The Secret Society for History

The Secret Society for History meets three times in autumn 2026 at Odense Main Library. Each session features a historian or museum professional delivering an online presentation from their desk, followed by a shared discussion of the topic. Registration covers all three dates. The event is free, but places are limited.

Thursday, 17 September 2026, 4:30 PM - The History of Vestegnen: From Agricultural Region to Welfare Suburb
Speaker: Pauline Wedel Kaalund, historian and museum inspector at Kroppedal Museum. Using the Fingerplan of 1947 as a starting point, the presentation traces Vestegnen's transformation from farmland to suburbs - and argues that Vestegnen may be the region in Denmark that most clearly reflects the 20th century's political and cultural development.

Thursday, 8 October 2026, 4:30 PM - Forbidden Books from the Enlightenment to Today
Speaker: Dennis Meyhoff Brink, satire researcher, writer and lecturer. Books have been considered dangerous for centuries - and still are. Brink discusses why churches and states have banned books, how authors and readers circumvented censorship, and how erotic and satirical works became forbidden bestsellers nonetheless. He has researched the history of European religious satire and most recently satirical responses to censorship at the University of Copenhagen.

Thursday, 19 November 2026, 4:30 PM - Secrets in the German Bunkers on the West Coast
Speaker: Chrestina Dahl, Ph.D. and museum inspector, Bunker Museum - Vendsyssel Historical Museum. After liberation in May 1945, Denmark was left with massive German concrete structures along the Jutland west coast - part of the Atlantic Wall that stretched from the Spanish-French border to the North Cape. The presentation examines why the bunkers were so difficult to handle in the years after liberation, and how Danes' relationship with these structures has evolved since.