However, other biographers, such as Ebba Witt-Brattström, have disputed the story of Singa, claiming there is no real evidence she ever existed. On one visit, Singa supposedly ran away back to her biological family, but while walking along the train tracks she was run over by a train, and Helena later found the mutilated body. Singa is believed to have lived with the Södergrans during school terms, but moved back to her biological family during the holidays. Some biographers, including Gunnar Tideström, have claimed that Helena had found a foster sister of a similar age to Edith, named Singa. Edith's father only lived with them in the city for short periods of time.Įdith had made a few friends, but Helena feared her daughter might be lonely. Edith and Helena would move into St. Petersburg during the school terms, living in the Wiborgska part of the city. Edith and her mother spent a lot more time together than Edith and her father. Edith enjoyed a close bond with her mother, and Helena supported her daughter's wish to become a poet. Helena may have seemed stable, but was often nervous, shaken and restless. Helena Södergran was a robust, petite and intelligent woman with a broad and captivating smile. Įdith was a keen photographer, and there are many pictures of her mother, albeit few of her father. Though her first real encounter with a more structured questioning of the gender dynamics and the 'new woman' is believed to have taken place during her time in a sanatorium in Switzerland. This is believed to have been an early influence on Edith's belief in women and feminism. Under these complicated circumstances, Edith's mother was responsible for the well-being of the family, especially as Mats Södergran's health deteriorated. Mats Södergran died in October 1907, only a year before Edith would herself be diagnosed with the disease. In 1904, her father was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and in May 1906 he was admitted to Nummela sanatorium in Nyland. She was almost certainly in the city on Bloody Sunday in January 1905 when the Tsarist guards opened fire on thousands of starving citizens who had gathered to protest the lack of food. The school was situated opposite The Winter Palace, which enabled Edith to experience the troubles in Tsarist Russia at close range. Petrischule was rich in tradition and created an interesting and highly intellectual surrounding for Edith. Helena managed to arrange for the family to receive a part of the proceeds from her mother's share of the inheritance, making the family debt-free once more.Įdith attended the girls school at Petrischule in St. Petersburg. The rest of the money disappeared quickly, however, due to Mats' unsuccessful businesses. With the money from the inheritance, Helena was able to pay the family's debts and get them back on their feet. Helena's father died a few months later, and the inheritance was shared between her and her mother. Three years later, the company went into bankruptcy, and the family struggled to make ends meet. A short time afterward, Mats acquired a job as a superintendent at a sawmill. When Edith was just a few months old, the Södergrans moved to the village of Raivola on the Karelian Isthmus where her grandfather, Gabriel Holmroos, bought a house for them. Considerably less is known about her relationship to her father, who died when Edith was only 15. It is apparent that Edith and her mother shared a strong bond. Įdith's mother came from a well-positioned family, and the status of women within the family is thought to have been strong. The sorrow united her parents, who were also both considered less suitable in marriage due to their past. Her father had been a widower after the death of his wife and two small children. Her mother had earlier become pregnant by a Russian soldier and given birth to an illegitimate son, but the child died after only two days. Her parents, Mats Södergran and Helena Södergran, née Holmroos, were both born in Finland and belonged to the Finnish-Swedish minority, with Swedish as their native language.
Edith Irene Södergran was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, into a middle-class Finnish-Swedish family.
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