War

We are in Blekinge, Sweden.

The villages around the Bridge of Fur offer beautiful country roads, wilderness trails, ancient monuments, idylls, a dozen lakes, many with fish. All in the most beautiful nature. At the bridge, the river flows briskly under towering pine trees.

The Bridge of Fur has a very special history that I love.
The story should not be compared to the horrendous aggression on Ukraine.

The Bridge over Lyckebyån is a historic place.
Here was the national border between Sweden and Denmark in 980-1658.
In ancient times, the bridge was an important meeting place for people in the border areas.

“For over 600 years, the inhabitants lived at a national border, which they perceived as a penalty of sin.
But no boundary marking could wipe out their community.
Though at every outbreak of war, they were transformed into each other’s enemies. ” Vilhelm Moberg

Hence the peasants’ peace agreements:
The parishioners of Fridlevstad in the south, and Vissefjärda in the north had promised each other not to follow their masters across the border, and not to go against each other by force or fire.

The bridge was the bridge of peace.

British pilots are on a secret mission 30 September 1944 in Denmark. One of the planes crash because it hits two tall trees.
The tailplane is ripped apart on the Mosquito Jager, and the two young pilots are killed in the crash.

In 1945 people raise a memorial stone in a forest glade at the crash site.

I’ve walked past the glade a few times before, and again today on a spring day.
An elaborately crafted flower is placed here last year in memory of a beloved missing brother.

Early one morning two years ago I passed Hvidekilde in Gribskov.
I had the forest to myself. It isn’t unusual, but the silence was deafening that morning in late November.
The frost lay in the grass and on the meadow horses were looking for food.

By the fireplace stood a man. His outings lay around him. He was in the process of breaking up.
I was about seven meters away, but he saw right through me. Believe me!
That is very uncomfortable being ignored when you are so close to another human being in a deserted place.
That is why, I look directly at him, saying good morning. He answer my greeting with a short murmur, and I went quietly on.

We have experienced it a few times, people in the forest with a different kind of behaviour, which we assume could be people with war trauma.

Former soldiers who seek sanctuary in nature. It is straight forward, because that’s where they got their training.

Now The Danish Defence has arranged for veterans, a kind of halfway houses in the nature.