Stieg Larsson, A Hero for our Time

Stieg Larsson

Stieg Larsson, the Swedish author of the Millennium trilogy, which includes The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and two major motion pictures, sold tens of millions of books, but unfortunately died in 2004 at the age of fifty.

All three novels became instant hits, but he just didn’t write about crime.  Larsson's passion was his tireless crusade for justice and morality—values that he fought for until the day he died. 

His real life's mission was exposing Sweden’s Nazi activities.  Though the country was neutral during World War II, Nazis infiltrated much of their everyday life, and Larsson later uncovered racial crimes in the 80’s and 90’s when he wrote for a British anti-racist magazine and then started his own called Expo.    

It was during this time that he received constant death threats and even bullets in the mail.  “You Jew f-----…  We’ll tear you apart…And we know where you live.”

But he didn't quit.  Exposing racists was so much a part of his life that Nazis are mentioned continually throughout his books and even in his fourth book called Millennium found in his computer when he died.

All his writings show how women in these Nazi families can only survive if they remain on a lower status.  Harriet, the missing character in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, remains alive by vanishing for forty years.   The two investigators looking for her come across a list of mysterious names written by Harriet but have no idea what they mean.  It is only when they realize that they refer to Jewish victims does it start to make sense.

Interesting, that when you glance at extremist groups, women are ALWAYS stuck on the bottom, in subservient positions, often beaten and disgraced.

Look at Afghanistan, the women used to be educated.  Now they’re stuck behind Burqas, pushed aside and punished for everything.  Same in Iran.  And some men in Saudi Arabia want women dead if they dare fight for their right to drive a car.

Gabrielsson and Larsson

                                                                                       

Larsson used to call himself a feminist.  He was.  Although afraid for his partner Eva Gabrielsson, he continued to put his life on the line and never stopped fighting for what he believed.   Isn’t that what we call a hero—a man of true integrity and grit?

It’s something we should remember when we pick up one of his books, see his films, or think of the man who passed.