Frydenstrand Badesanatorium

Frydenstrand Badesanatorium was the first Seventh-day Adventist sanatorium in Europe, situated in the Danish port city of Frederikshavn.¹ It was operated as an institution along the principles of John H. Kellogg’s Battle Creek Sanitorium and attracted a good number of Scandinavian guests. Financially it was challenged and remained only 16 years as a church owned health institution. In private hands it was still run by Adventists after the principles of Kellogg² and J.C. Ottosen until 1952.

From School to Sanatorium

The building that housed Frydenstrand Badesanatorium was originally built as a school. As education was high on the agenda of the Adventist church in Scandinavia,³ it was decided in 1893 to purchase land for a high school in Frederikshavn in northern Jutland. A newspaper later wrote, “One day some Scandinavian Americans suddenly came to Frederikshavn and bought a plot by the beach. Nobody had any idea of what they would do with the sandy soil.” Within 12 months a new school building was raised. According to the conditions of the time it was quite a large building.⁴ The building had 54 rooms, including an assembly hall, a reading hall, and bathrooms, as well as apartments for a married principal and four teachers. It had the capacity for 60 students.⁵ On August 31, 1894, the school opened with 36 students, from all over Scandinavia.⁶ There were already plans for the following year, “to have a sanatorium with all the hot and cold baths, a gymnasium, etc. built on the old Frydenstrand’s banks next to it.”⁷ When the school did not do well financially and the number of students dropped, the building plans for the sanatorium were put on hold and the possibility of using the existing building for a sanatorium was considered.

J.C. Ottosen⁸ had completed his medical degree in Copenhagen in 1896 and been to Battle Creek Sanatorium in the United States, where he worked with Dr. Kellogg. Ottosen returned to Denmark with great enthusiasm to practice the new treatments he had learned from Kellogg and from a trip to Germany.⁹ Early in the summer of 1897 he founded Skandinavisk Filantropisk Selskab (Scandinavian Philanthropic Society).¹⁰ The new society bought the school building in Frederikshavn,¹¹ and on September 10, 1897 the society opened Frydenstrand Badesanatorium (popularly just called “Frydenstrand”, in English: “Beach of Joy”).¹² In the beginning Frydenstrand was used as a sanatorium in the summer months and as high school in the wintertime. But in 1898, when the school moved to Nyhyttan in Sweden, Frydenstrand was able to offer treatments for its guest all year round.¹³

Sixteen Years as Adventist Owned Health Institution

J.C. Ottosen had convinced church leaders to open the sanatorium in Frederikshavn, close to his own birthplace. He argued that the location was suited for the treatment of chronic diseases. A local newspaper wrote in 1899 about the sanatorium, “It possessed greater conditions of healing because of location than most other places in the world.” The arrangement was the most modern after the naturopathic method. “Russian steam baths, electric tubs, massage and gym rooms, sun and air baths had been installed, and the most perfectly trained nurses, male and female, from the institution of Battle Creek, were prescribed. A governess thoroughly versed in the difficult cookery of vegetarianism, took over the internal management of the institution, and tactful and capable men and women filled the servant’s office from which the tip system was banished as an abominable evil.”¹⁴ In an advertisement, in 1897, it appears that the price for a room was 0.75 to 1.50 Danish Crowns (US$ 0.1 to $0.2) per day with 1.50 to 2.00 Danish Crowns (US$ 0.2 to $0.27) for the meals per day.

The newspaper article also mentioned that the sanatorium had been so crowded that there were already talks about extensions. The guests were extremely satisfied. “It is a fact that it is lovely at Frydenstrand, and that many sufferers have found healing under the conscientious medical treatment and careful care.”¹⁵ In spite of the positive newspaper review, there were also expressions of great skepticism because of the religious affiliation. A weekly magazine, for instance, warned against “this church-hostile sect.”¹⁶ Some from the medical profession challenged the new treatments being used.

The institution had a hard time making contact with the general population and local community. The guests were often wealthy people from other parts of Scandinavia, some celebrities among them. This isolation was not intended, and the sanatorium tried different initiatives to break it. In 1901 a peace meeting was held at the premises of the sanatorium. A lady’s magazine wrote, “In the last days, the quiet lonely bathing place Frydenstrand Sanatorium has not been itself. The large peace meeting in Frederikshavn, to which are expected delegates from even the farthest places of the country, has created great excitement. Frydenstrand takes its share of the accommodation, and the board has generously invited all delegates present to the `Peace Lunch,’ where chief physician Ottosen will speak on `A silent but important ally in the peace movement.’”¹⁷ Here he invited the guests to a “bloodless” meal, composed according to the principles of health, and highlighted how bloodless vegetarianism was a good ally for the peace movement.¹⁸

Only a few months after the opening of Frydenstrand, J.C. Ottosen and Nordisk Filantropisk Selskab also opened the better known Skodsborg Sanatorium just north of Copenhagen. Because of its location close to the capital and with better traffic connection to the rest of Scandinavia it quickly grew and became a strong competitor. Ottosen had his interest in both places, but Skodsborg took a major part of his time and efforts. In spite of the enthusiasm among the guests, Frydenstrand continued to have severe economic difficulties. In 1913 Nordisk Filantropisk Selskab decided to sell it.¹⁹ During its 16 years as a church owned institution, J.C. Ottosen, MD, was the first medical director, assisted for four years by Dr. Kopp from the nearby hospital, who had a keen interest in the chronically sick. N.P. Nelson, MD, directed until 1907, when Dr. Ottosen again took over, while keeping his responsibilities at Skodsborg Sanatorium. C.C. Hansen served as general manager for Frydenstrand from the beginning until 1905, when the Danish Conference took over the responsibility.^{20 21}

In Private Ownership

Ottosen was not happy when Frydenstrand Sanatorium was sold. However, the buyer was J.A. Svendsen, who was trained as a physiotherapist at Skodsborg and continued to run the sanatorium in harmony with the original ideology. The purchase price was 40,000 Danish Crowns. As a skilled businessman Svendsen succeeded in making the institution debt free in seven years. In 1919 a limited company was set up, and Ottosen became one of the stockholders. Ottosen looked after the medical side and Svendsen took care of the financial side. But when Ottosen began to interfere in the finances, Svendsen opted out around 1922 and started his own private health institution in Juelsminde. Following this Ottosen was the de facto owner and leader of Frydenstrand.²²

In 1920 the sanatorium introduced “Nordic Health Weeks,” and these continued until the German occupation of Denmark during World War II. In the 1930s the number of participants became so overwhelming that lodging had to be secured outside the premises of the sanatorium. The program, conducted inside the sanatorium, started with morning exercise. The day featured a varied program of lectures, demonstrations, and exercise, only interrupted by regular eating and resting times. Entertainment of different kinds highlighted the evenings, including reading, music, and communal singing.²³

The sanatorium’s 25^th anniversary, in 1922, became a historic folk festival when 500 citizens from Frederikshavn were taken on a tour of the sanatorium. Several acres of land were laid out as a park. The gardeners, well known in Adventist circles, included S.P. Olesen, J. Idorn, W.A. Møller, and Kristian Hansen. In 1924 and 1925 a breeding farm was built, stocked with jersey cattle and poultry.²⁴ Over the years, as its popularity increased, the sanatorium carried out major alterations to the main building. In 1930 and 1931 a gymnasium and a furnace were added, and bathing facilities furnished. Towards the north two new buildings, directly connected to the main building, called “Elmely,” were constructed, as well as a laundry. In 1934 the sanatorium reported 405 patients, with an average of 35 on a five-day stay, mainly from Denmark, but also from Norway and Sweden.²⁵

The success of Frydenstrand in the interwar years was partly due to Ottosen’s generous use of advertisements. Brochures were sent to many countries. In addition, anniversary catalogs were published with beautiful photos and descriptions of Ottosen’s experiences and successes. In 1940 one of the brochures highlighted “The modern war of nerves,” describing how stress makes demands on mental and physical strength. “The war on the nerves we cannot stop…, but we can arm ourselves against it,” the brochure explained. “We can strengthen our body, harden our nerves, improve our mental life, and steel our character.”²⁶

Second World War

The beginning of the German occupation, on April 9, 1940, brought an end to Frydenstrand’s heydays. The next day the sanatorium was seized by the chairman of the Red Cross, together with the mayor and the chief of police. First, it was used as aircraft barracks by the German Wehrmacht with a sanitary department, then as a field hospital, “Feltlazaret Frederikshavn,” and from June 1940 it became a permanent infirmary until the end of the war.²⁷ The guests quickly left, but 30 of the staff were allowed to stay and handle the treatment facilities, the kitchen, and the horticulture. In 1942 J.C. Ottosen died, and his wife, Carla Ottosen, “The Lady,” took over the leadership. After the war it was hoped that the sanatorium would quickly return to normal, but it was instead used as a center for refugees. The large barracks built by the German Wehrmacht to extend the bed capacity, and which spoiled the beautiful park, were used as housing for 600 refugees. Not until January 15, 1948, was the sanatorium released, after almost eight years of seizure.²⁸

Hope for a New Beginning Vanishes

The damages had been great, but restoration work started immediately under the leadership of Carla Ottosen. Invitations, advertisements and price lists went out, but it quickly became apparent that the times had changed, and not to the advantage of Frydenstrand. The old chief physician had gone, the old clients only returned in small numbers, and new guests did not come in any significant numbers. The economy could not hold together. The old Limited Company of 1919 went into liquidation, and on October 28, 1952, Carla Ottosen handed over all buildings, agriculture, and horticulture to the municipality. An era was over. The buildings were later used as hotel, then as a boarding school. In 1975 it was bought by a shipping company, which had great plans of building a conference hotel at the site, but eventually decided otherwise. As time passed the buildings fell into disrepair, and on February 15, 1984, were demolished.²⁹ Today the area is laid out for housing.

Reflections

The chairman of the local historical association in Frederikshavn, H.C. Hansen, wrote in 1989, “There was once a sanatorium with the name Frydenstrand that lived up to its name, because inside its walls was a happy little world, where the day passed with work, prayer and singing to serve suffering humanity; but the war came and the enemy arrived, and as the sanatorium appears today on its 50th anniversary, it produces a sad proof of the destructive power of war… If it is to rise again it will need His help, who filled the founder’s heart with love for the cause that the sanatorium fought for.”³⁰

Although Frydenstrand Badesanatorium only existed a relatively short time as a church-owned Adventist institution, its influence over the years was more far reaching. It had been a training ground for young Adventist workers and a springboard and model for other health resorts in Denmark, like Juelsminde Kuranstalt,³¹ Stenskilde Syge- og Hvilehjem,³² and Det Hvide Hus in Odder.³³ Among the gardeners trained in the park and greenhouses were two future Adventist ministers, Hans J. Schantz and Henning Jacobsen, who were to serve the church in leadership capacities.³⁴ Next to the sanitarium grew a vibrant and active Adventist church, which for many years served as the spiritual home for the sanitarium staff and the local community.³⁵

Sources

“Directory of Sanitariums.” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbooks, 1904-1914. https://www.adventistyearbook.org/.

Damernes Blad (The Ladies’ Magazine), August 4, 1901.

Forhandlingsprotokol – Udvalget for et Sanatoriums Oprettelse i Skandinavien (Minutes – Committee for Building a Sanatorium in Scandinavia), July 23, 1895. Handwritten and kept in HASDA.

Hansen, H.C. Frydenstrand – fra storhed til forfald (Frydenstrand – From Greatness to Decline). Frederikshavn: Dafolo Inprent, 1989.

Herning Avis, September 3, 1894.

Iversen, Jensine. “Data,” Skodsborgersamfundet 1942, 12-13.

Jacobsen, Henning. “Frydenstrand.” Adventnyt, October 1994, 6-9.

Lockhart, Paul. “Og således forgår al jordens herlighed” (And thus all the glory of the earth passes away), Vendsyssel Tidende, July 15, 1978.

Notes on Frydenstrand. Kept in HASDA.

Olesen, Karen. “Frydenstrand – En hemmelighed fra arkivet” (Frydenstrand – A Secret from the Archive), Frederikshavn Stadsarkiv, 2011.

Olesen, Karen. “Frydenstrand Badesanatorium.” Frederikshavn Stadsarkiv. Reproduced in Adventnyt, February 2012.

Ottosen, Carla, “Sundhedsugerne” (The Health Weeks). Frydenstrand Sanatorium 1897-1947. Anniversary publication in the archives of HASDA.

Vendsyssel Tidende, September 4, 1899.

Notes

1. Henning Jacobsen, “Frydenstrand,” Adventnyt, October 1994, 7.↩

2. See ESDA article, “Kellogg, John Harvey (1852-1943),” https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=89LQ&highlight=Kellogg,.↩

3. Pioneer John G. Matteson had already, in 1889, held a three-months Bible and colporteur course with 30 participants in Copenhagen. In 1890-1894 a boarding school was established in Copenhagen, Filadelfiaskolen, with M.M. Olsen and J.C. Ottesen as teachers. It had four different locations along the way. On August 31, 1894, the school was moved to Frydenstrand and opened in the newly erected school building and was called Unionsskolen (the Union School). In 1898 the school moved to Nyhyttan in Sweden, where it continued until 1903. That year the school moved back to Copenhagen for a single winter, and then a winter at Høgsholt. In the period 1904-1906 the school was back at Frydenstrand, before it again moved to Sweden at Nyhyttan 1906-1908. From 1908 it was housed in Vestbygningen at Skodsborg for ten years, and then in Nærum 1918-1930 and Vejlefjord 1930-1972. – Information provided by Preben Jalving, director, HASDA, by mail on August 21, 2022.↩

4. Jacobsen, 6.↩

5. Herning Avis, September 3, 1894.↩

6. Poul Lockhart, “Og således forgår al jordens herlighed,” Vendsyssel Tidende, July 15, 1978, 10.↩

7. Herning Avis, September 3, 1894; Handwritten Forhandlingsprotokol – Udvalget for et Sanatoriums Oprettelse i Skandinavien, July 23, 1895. Kept in HASDA. Accessed August 10, 2022.↩

8. See ESDA article “Ottosen, Carl Jacob (1864-1942),” https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=7JIC&highlight=Ottosen,.↩

9. Jensine Iversen, “Data,” Skodsborgersamfundet 1942, 12-13.↩

10. Jacobsen, 6.↩

11. Karen Olesen, “Frydenstrand – En hemmelighed fra arkivet,” Frederikshavn Stadsarkiv, 2011.↩

12. Notes on Frydenstrand kept in HASDA. Accessed August 10, 2022.↩

13. Jacobsen, 7.↩

14. Vendsyssel Tidende, September 4, 1899.↩

15. Ibid.↩

16. Jacobsen, 7.↩

17. Damernes Blad, August 4, 1901.↩

18. Jacobsen, 8.↩

19. Ibid.↩

20. “Directory of Sanitariums,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbooks, 1904- 1914.↩

21. H.C. Hansen, Frydenstrand- fra storhed til forfald, Frederikshavn: Dafolo Inprent, 1989, 6.↩

22. Jacobsen, 8.↩

23. Carla Ottosen, “Sundhedsugerne” (The Health Weeks), Frydenstrand Sanatorium 1897-1947. Anniversary publication in the archives of HASDA. Accessed August 16, 2022.↩

24. Karen Olesen, “Frydenstrand Badesanatorium,” Frederikshavn Stadsarkiv. Reproduced in Adventnyt, February 2012, 12.↩

25. Jacobsen, 8-9.↩

26. Karen Olesen, “Frydenstrand Badesanatorium,” 13.↩

27. H.C. Hansen, 7.↩

28. Jacobsen., 9.↩

29. Ibid.↩

30. H.C. Hansen, 8.↩

31. 1920-1992, started by Jens Andreas Svendsen, physiotherapist from Skodsborg Badesanatorium, and carried on by his descendants.↩

32. 1947-1968, M.C. Svendsen, formerly business manager at Frydenstrand Sanatorium.↩

33. 1950-1968, Johannes and Ruth Idorn, formerly head gardener and leader of the ladies’ bath respectively at Frydenstrand Sanatorium.↩

34. Hans J. Schantz, pastor, departmental director, and principal of Vejlefjord High School. Henning Jacobsen, pastor, departmental director, and president of East and West Denmark conferences.↩

35. Telephone conversation, August 18, 2022, with Else Pedersen, daughter of gardener Kristian Hansen.↩