| Levned |
- Biografisk interview med Agnes Jelhof Jensen (1:30:02) i United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Har også udgivet erindringsbøger.
Ses ej (ifl. Safehaven) som flygtning i Sverige, hvor ægtefællen Fritz Salomon Rosenberg opholdt sig fra 1943). Men var flygtning, jf. nekrolog nedenfor.
(Hyfler/Rosner May 8, 2007, to Edmonton Journal (Alberta)
BYLINE: Don Retson, Journal Staff Writer
"EDMONTON - Agnes Jelhof Jensen came from an Orthodox Jewish home in Denmark, but was brought up to believe that being morally upright -- not one's religion -- was what counted.
Mrs. Jensen passed on that great respect for other world faiths to her own children.
"She was very ecumenical," Bodil Jelhof Jensen of Laval, Que., said of her mother.
"She would be at home in any church anywhere. I remember in our own home, every nationality, every faith came. And they were welcome."
The author of 12 books and the winner of numerous awards and honours, Agnes Jelhof Jensen died Feb. 26 at age 90. A memorial service is being held at Temple Beth Ora today at 3 p.m.
The second youngest of seven children, Mrs. Jensen fled Denmark in 1943 with her husband and eight-month-old son in the Jewish evacuation to Sweden.
After the war, Mrs. Jensen, who had remarried, moved from Copenhagen to Edmonton with her new husband and their two young daughters. Except for a short stay in Toronto, Mrs. Jensen was a resident of Edmonton since 1954.
Her daughter said that Jews in Denmark, unlike other countries occupied by the Nazis, felt extremely secure.
When word came out via sympathizers within the German hierarchy that a roundup of Jews was about to happen, some people didn't believe it and didn't act. Sadly, Mrs. Jensen's parents were among the captured Jewish Danes sent to a concentration camp in then occupied Czechoslovakia.
The death of Mrs. Jensen's mother in the Theresienstadt concentration camp not only shaped her views in life, but also eventually led her to write Dilemma, an award-winning novel about the rescue of a Jewish girl in Second World War Denmark.
Dilemma is one of four of Mrs. Jensen's books available at the Edmonton Public Library. Among the others, Old Age Can Wait!, No One Must Know and Hello Canada, the latter is a humourous, insightful account of Mrs. Jensen's first years in Canada.
... Despite the tragedy she experienced, Mrs. Jensen had a wonderful sense of humour, her daughter said.
"Her attitude was, you're either going to laugh or cry. So let's laugh."
Mrs. Jensen, who was first published at age 15, founded her own publishing house -- Danbooks -- after discovering how little Canadian publishers pay their writers.
She was extremely proud to be Canadian, her daughter said.
"When I went to school, whenever I had a choice of who I should study, she would say, 'OK, pick Stephen Leacock! He's a Canadian,' " said Bodil Jelhof Jensen, who earned a Master's degree in Canadian history before becoming a lawyer.
In addition to her career as a writer, Mrs. Jensen contributed widely as an executive member on many organizations, including the Citizenship Council, a group that assisted immigrants.
As president of the auxiliary for the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital, Mrs. Jensen started many innovative patient-care projects.
Following a heart operation in 2001, Mrs. Jensen provided the seed money for the Seniors Driving Centre, a group of volunteers who help hundreds of frail seniors throughout Edmonton.
Among various awards for volunteer work, Mrs. Jensen received a Queen's Golden Jubilee medal in 2002.
Besides her daughter in Quebec, Mrs. Jensen is survived by daughter Bente Scarnati of Edmonton and son Kjeld Rothenberg of Copenhagen.
...
dre...@thejournal.canwest.com"
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| Nekrolog |
- "Forfatter Agnes Jelhof Jensen, Canada, er død, 90 år. Agnes Jelhof Jensen har boet i Edmonton i Canada siden 1954. Hun har skrevet en række medrivende bøger på både dansk og engelsk med humoren og fortælleglæden som kendemærke. Hendes mest kendte bøger er barndomserindringerne "Midt mellem le og græde" fra 1989 og "Glemmebogen" fra 1991, der handler om hendes festlige jødiske familie i deres frederiksberg hjem i 1920'erne. Agnes Jelhof Jensen har desuden begået romanerne "Dilemma" fra 1993 og "Huset i Canada" fra 1994 om den svære tid i Danmark og Canada under og efter Anden Verdenskrig samt den sprudlende, selvbiografiske bog "Hallo, Canada" fra 1976, der handler om hendes og familiens første år som immigranter i Canada i efterkrigstiden."
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Om slægterne Brændgaard & Heilesen
1916 - 2007 (90 år)
