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Øland: A state ethnography of progressivism 73
ted Denmark’ included, among others, Inger Merete Nordentoft, Torben Gregersen,
Thomas Sigsgaard, Ib Hauge, Per Ulrich, C.F. Vorbeck and Georg Christensen. 10 The
assembly gathered at least a few years before and some years after the appearance of
the Emdrup plan for schooling, and they wrote extensively on progressive education
in the magazine (Nordentoft 1945b; Hauge 1945; Lindvad 1946). Before 1945, they
prepared papers about ‘The experimental school’ or ‘The democratic school’ in sepa-
rate working units. According to the archives of Torben Gregersen, manuscripts of J.
G. Arvin (on the comprehensive school), Georg Christensen (on exams) and Thomas
Sigsgaard (on societal goals of schooling) seem to have been circulating at that time.
The board of the teachers’ division of ‘A liberated Denmark’ suggested dissolving the
assembly in September 1949. 11
When it became known that ‘A liberated Denmark’ was involved in the making of
the Emdrup plan, discussions increased, e.g., in the teachers’ magazine, ‘Folkesko-
len’, during the summer and autumn of 1945. Other groups had similar plans for a
‘new education’, e.g., the teachers’ union, ‘Danmarks Lærerforening’, and people
linked to the Royal Danish School of Educational Studies. They were waiting for the
Ministry to make a move. The editor of ‘Folkeskolen’, Bahne Jensen, was somewhat
astonished that the Principal of the Royal Danish School of Educational Studies, J. G.
Arvin, who, as chairman of ‘The Danish division of The New Education Fellowship’
signed the Emdrup plan, could represent several institutions appropriately. Further-
more, he doubted whether the clarity of the Emdrup plan could be trusted, insinua-
ting that it reflected narrow political purposes (Jensen 1945a-b). During these deba-
tes, other people came forward, e.g., the psychologist Thomas Sigsgaard, referring to
England which had already passed a new curriculum plan in 1944 reflecting ideas of
a comprehensive school for all. He stated that the Emdrup plan was inspired by the
English plan and that the teachers of ‘A liberated Denmark’ during the war had tho-
roughly investigated educational issues (Sigsgaard 1945). Furthermore, during these
debates it was explained how the circle of people gathered from a variety of former
assemblies (Nordentoft 1945a: 269). The location for a sort of unification was descri-
bed as being the weeklong conferences held by ‘The Danish division of The New
Education Fellowship’ each summer (‘Socialpædagogisk uge’).
Five years after the Emdrup plan, ‘Dialogue – Danish journal of culture’ (Dialog)
emerged, which can be understood as a continuation of the strategy of both ‘The
cultural battle’ and ‘A liberated Denmark’. Some of the people involved were indivi-
duals from the earlier associations. The purpose of ‘Dialogue’ was to refigure a broad
and united focus on the forming of the population in the spirit of European huma-
10 At one point in time, there was an archive of the teachers’ division of ‘A liberated Denmark’, including
information on people involved. C. F. Vorbech handed the archive over to Henrik Sidenius in the
1950s. Sidenius was a member of another illegal organisation during the war. However, he threw the
archive away after some time. The widow of Henrik Sidenius, Kirsten Lund, told me this in June 2009.
11 Cf. letter to the members of the teachers’ division of ‘A liberated Denmark’ from the board, dated
20.09.1949, retrieved from the private archives of Torben Gregersen, The Danish State Archives (Torben
Gregersens privatarkiv, Rigsarkivet).