumstances, which in 1953 was reduced to six years by

1188-399: Was a Swedish journalist , author, playwright , historian , and debater. His literary career, spanning more than 45 years, is associated with his four‑volume series The Emigrants . The novels, published between 1949 and 1959, deal with the Swedish emigration to the United States in the 19th century. They have been adapted for a total of three movies (two in the 1970s and one in 2021), and

1224-622: Was refused permission to attend the ceremony in Stockholm – through the Swedish embassy in Moscow . Moberg's suicide by self‑inflicted drowning drew much attention. He had had a long struggle with depression and writer's block . Karl Artur Vilhelm Moberg was born in 1898 on a farm outside of the town Emmaboda in the Parish of Algutsboda in Småland , in southern Sweden. He was the fourth child of six, of whom only three survived into adulthood. His forebears were soldiers and small farmers. He lived

1260-791: Was released in 2021, and in August 2022 on digital platforms. Several other works by Moberg have been turned into films and TV series in Sweden over the years. Moberg donated his papers to the Swedish Emigrant Institute in Växjö, Sweden , It displays his original manuscripts, excerpts, notes, and photographs in The Moberg Room, in such a way that visitors get a feeling of meeting Vilhelm Moberg in his workshop. This unique collection of Moberg memorabilia includes Axel Olsson's sculpture entitled The Emigrants , which portrays

1296-409: Was seduced by the King as a 14-year-old boy, but most commentators believe that he had a sexual relationship with the King in the 1930s. Haijby committed suicide in 1965, one year after the death of Anna Haijby. However, the fact that the Swedish Court was prepared to pay Haijby such large sums to suppress his accusations has by some been taken as evidence that they were true. Later, several servants at

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