Per Uno Agathon Röndahl (19 September 1924 – 10 October 2011) was a Swedish police officer and author. Uno Röndahl’s writings centered on Scanian history and especially the war events taking place in the province of

Skåne Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne C ...

and in particular in the border areas between contemporary Danish Skåne/

Blekinge Blekinge (, old da, Bleking) is one of the traditional Swedish provinces (), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's second ...

and Swedish

Småland Småland () is a historical province () in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means ''Small Lands''. The Latinized fo ...

during the period 1645-1720.

Career

Uno Röndahl was born in Näsum in Villand (North-Eastern Scania). His career began in the

Swedish Navy The Swedish Navy ( sv, Svenska marinen) is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet () – as well as marine units, the Amphibious Corps (). In Swedish, vessels o ...

and then he became a policeman in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. Already during childhood, his interest for the history of Scania was awakened. During his time in Stockholm he enjoyed rich opportunities to visit museums, libraries and archives. This interest followed him when he later took over as a police detective in the city of Kristianstad. With research methods similar to that of a detective’s persistent curiosity, he supplemented his historical knowledge by for many years going through old documents and archives not only in Kristianstad and the university city of Lund but also in the National Archives in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

(

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). The results often gave a very brutal picture of the war events during this period, particularly in the border regions between

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and Denmark in North-Eastern Scania. In an almost shocking way, he highlighted the difficult living conditions and suffering of the contemporary civilian population. By means of his books he was able to spread a more nuanced picture of the region's history and the daily life of the people of the era. In 1981 he published the book
''Skåneland utan förskoning''
�� (“Scania without mercy”) This book became a fierce criticism of the established description of the Swedish wars in the former Danish provinces of

Halland Halland () is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap''), on the western coast of Götaland, southern Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Scania and the sea of Kattegat. Until 1645 and the Second Treaty of Brömsebro ...

and

in the second half of the 17th century. Uno Röndahl claimed that what in Swedish history books was called "a peaceful transition from Denmark to Sweden" was not as peaceful as is often claimed. The book "''Skåneland II – På jakt efter historien''” (“Scania II - In search of history"), was released in 1986. In this book Uno Röndahl discussed the consequences of depriving people of their history. He also describes in the book many of the historical figures, including those from before 1658, who had played an important role in the history of the old Danish provinces of Skåne and Halland, Blekinge. The book "Skåneland ur det fördolda” (“Scania from the obscure") was published in 1996 and covers the often grim and tragic fates of the common civilians, often forgotten in established history books or at best are referred to as "a bunch of peasants", "

snapphane A ''snapphane'' was a member of a 17th-century pro-Danish guerrilla organization, auxiliaries or paramilitary troops that fought against the Swedes in the Second Northern and Scanian Wars, primarily in the eastern former Danish provinces that ha ...

" and the like. Year 2006 the book "''Herulerna, det glömda folket''” (“The Herulis - the forgotten people") was released, with Uno Röndahl as a co-writer. Uno Röndahl did not become fully recognized by the academic establishment, despite his extensive research in the primary source material. However, in later years his work has increasingly been used as reference material in different historical contexts.

References

External links

*
"Skåneland ur det fördolda""Herulerna, det glömda folket"
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rondahl, Uno 1924 births 2011 deaths 20th-century Swedish historians Swedish police officers Swedish Navy personnel