M
is for Mångkulturell (Multicultural); N is for Nässjö
[Two letters in one, here described in
reverse order for historical reasons!]
In 1914 Nässjö was recognised as a
Swedish stad (the Swedish word stad can mean town or city) and granted the accompanying
privileges and charter. Nässjö’s Town Hall was formally opened in the same
year. One hundred years on, in 2014, Nässjö is celebrating its centenary.
At that time Nässjö belonged to a new urban
generation known as a ‘stationsamhället’ – a bridge between the old and the
new, a merging of town and country. Its identity as a town was therefore not
entirely clear.
Nässjö is a railway town – an important
railway junction for trains heading north, south, east and west. When the
railway was first established, in the mid-1800s, Nässjö’s inhabitants numbered
43. Fifty years on, when the town received its charter, the population had
grown to 5,949. With the railway as its mainstay and the explosion of various
industries (cigarette factory, clothing mill, furniture factory) the town
blossomed.
Today, Nässjö has a population of around
17,000, and in the municipality as a whole (including the surrounding
communities) the population numbers 30,000.
The present population is mångkulturell – multicultural. The town works towards integration – the integration
of native Swedes and new Swedes. The concept ‘new Swedes’ has been adopted in
Sweden as a whole to include ‘immigrants’ from various corners of the world.
Just as in 1914, the town is a bridge between the old and the new, this time in
a merging of cultures. Similar to 1914, its identity is unclear and still
emerging.
Multicultural Nässjö is a town in formation. Following its progress will be fascinating.