Elisabeth Johansen

Elisabeth Maria Sara Johansen (née Henningsen ; born August 1, 1907 in Uummannaq ; † June 21, 1993 ibid.) Was a Greenland state councilor . She was the first woman to hold political office in Greenland.

Life, family and career

Elisabeth Johansen was born in 1907 as the daughter of Johan Emil Hans Henningsen (1876–1952) and Johanne Marie Gjertrud Fleischer (1880–1959) in Uummannaq .

In 1923, at the age of 16, she went to Denmark to work as a nanny, learned Danish and, after a further year at home, was finally trained as a midwife in 1925 at the University Clinic in Copenhagen as the first Greenlander with the highest grade . She then practiced this profession from 1932 to 1972, often helping out in the Uummannaq hospital as an operation assistant , housekeeper , cook or interpreter .

On July 23, 1938 she married the commercial administrator Karl Isak Kristian Viktor Johansen (born June 10, 1915 in Uummannaq; † January 23, 1958 in Illorsuit ), son of Lars Jens Jakob Johansen (1884 – after 1921) and Magdalene Abigael Hedvig Pollas ( 1888–?), And they moved to Ukkusissat and in 1946 to Illorsuit. The couple had five children: Astrid (* 1938), Severin (1941–2005), Henrik Kristian (* 1943), Lars Emil (* 1946) and Ole (* 1950).

The work as a midwife started in the small town of Illorsuit, which at that time had about 150 inhabitants, and the work as a geriatric nurse came on the same level, and she also made a living as a seamstress . In 1956 she founded a women's association . After her husband died in 1958, she moved back to Uummannaq with her five children, who were between 8 and 20 years old at the time, to give them a better education.

In 1959 she was elected for the first time to the National Council of Greenland , the forerunner of the Inatsisartut , the parliament, after workers, fishing and hunting associations, which were the forerunners of the parties, had already asked her, which she refused because of her children would have. Her father was a member of the first elected regional council of North Greenland from 1911 to 1916 , and her husband was also a regional councilor from 1945 to 1950.

During her political career, she mainly campaigned against urbanization , for stronger rights for Greenlanders compared to the Danes in the country, and for an intensified fight against alcohol abuse . She was confirmed in office in 1963, 1967 and 1971 and was therefore not only regional councilor for 16 years, but also the only regional councilor that the country has since the regional council was abolished in 1979 and replaced by parliament in the course of increased autonomy . While she was still going through the last legislative term together with her son Lars Emil, who lived in Nuuk , she was followed by her son Severin from Uummannaq after her departure. Lars Emil later became, among other things, minister, prime minister and president of parliament and, along with Jonathan Motzfeldt (1938-2010), is probably the most famous politician in the country. When the parties in Greenland emerged in 1977, she joined the social democratic Siumut .

Even later she was still active as a committee and commission member, e.g. For example, from 1969 onwards in the Women's Commission, where she published four bilingual publications on the living conditions of Greenlandic women, but also in the mother-child home Egmontsgården in Nuuk .

It was 1973 Knight of Danebrogordens beaten for 1981 honorary citizen appointed by Uummannaq, and with the 1989 Greenland Medal awarded in silver.

Elisabeth Johansen died in Uummannaq in 1993 at the age of 85.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ often accidentally given as "Fleichser"
2. ^ ^{A b c} Marianne B. Jensen: Elisabeth Johansen (1907–1993) . In: Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon (Danish)
3. ^ ^{A b} Axel Kjær Sørensen: Denmark-Greenland in the Twentieth Century (= Meddelelser om Grønland . Man and Society. 34). Danish Polar Center, Copenhagen 2006, ISBN 87-90369-89-0 , ( digital copy (PDF; 3.35 MB) ).
4. ↑ Merete Harding, Mads Lidegaard: Elisabeth Johansen . In: Svend Cedergreen Bech , Svend Dahl (eds.): Dansk biografisk leksikon . Founded by Carl Frederik Bricka , continued by Povl Engelstoft. 3. Edition. tape 7 : Høeg – Kjoerholm . Gyldendal, Copenhagen 1981, ISBN 87-01-77422-0 (Danish, biografiskleksikon.lex.dk ).
5. ↑ Philip Lauritzen: Hun klarede det hele. Elisabeth Johansen er død, 85 år gammel. In: Atuagagdliutit . June 24, 1993, pp. 9-10 (Danish, timarit.is with pictures)