The film, Ingeborg Holm, emphasizes the strict poor relief laws that were in place during the early twentieth century and the need for their revision. In 1869, around the time that Sweden was experiencing a famine, as referenced in The Ox: Chronology & Events, there was a debate over the necessity of the generous poor relief laws at the time. Some people believed that the laws were the reason for the widespread poverty, and that poor relief aid encouraged people to be lazy and not contribute to society. This debate in 1869 led to the parishes only being required to provide help to the orphaned children and the insane. In 1871, this was extended to elderly and people suffering from physical or mental illnesses, disabilities or deformities who could no longer provide for themselves. Another aspect that made the laws more restricting was that the right to appeal a relief decision was taken away with these new updates.(1)

After 1871, poor relief shifted from help to the new concept of self-help. The idea of self-help centered around the individual being responsible for his or her living situation and working towards rehabilitation and the individual’s contribution to society. The film highlights the strong belief in self-help because Ingeborg is sent to a workhouse in order to continue her contribution to society. In 1907, the designated “old-age pension committee” encouraged the further support of elderly and those who were incapable of supporting themselves because they had already contributed to society, but who were still turning towards poor relief in order to survive.(2) This committee advocated for social insurance. The debate between social insurance and the idea of self-help was never resolved. Eventually Sweden adopted a national pension plan in 1913, a step toward the modern Swedish welfare state.(3)

Had Ingeborg faced difficulty fifteen or so years after the film took place, her situation may have been very different. In 1916, a government commission dedicated to revising poor laws completed their work. (Ebba Pauli, a secretary of Swedish Association of Welfare Unions and a part of this specific commision attended and reviewed Ingeborg Holm after she saw it as a play.)(4) In 1918, the Poor Laws of Sweden were updated. In these new laws, specific situations could qualify people for help. People in need of help could also appeal verdicts. This meant that people in Ingeborg Holm's position could potentially avoid poorhouses or workhouses.(5) Also with these revisions came the idea that those needing help were not “paupers.” Old people were placed in specific homes specialized to their needs, and sums allotted for helping the poor were expanded.(6)

Around 1900, there were around 5,000 “poor-relief institutions” in Sweden. In addition to poorhouses, these institutions included workhouses in larger cities or poor-estates in the country (where people would be required to help with farm work). The conditions in these places were generally dismal; the poor laws in 1871 gave few resources-- the politicians kept the costs low. Any and every kind of poor person would be put in a poorhouse. Elderly, ill, insane, single mothers, vagrants-- all were put in the same place with the same minimal resources. Author A. Lindgren described a poorhouse as “a miserable little tumble-down, two-room cottage, where poor, old, worn-out people live together in a state of dirt, vermin, hunger and wretchedness.”(7) Author Anders Giertz explained that workhouses, like the one Ingeborg resided in, were “designed to be less eligible than the conditions of a worker with the lowest wage.”(8) This is portrayed fairly accurately in the film. Though the workhouse where Ingeborg works appears quite clean, the people living there were in close quarters with the bare minimum available to them. Funds were clearly tight-- the authority figures refused to send money to assist Ingeborg’s young daughter. Conditions, both physical and monetary, were clearly not ideal.

​Overall, the film does a good job of portraying the difficulty people in need had because of these restrictive poor laws. Despite all her efforts, Ingeborg was unable to change her situation and that led her to a very tragic ending.

(1) Steven Koblik, Sweden's Development from Poverty to Affluence 1750-1970 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1975), 336.
(2) Steven Koblik, Sweden's Development, 337-339.​
(3) Francis Sejersted, The Age of Social Democracy: Norway and Sweden in the Twentieth Century, ed. Madeleine B. Adams, trans. Richard Daly (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 2011), 108-110.
(4) Erik Hedling, “Swedish Cinema Alters History: Ingeborg Holm and the Poor Law Debate,” Scandinavica 39, no. 1 (2000): 52-53, 61.
(5) Gun-Britt Trydega. "From Poorhouse Overseer to Production Manager: One Hundred Years of Old-Age Care in Sweden Reflected in the Development of an Occupation" Ageing and Society 20, no. 5 (2000): 578.
(6) Hedling, “Swedish Cinema Alters History,” 61.
(7) Trydega, “From Poorhouse Overseer,” 576, 575.
(8) Anders Giertz, “Making the Poor Work: Social Assistance and Activation in Sweden,” (PhD diss., Lund University, 2004), 22.

Written and edited by Grete Hamnes, Ali Froslie, Morgan Kelly and Katie Tuel.