Mathilda Wrede

Mathilda Augusta Wrede ( born March 8, 1864 in Vaasa, † December 25, 1928 in Helsinki) was a Swedish-Finnish aristocrat dedicated to improving living conditions for prisoners and underprivileged devoted himself.

Life

Mathilda was the youngest child of Carl Gustaf Wrede and his wife Eleonora (b. Glansenstjerna ). Her father was governor of the province of Vaasa. Her mother died on Christmas Day 1864, when Mathilda was only nine months old. The older siblings had already moved out of the parental home, and so she grew up with her ​​sisters, 16-year- old Helena and the 6 year old Johanna. For household also included staff, nannies, etc. Helena took over as the eldest daughter the education of younger siblings.

The family lived in Vaasa, but the second home was the mansion Rabbelung in Anjala ( East Finland ), where they spent the summer. At the age of seven years Mathilda came to school to Vaasa, where, in contrast to many other Swedish-speaking nobles, also learned Finnish. At eleven she came into the private girls' boarding school Hamina. After she finished school at 15, she returned home.

Spiritual experience

At the beginning of 1883 Mathilda was depressed and plagued by headaches. At that time, she attended events at the Swedish Mission Covenant with the lay preacher Carl Orestes in Vasa. The 18 -year-old Mathilda Wrede experienced her conversion. She avoided dances and amusements, and spent their time in Bible reading and discussions. Her health improved.

Prison labor

Mathilda was accustomed since childhood to see prisoners outside the prison on the farm of her father, the Governor worked. Half a year after Mathilda's conversion was a prisoner on repair work in the house and she talked to him about matters of faith. To her surprise, he asked her if she would come to the prison to talk to others about it. Her father agreed under the condition that a security guard would be there. So she began the evangelization of the prisoners with the permission of the prison governor.

After her father had gone into retirement, they procured from the charge of the prison welfare Upper director Adolf Grotenfelt in Helsinki permission to visit all prisons in Finland. He promised himself from her mission a moral improvement of the prisoners. Mathilda began her prison visits in 1885 in Lappeenranta and Vyborg and spent much time with the visit of Finland's largest prison in Turku ( Kakola ).

Prison reforms

Mathilda tried in addition to their evangelism also to improve prison conditions. She drew attention in part to the deficiencies in the medical care of prisoners. In order to achieve particularly political prisoners, they reduced their religious message and supported calls for more reforms. It caused a social scandal by passing on information about the prison conditions to the public. After 1900, the state prison administration Mathilda Wrede saw action as a threat to social peace.

Other activities

In the Russian Civil War, it did not support any of the two parties, but tried to improve the situation of prisoners of war and refugees and to mediate between the counterparties.

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