Lecture: The Women from Sprogø and the Men from Livø

The Women from Sprogø and the Men from Livø - lecture: Thursday 22 October 2026, 19:00–21:00, Hvalsø Bibliotek, Hvalsø. Tickets cost 50 kr.

In the early 1900s, men deemed unfit or mentally deficient could be placed on Livø. Women branded with the same label - or simply considered sexually loose - risked ending up on Sprogø.

From the 1930s onwards, Denmark was a pioneer in racial hygiene, which became part of the welfare state's foundation. Christian Keller from De Kellerske Anstalter viewed the two institutions as a humane advance in handling what he called the "morally deficient". Certain groups were forcibly sterilized to prevent them from having children.

In this lecture, Lisbeth Lunde Lauridsen explores selected stories from that period and traces the lines back to a time when no distinction was made between the mentally ill, the mentally deficient, the asocial, petty criminals, and the poor.