Dick Helander

Swedish bishop

Dick Helander
Dick Helander's grave at the Stampens kyrkogård in Gothenburg
Born	Dick Adolf Viktor Helander (1896-06-23)23 June 1896 Nyköping, Sweden
Died	14 August 1978(1978-08-14) (aged 82) Gothenburg, Sweden
Occupation	Bishop
Years active	1952–1954 (bishop) 1923–1978 (life)

Dick Adolf Viktor Helander (23 June 1896 – 14 August 1978) was a Swedish bishop in Strängnäs diocese between 1952 and 1953 and a professor. He lost his position as a bishop in the aftermath of the Helander case.

Life and career

Helander was born 23 June 1896 in Nyköping, and graduated from Karolinska college in Örebro in 1915.^[1] After studies in Uppsala and Gothenburg Helander received a fil, cand. in philosophy in 1918.^[2] Helander officially became a priest on 20 May 1923 in Lunds congregation.^[1]^[3] In 1931 he became a docent in practical theology at Lund University. In 1952, Helander was named bishop of Strängnäs.^[4] Helander died on 14 August 1978, when he was hit by a tram in Gothenburg. He was buried at the Mariachurch on 30 August 1978.

The Helander Defamation Case

On 22 December 1953, Helander was indicted in connection with libelous letters defaming other candidates, that he was claimed to have sent to members of Strängnäs bishopric.^[3] He was prosecuted and sentenced against his own denials for defamation.^[5] He was expelled from his bishop position.^[5] The sentence was appealed. In 1954 the sentence was upheld by Svea Court of Appeal and other appeals were not brought up. The affair was known by the name Helandermålet (meaning The Helander case).^[6]

Helander later wrote several books proclaiming his innocence about writing the letters.^[7] In 2002, new tests on the saliva from the letters proved that Helander had not posted the letters of recommendation personally.^[7]^[8]^[9]

Bibliography

Bönbok - Stora bedjares böner
Nattvardsbok
Handbok vid jordfästning
Handbok för kyrkliga förrättningar
Den liturgiska utvecklingen i Sverige 1811-1894
Svensk psalmhistoria (1946)
Herdabrev till Strängnäs stift (1953)
I domkyrkans skugga (1955)
Oskyldigt dömd (1957)

References

^ ^a ^b "Sökresultat - Legimus". Legimus.se. Archived from the original on 2014-03-27. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
^ "Antikvariat Thomas Andersson H:4 - Antiquarian Books in Scandinavia". Antikvariat.net. 2014-03-23. Archived from the original on 2014-09-22. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
^ ^a ^b "En nyanserad bild av biskop Gustaf Aulén". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). 2012-02-08. Archived from the original on January 7, 2014. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
^ "Dick Helander, Vad är Dick Helander?". Learning4sharing.nu. Archived from the original on 2014-03-28. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
^ ^a ^b "Helander kan ha varit oskyldig - P4 Uppland". Sveriges Radio. Archived from the original on 2014-03-27. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
^ Karlgren, Jussi (2003). "Helander: An Authorship Attribution Case". Archived from the original on 5 October 2017. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
^ ^a ^b Borås. "Biskopen och de anonyma breven" (in Swedish). Bt.se. Archived from the original on March 27, 2014. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
^ "DNA kunde ha friat dömd biskop". Advokatsamfundet.se. 2003. Archived from the original on 2014-03-28. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
^ Michaelson; Morton; Hamilton-Smith (1979). Justice for Helander. Dept of CS Internal Report CSR 42-79. University of Edinburgh.