Anders Aabye Vedel (August 2, 1878 – January 19, 1939) came from a family of priests. He graduated in theology in 1903, but chose to work within the folk high school. He began his career as a teacher at Salling Folk High School in Jebjerg, where he worked from 1904 to 1906. He then taught at Høng Folk High School (1906-1907), Roskilde Folk High School (1909-1917) and Fyns Husmandsskole (1917-1922). In 1922 he became principal of Roskilde Højskole, where he retired at the end of 1924. He was co-editor of Højskolebladet from 1917-1922, where he wrote about World War II and post-war problems.
Krabbesholm Folk High School in crisis
Throughout its more than one hundred years of existence, Krabbesholm Folk High School has been in crisis several times and has even been in danger of closing. In 1924, the school’s situation was so bad that the board of the Folk High School Association considered closing the school and selling the buildings.
Saved by Vedel
On January 16, 1925, former folk high school principal Anders Vedel, who had resigned from his position at Roskilde Folk High School the year before, gave a lecture at the Peace Association in Skive. During his stay in Skive, he held a meeting with the board of the Folk High School Association, where he demanded that the Folk High School should be able to start with at least 30 students in the summer school if he was to lease the school. In just over a week, he succeeded in signing up 23 students, and on February 18, the board signed an agreement with Anders Vedel to take over the lease of Krabbesholm Folk High School from May 1, 1925. The girls’ school in the summer of 1925 had around 40 students, and the carle school in the winter of 1925/26 began with 48 students at the folk high school and seven at Krabbesholm Håndværkerskole. Ten years later, the number of students was at roughly the same level. The 1935/36 winter school had a total of just over 60 students.
An open man
Vedel was a “radical through and through”, but he was open to the thoughts of others. His starting point was Grundtvigian and Christian, but he did not want to force-feed his students, and his lectures encouraged independent thinking. He opened the folk high school to the local community, and the farmers’ association, smallholders’ associations, temperance societies and others often held meetings and conventions at the folk high school, many times with Vedel as a speaker. But he also visited the community centers, where he became a much-used lecturer.
Gasworks – an unwanted neighbor
In 1932, it emerged that a large majority in Skive City Council wanted to move Skive Gasworks to Skive Harbour, where it would be located on an area a few meters from Krabbesholm Folk High School’s main building. Vedel protested, and protest meetings were held, but to no avail. The majority of the city council upheld the move, and for 40 years the school had to suffer with the smell of gas and coal dust.
A world congress has consequences
Vedel was keen to spread the idea of folk high schools outside Denmark and spoke several times at Nordic folk high school meetings. This led to Vedel being appointed by the Nordic folk high schools to attend a world congress in Australia in 1937. During his stay there, he was appointed honorary doctor at the University of Perth. On his return home, he had contracted an eye condition that turned into a serious inflammation. He never really recovered after that.
In the spring of 1938, he underwent surgery in Stockholm, after which he was hospitalized for a long time with chief physician Aage Nielsen at Aarhus Municipal Hospital. In the spring of 1938, Vedel terminated his contract with the Folk High School Association to lease the Folk High School, and in the fall of 1938, Folk High School teacher Marinus J. Gravsholt took over as co-principal at the Folk High School. In December 1938, he was transferred to Skive Hospital, where he died on January 19, 1939.
The history of the folk high schools is not finished
During his illness, he worked with his wife, Helene Vedel (b. Solmer, October 20, 1895 – May 5, 1978), on a work about the history of the Danish folk high schools. He dictated and she wrote. They only managed to get the first chapters written before Anders Vedel died.
Mrs. Vedel after Anders’ death
Anders and Helene Vedel had married in 1920, and Mrs. Vedel was now left alone with five small children. She had to leave Krabbesholm Folk High School, but in 1941 she was hired as manager of Spøttrup Borg and restaurant – a position she held for 25 years.
The history of the memorial stone
After Vedel’s death, a collection was started for a memorial stone for Anders Vedel. Vedel himself had helped to procure the stone. Skive Folkeblad reported on August 2, 1939: “These days, a memorial stone has been erected on the grave of college principal Anders Vedel in Skive Cemetery. It is a mighty granite natural stone that was found when the site of Vulkan’s property in Nørregade was excavated [in 1935]. Vedel arranged for the stone not to be cut into shards at the time, as he felt that its size and beauty made it suitable for a memorial stone – and now it stands on his own grave.”
Sources:
- Skive Folkeblad January 19, 1939, January 26, 1939
- Skive Venstreblad January 26, 1939
- Paul Nedergaard: A Danish History of Priests and Parishes VI. Viborg Stift. 1960, s.209.
- Krabbesholm Højskole’s annual report 1939