Carl-Erik and
mother Elsa, abt 1925
My grandfather
Karl August Elg and grandmother Elsa Karlsson were both from Bergslagen, the
old industrial heartland in central Sweden. They met, however, in Gothenburg,
where their only son Carl-Erik was born in 1913. By 1916 the family moves to
Ludvika. Here my grandfather came to work for more than 40 years as a toolmaker
in a mechanical workshop owned by his older brother Axel.
As my father grew
up, he developed an early interest in both photography and amateur radio.
Carl-Erik with
homebuilt transmitter, 1939.
Another early
interest in international affairs. As a young man he learned the synthetic
"world language" Esperanto, and had pen pals around the world who
shared his interest. Soon amateur radio came to fill the same need. Here he was
one of the early pioneers: His license to operate a transmitter was formally
approved by the government in session, and was signed by the King.
After mandatory
basic army training, he studied industrial management at a Technical College.
Photos from that time show serious young men in coat and tie, ready to take on
the burden of developing Swedish industry. In a carnival procession from 1938,
the students can still joke about Hitler, but reality would soon catch up with
them.
Serious students
When the second
world war broke out, all radio amateurs had to hand in their transmitters to
the government, and Carl-Erik was soon called up for military service. When the
Soviet Union attacked Finland in 1939 his unit was sent to the far north of
Sweden, where they prepared to defend the Swedish border if Soviet troops broke
through the Finnish lines. In the spring of 1940 his unit was sent home to
demobilize, but on April 9, 1940, Hitler attacked and soon occupied Norway. So
instead of going back to civilian life, his unit was sent to the Norwegian
border, as the first line of defense if the Germans decided to attack Sweden.
Across the
border, they could see German occupation troops. All contact with the other side
was of course strictly prohibited, but both sides were eager for news about the
progress of the war. Eventually, a set of rituals developed where men from both
sides laid down their arms and met in no-mans-land to exchange news and
cigarettes.
Meeting in no
mans land. Carl Erik far right.
Mobilization in
Sweden created a large need for radio operators. Many radio amateurs were
transferred to the signal corps, and after a winter on the Norwegian border, my
father came to spend the rest of his active duty at his regiment's headquarter,
manning the base station there. While still only a vice corporal he commanded a
group of young and lively WACs. When they were not occupied with their own
traffic, they tried to follow both allied and German transmissions, to get news
of the war. When the allied troups landed in Normandy on D-Day, they listened
to Eisenhower adressing the troops, hours before the news was announced by
Swedish broadcasting. Carl-Erik's experiences led to a life-long interest in the
history of WW II. His last trip abroad was to the invation beaches in Normandy.
Carl-Erik was
also a pioneer in color photography. I have found color slides going back to
1941 (the first color slide film was sold in the US by Kodak in 1935). At that
time color slides was the only medium for color photography. When color prints
appeared on the market, he was not satisfied to pick up a set of prints at the
camera store. He started experimenting with making his own enlargements - a
complex chemistry process with many steps involved. As usual, he built his own
equipment to control time and temperature, and exchanged long letters with the
chemistry suppliers when he found ellors in their instructions.
Engaged, 1944
During 1944, a
certain young lady begins to appears frequently in his photos, and in 1946,
Carl-Erik marries Inga Britta Svangren. Next year Lennart is born, and when
daughter Elisabet arrives in 1949, the family is complete. They have outgrown
their first apartment, and buy a house where Lennart and Elisabet grow up. Here
Carl-Erik can develop his love for gardening, and fill the rooftop with strange
antennas..
After graduating
in 1938, Carl-Erik spent his whole career with ASEA (now ABB) in Ludvika.
Initially he worked as a production engineer, helping to introduce time/motion
studies (MTM) at ASEA. Later he trained the next generation of production
engineers. His lauguage proficiency meant that he was often asked to host
foreign visitors to ASEA. Some of these became life-long friends.
Amateur radio was
also instrumental in giving the family friends acroos the globe. Carl-Erik was
more interested in radio as a way of making new contacts before the internet,
than in the technical challenges. We hosted visiting amateurs, and made a
number of holiday trips abroad to meet friends he had metcacross the radio,
before the charter industry had made international travel commonplace.
His Interest i
photography was life-long. Carl-Erik documented their many trip in both photo
albums, and edited 8 mm movies and later video films. He passed away in 1993 of
a massive coronary bleed, as he was stepping out of the camera store where he
had picked up another roll of processed film.
-oOo-
Now that I am
retired myself, I am struck by the similarities between our lives:
My father worked
at ASEA in different capacities for most of his career, I came to work in
basically the same government organization from 1980 until I retired in 2012.
Carl-Erik became a pillar in his speciality, but had no interest in seeking a
management position. I decided early on never to take a management job, but
aspired to become a "guru" in my field instead (and judging from the
speeches when I retired I might have succeeded in the end..).
My feeble attempt
at rebellion involved majoring in psychology instead of engineering, but I came
to work my whole live with the interaction between economics and technology,
the same specialty my father had pursued in his engineering degree. We even
discovered mutual contacts from our work.
Carl-Erik bought
my first camera when I was ten, and taught me to take photos as well as making
prints in the darkroom. He started the family history project which I have
carried on for more than 30 years.
Carl-Erik made
new friends abroad through amateur radio, I have made the same through the
internet, pursuing my interests in both genealogy and railroad history.
Carl-Erik passed away in 1993, the same year the World Wide Web was launched.
He bought an early home computer/word processor which he used to keep up
correspondence across the world, but he just missed out on the computer as a
networked communications device. I am sure he would have loved to immerse
himself in both the internet and digital photography.
