Edith Södergran (1892-1923)

Death: 24th June 1923
Location: Edith Södergran Memorial, Roschino, Leningrad Oblast, Russia
Cause of death: Tuberculosis
Photos taken by: julia and keld & Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland
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Swedish-speaking Finnish poet, born in St Petersburg.  Her father died from tuberculosis in 1907 and in 1908 Edith was diagnosed with the disease and sent to a sanatorium. Edith stayed in various sanatoriums and by 1912 she was well enough to return home. In 1923 the tuberculosis returned and Edith died; she was 31. 
Edith died at her home in Raivola, and was buried at the village church (original grave pictured on right). Following The Moscow Peace Treaty in 1940, the village became Soviet territory and to this day belongs to Russia; shortly after the war, Raivola was renamed Roschino.  Most visible traces of the village that existed in Södergran's day are now gone and the site of Edith's grave is today unknown; however, in 1960 a memorial was erected to her. 
Södergran did not receive much recognition in her lifetime, but is now regarded one of Finland's foremost poets and is considered to be one of the greatest modernist poets of the Nordic countries. She was the first Finland-Swedish modernist and was influenced by French symbolism, German expressionism and Russian futurism.

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