Frelsers Arbejdshus

[Julia Graham]

During the 1860s, my great-great grandfather was a foster child living at Frelsers Arbejdshus:

https://www.danishfamilysearch.com/cid14804809

I would really like to learn more about Frelsers Arbejdhus (and workhouses in general), but I am having trouble finding detailed information (other than Frelsders Arbejdhus being financed by Marie Koefoed, and workhouses being a place for people who couldn't support themselves or were considered in need of rehabilitation).

What was life like inside a workhouse? How were children treated?

Did children receive an education while they were staying at the workhouse?

Are there any books or sources of information I could read to help me understand more about Frelsers Arbejdhus, in particular?

In 1864, my great-great grandfather was working as a farm boy in Kragelund Parish:

https://www.sa.dk/ao-soegesider/en/billedviser?bsid=364658#364658,70617455

Would it have been quite unusual for a child to be fostered so far away from where they grew up?

Thanks.

[Inger Toudal]

https://www.starbas.net/arkivskaber.php?id=2648&laes_mere=ja

Arbejdshusene

Litteratur:
Harald Jørgensen: Omsorgen for børn og unge i Kbh. gennem 250 år, 1970, s.20.
Birgitte Vedel Larsen: Kampen mod de uværdige fattige. Arbejdshuse og tvangsarbejdsanstalter i København.
Historiske Meddelelser 2005
 

[grethe jensen]

Here you have a photo: https://kbhbilleder.dk/kbh-museum/50873
Best regards GJ

[J. K. Olsen]

During the 1850s the cholera pandemic ravaged the city. From the translated article below comes this extract:

Right next to our home was " Vor Frelsers Arbejdshus" , which was otherwise a kind of fostering institution or school for children of the poor. As soon as the cholera took hold, it, like all other schools in the city, was closed and was now hastily converted into a lazaret with camp beds in every nook and cranny.  Above the gate  hung a bell whose sound  was familiar to the whole quarter. At its worst,  we heard its ring almost every  five minutes. Then we knew that  outside the infirmary there were again a  pair of porters  with a poor cholera patient in their stretcher.

As if it were yesterday, I can hear the deep ringing of the gate bell and my mother's exclamation:

Ah, my God, now  there was one more!

https://nypolitivennen-blogspot-com.translate.goog/2021/03/da-koleraen-for-75-aar-siden-hrgede.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Sincerely
J. K. Olsen

[Julia Graham]

Thank you so much for sharing this, J.K. — I have just read the full blog post. What a traumatic time it must have been for the residents of Copenhagen during the cholera epidemic! It was interesting to read how Frelsers Arbejdshus was transformed into a hospital for the sick during the outbreak.

[Julia Graham]

https://www.starbas.net/arkivskaber.php?id=2648&laes_mere=ja

Arbejdshusene

Litteratur:
Harald Jørgensen: Omsorgen for børn og unge i Kbh. gennem 250 år, 1970, s.20.
Birgitte Vedel Larsen: Kampen mod de uværdige fattige. Arbejdshuse og tvangsarbejdsanstalter i København.
Historiske Meddelelser 2005
 

Thanks, Inger — this is great! I'll see if I can find a copy of those books.

[Julia Graham]

Here you have a photo: https://kbhbilleder.dk/kbh-museum/50873
Best regards GJ

Thanks for finding this, Grethe. 

[grethe jensen]

I suppose you found your self from the same link: https://kbhbilleder.dk/kbh-museum/50872
Mvh GJ