Uno Röndahl, Swedish author, died he was 87.

Uno Röndahl  was a Swedish police officer and author.^[1]

(1924 – 10 October 2011)

Uno Röndahl’s writings centered on the Scanian history and especially the war events taking place in the province of Skåne and in particular in the border areas between contemporary Danish Skåne/Blekinge and Swedish Småland during the period 1645-1720.
Uno Röndahl was born in Näsum in Göinge. His career began in the Swedish Navy and then he became a policeman in Stockholm.
Already during childhood, his interest history of Göinge 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 history 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 (Rigsarkivet).
The results often gave a very brutal picture of the war events during this period, particularly in the border regions between Sweden
and Denmark in north-eastern Skåne. On an almost chocking 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 Skåne, Halland and Blekinge
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 oscure”) 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” 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.

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