Patient Receiving Phototherapy via an Arc Light, 1907

This photograph depicts a patient receiving phototherapy treatment via an arc light developed by Niels Ryberg Finsen, the Danish physician who pioneered the treatment of disease (notably lupus vulgaris) through exposure to specific wavelengths of light.

(Osler Library of the History of Medicine, McGill University)

Finsen’s method consists in concentrating actinic light, through rock-crystal lenses, on any desired part, rendered as exsanguine as possible by means of pressure, because the presence of blood acts as a barrier to the passage of the chemical rays to the tissues.

50 Amazing Photos Capture Street Scenes of Copenhagen in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

Born 1866 in Elsinore, Danish photographer and film director Peter Elfelt was a  known as the first movie pioneer in Denmark when he began making documentary films in 1897.

Copenhagen taken by Peter Elfelt from between the 1890s and early 1910s

In 1903, Elfelt filmed his only drama. The short film, titled Henrettelsen (Capital Execution), was the first fiction film made in Denmark. Based upon the actual execution of a French woman who murdered her two children.

Elfelt also shot the first advertising film. There is a 1904 example which advertises bock beer for the Svendborg Brewery. He opened the “København Kinoptikon” movie theater in 1901.

Although Elfelt was Denmark’s first pioneer of filmmaking, he considered film as secondary to his work as a photographer. Elfelt died in 1931.

These amazing photos were taken by Peter Elfelt that show street scenes of Copenhagen from between the 1890s and early 1910s.

Amager

Amager, Dyveke's yard

Amalienborg seen from the harbor

At Fuglsang Lake, Dyrehaven

At the beach

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25 Vintage Photographs Capture Life of the Prison Camp at Hald in Jutland in 1917

Jutland, known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula, is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany. The names are derived from the Jutes and the Cimbri, respectively.

Life of the prison camp at Hald in Jutland in 1917

As with the rest of Denmark, Jutland's terrain is flat, with a slightly elevated ridge down the central parts and relatively hilly terrains in the east. West Jutland is characterised by open lands, heaths, plains and peat bogs, while East Jutland is more fertile with lakes and lush forests. Southwest Jutland is characterised by the Wadden Sea, a large unique international coastal region stretching through Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands.

The prison camp at Hald was built in western Hald Ege in Central Jutland in 1917 by the Red Cross, which needed a hospital camp for sick German and Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war from Russian captivity.

These amazing photos from The Film Museum captured life of the prison camp at Hald in Jutland in 1917.

Announcement for prisoners of war

Billiard room in the Officers' Camp Hald Camp, Hald Ege

German prisoners of war at gardening

Hald main farm

Jacob Texière reads Hans Christian Andersen

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The Real Tintin: Rare Vintage Photos of Palle Huld, a Teenage Boy Who Travel Around the World in 44 Days in 1928

Palle Huld (August 2, 1912 – November 26, 2010) was a Danish film actor and writer. He appeared in 40 films between 1933 and 2000. He was born in Hellerup in Denmark. His journey around the world at the age of 15 in 1928 reportedly inspired Hergé to create Tintin.

In 1928 the Danish newspaper Politiken held a competition in honor of Jules Verne, the prize being, rather fittingly, an around the world trip. The competition was open only to teenaged boys who would be assisted to circumnavigate the globe in 46 days unaccompanied and by using any means of transportation with the exception of aviation.

Fifteen year old Palle Huld from Hellerup was chosen as the winner from hundreds of applications. On March 1, 1928 he left Denmark and traveled through England, Scotland, Canada, Japan, Korea, China (Manchuria), the Soviet Union, Poland and Germany. In 44 days he made it back to Copenhagen to the cheers of a crowd of twenty-thousand. Shortly after his homecoming he made an additional journey (now mostly dressed in his scout uniform) to Sweden, England (where he met Baden-Powell) and France (where he laid a bouquet of flowers at the grave of Jules Verne).

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The Real Danish Girl: The Amazing Story of Lili Elbe, the First People to Transition From Male to Female in the Public Eye

In 2015 the movie The Danish Girl was screened in cinemas all over the world, making known for the first time the story of Lili Elbe, one of the first recipients of sex reassignment surgery. The real story, though, is more complex.

Lili Elbe was born as Einar Magnus Andreas Wegener on 28 December 1882 in Vejle, Denmark. He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Arts in Copenhagen, where he met Gerda Gottlieb, a talented Art Deco painter who would soon become his wife. They got married in 1904 when Wegener was 22 and Gottlieb was 19, and stayed as a couple until 1930 when Wegener’s transition to a woman began.

They traveled through Italy and France before settling in 1912 in Paris, where Elbe could live more openly as a woman by posing as Gottlieb’s sister. Elbe received the Neuhausens prize in 1907 and exhibited at Kunstnernes Efterårsudstilling (the Artists’ Fall Exhibition), at the Vejle Art Museum in Denmark, where she remains represented, and in the Saloon and Salon d’Automne in Paris.

Einar Wegener, c.1920

Einar Wegener, 1929

Einar Wegener

Einar Wegener’s wife, Gerda Wegener

Gerda and Einar Wegener in front of Gerda’s painting Sur la route d’Anacapri at an exhibition in 1924.

Elbe started dressing in women’s clothes after filling in for Gottlieb’s model, friend and actress Anna Larssen, who was late. Elbe was asked to substitute as Larssen’s legs, wearing wear stockings and heels. Elbe felt surprisingly comfortable in the clothing.

After walking in on the modeling session and witnessing Elbe embrace her new persona, Anna Larssen suggested she take the name “Lili”. It was soon adopted, and Elbe began appearing in public as “Lili”, ultimately identifying as a woman in every respect. Many names were changed in Elbe’s autobiographical novel, Man Into Woman, to conceal their identities, but Anna Larssen is barely obscured by the alternate spelling, “Larsen”. Although Elbe legally changed her name to Lili Ilse Elvenes after transitioning, she later chose the surname “Elbe” to honor the Elbe River that flows through Dresden, Germany, the site of her last surgeries.

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At 41, a Danish Woman Became a Man

A railway charwoman disappeared and a man who did not officially exist came in her place.

Denmark has produced another sex-change. This time a woman has changed into a man. And the change has occurred in a Danish person. The operation is the only known successful one of its kind.

Anne Petersen was born in 1912 and nobody doubted that she was a girl. But as she grew older she became more masculine. She was ill and the local doctor thought she had hernia.

In 1939 Anne went to consult Professor Knud Sand, in Copenhagen, to seek an operation. He told her that if she changed into a man then she (or he) would be liable to military service. So the operation was postponed. Anne Petersen took a job as charwoman at Padborg station and the operation was not
performed until 1953.

After the operation Anne Petersen was no more—a woman had disappeared. In her place there was a man who did not officially exist until the Ministry of Justice gave him permission to change his name from Anne to Arne, a common Danish male name.

Woman: MASCULINE look was so strong in Anne Petersen a few years ago that people took the railway charwoman for a man dressed in women’s clothes.

Man: DOUBT is dispelled in this picture of Arne Petersen taken in the garden of his mother’s home. His is only known female-to-male change in world.

Anne at four was like any other girl.

Workmen at Padborg Station (south Jutland) now treat Petersen as a man. But before change was complete they used to tease him (or her), tell dirty stories to embarrass him.

Settled by radio for photograph, Petersen was astounded to hear broadcast talk about sex changes. Strange coincidence!

Gardening is favorite hobby of Arne, who loves flowers. He likes doing household tasks—those reserved for males. Big problem was to get employment suitable to man.

36 Intimate Photos That Document Daily Life of the Danish Folk-Band Orføvs in the 1970s

These intimate photographs from Alf, a member of the Danish folk-band Orføvs that documented daily life of this band in its early days.

“Band started in late 1976 and was very active till the late 80's - after that Orføvs plays mostly at family gathering, but still has a faithful fan-base that enjoys the occational public gigs and listening to old tapes. The members are the same through all the years. Music spans traditional Danish and Swedish fiddle-tunes, Cajun, Swing and folk-rock.”

Orføvs on April 2, 1977

Me to the left with the 12-string, April 1977

Flemming and Kim, November 9, 1978

Frk. Rasmussen, December 1, 1978

Margit and Flemming, December 1, 1978

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Amazing Pictures That Show Countryside of Denmark in the 1930s

These amazing pictures from ARBaurial that show countryside of Denmark from the late 1930s. The areas include Vestsjælland (West Zealand County), Midtjylland (Central Denmark Region), Møn (an island in south-eastern Denmark), Lolland (the fourth largest island of Denmark, in the Baltic sea, part of Region Sjælland), Falster (an island in south-eastern Denmark, in the Baltic sea, part of Region Zealand).

Falster. Eskildstrup

Falster. Gundslevmagle

Falster. Nørre Vedby Kirke

Falster. Stadager Kirke

Falster. Vennerslund

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50 Color Photos That Capture Everyday Life of Denmark From the 1960s

Denmark is a Nordic country and a sovereign state. The southernmost of the Scandinavian nations, it is south-west of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany.

The Kingdom of Denmark also comprises two autonomous constituent countries in the North Atlantic Ocean: the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Denmark proper consists of a peninsula, Jutland, and an archipelago of 443 named islands, with the largest being Zealand, Funen and the North Jutlandic Island.

Denmark is considered to be one of the most economically and socially developed countries in the world. Danes enjoy a high standard of living and the country ranks highly in some metrics of national performance, including education, health care, protection of civil liberties, democratic governance, prosperity and human development.

Denmark ranks as having the world's highest social mobility, a high level of income equality, is the country with the lowest perceived level of corruption in the world, the fifth-most developed in the world, has one of the world's highest per capita incomes, and one of the world's highest personal income tax rates.

Here below is a fascinating photo collection that captured everyday life of Denmark from the 1960s.

Copenhagen, Denmark, 1960

Copenhagen, Denmark, 1960

Copenhagen, 1961

Copenhagen, 1961

Helsingor, 1961

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Copenhagen After May 5th, 1945: Rare Color Pictures From the Days Around the Liberation of Denmark

During most of World War II, Denmark was first a protectorate, then an occupied territory under Germany. The decision to invade Denmark was taken in Berlin on 17 December 1939. On 9 April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark in Operation Weserübung and established a de facto protectorate over the country. On 29 August 1943 Germany placed Denmark under direct military occupation, which lasted until the Allied victory on 5 May 1945.

Contrary to the situation in other countries under German occupation, most Danish institutions continued to function relatively normally until 1945. Both the Danish government and king remained in the country in an uneasy relationship between a democratic and a totalitarian system until the Danish government stepped down in a protest against the German demands to institute the death penalty for sabotage.

Over 3,000 Danes died as a direct result of the occupation. An effective resistance movement developed by the end of the war, and most Danish Jews were rescued in 1943 when German authorities ordered their internment as part of the Holocaust.

The occupation of Denmark ended on 5 May 1945.

These rare color pictures from The National Museum that captured street scenes of Copenhagen from the days around the liberation.

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Denmark in 1966 Through Beautiful Kodachrome Photos Taken by an American Traveler

Here is a beautiful collection of Kodachrome photos from Huebner family photos that shows the scenes of Denmark in October 1966. The photos probably were taken by a member of the Huebners while travelling to Europe.

Street scene in Odense, Funen Island, Denmark

The 250S Mercedes at the Wittrup Motel, Albertslund, Zealand Island, Denmark

The Gefion Fountain in Copenhagen, Denmark

The Gefion Fountain in Copenhagen, Denmark

The Gefion Fountain in Copenhagen, Denmark

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