Einar Dahl (Esperantist)
Einar Dahl (born 1 March 1904 in Falun; died 17 January 1979 in Uddevalla, Sweden) was a Swedish Esperantist who worked first as an elementary school teacher and later as a school principal in Uddevalla. He was an honorary member of the World Esperanto Association ("Universala Esperanto-Asocio," UEA), and during his many years as a member of the UEA executive committee ("Komitato") he helped to pioneer parliamentary activity on behalf of the Esperanto movement. Career. Dahl was an eminent figure in Swedish political life, serving as a Social Democratic member of the "Riksdag" (parliament) for several  years. In the 1930s, Sweden, as elsewhere, had high unemployment, and the Swedish Social Democratic Party was regularly attacked by both Communist and Nazi sympathizers. In February 1932, for example, Swedish unemployment stood at 108,000 and no regular national unemployment insurance system had yet been established. At Uddevalla's annual May Day demonstration in Kungstorget-Folkets Park that year, municipal workers union chair Axel V. Johansson had addressed the crowd of 2,500. In the lull before the main speaker, Axel Lindqvist, M.P., arrived, Einar Dahl, then still a young elementary school teacher, gave an impromptu speech warning young people against  the superficial proposals of extremists, declaring that only with deep reflection and earnestness could they build a brighter future. From 1933 until 1977, Dahl served as secretary of the , which operated a boarding school for secondary students in Uddevalla. He took a keen interest in helping students from Uddevalla and Lysekil qualify for admission to the new University of Gothenburg after it opened in 1954. In 1944, the Gerlesborg School of Fine Art began operating a summer school for the arts in a boarding house in Gerlesborg. The school offered cultural programs including chamber music evenings and art instruction under  artist Arne Isacsson. At the Gerlesborg Foundation's inaugural meeting of 16 June 1963, Bohuslän municipal council chair Einar Dahl became vice-president of the Foundation which, with the help of government grants, financed the arts school. Dahl was appointed as the school's principal, but was also principal of , a trade school. After his election on 16 September 1956, Dahl was a member of the "Riksdag's" second chamber for Bohuslän until the election of 1 June 1958, when he was elected to represent Bohuslän (mandate period 1958-1965) in the first chamber. Esperanto activities. He learned the international  language Esperanto as early as 1921, becoming active within Sweden and also internationally in the Esperanto movement. He was a leader in the Swedish movement, writing "Esperanto por la lernejo" (for students) and "Kiel oni gvidas daŭrigajn Esperanto-kursojn" (for teachers). He also authored booklets of Esperanto dialogues and skits. He was a director of the Swedish Esperanto Teachers Federation and in 1931 became president of the World Esperanto Pacifist League ("Universala Esperantista Pacifista Ligo"). In 1949 he was elected secretary-treasurer of the newly founded international League of Esperanto Teachers. For several years Dahl was nominated by the UEA  as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1965, he was the chief proponent in the Swedish "Riksdag" of a common Scandinavian proposal that UNESCO should undertake a fundamental inquiry into the need for an international communications medium. Dahl took part in many universal congresses. In 1970 he was awarded the Swedish gold medal "Pro Socia Merito".