The Aftermath of War:
New Developments and
Opportunities
Although the war brought hardship to Denmark, the country suffered less than many other European nations. The financial assistance that Denmark received in 1948 from the Marshall Plan-the $13 billion in relief offered by the United States to Europe in the aftermath of the war-helped modernize agriculture and industry.
Before the war, some farms used machinery, but most farm work was still done by hand. The new post-war rural mechanization meant that farmhands like Chris-once essential to Spandet's economy-were no longer as important. This new reality, coupled with the desire to lead a life unlike that of his parents, led Chris to his decision to seek a new future across the Atlantic, in Canada.
Certificate issued in Ribe, April 1951, attesting to Chris’s clean criminal record. Presumably, Chris needed this document to qualify for emigration to Canada.
(CMC, Christian Bennedsen Collection, P45-2.1)
The Aftermath of War:
New Developments and
Opportunities
Inside pages from Chris Bennedsen’s Danish passport. (CMC, Christian Bennedsen Collection, P45-7.1.4)
Spandet church, ca 2007. (Courtesy Dr. Christina Folke Ax)