GRETHE LARSEN | 1947

Grethe Larsen, 61, grew up in Vejle, and after her confirmation, she found work in an artist group that travelled across Europe.

When she was 18, she fell head over heels in love with a man with whom she had two sons. They were married for 13 years before she discovered that her husband was unfaithful to her. They got divorced, and Grethe took a job in a sewing factory, where she sustained a serious work injury.

Later, her house burned down, and she became homeless and went to Copenhagen, where she lived in a women’s shelter in Hvidovre. It has not been possible to find Grethe again.

PATRICK ZIMMERMANN | 22 YEARS

Patrick Zimmerman was born in Ishøj and became a painter in 2004. There were problems at home and his parents threw him out when they believed he was old enough to take care of himself.

Patrick lived with different friends and later in a reception centre, where he lived for a year and found a girlfriend. He now lives in Kirkens Korshær’s shelter in Hillerødgade in Copenhagen, is an hashish addict and finds it difficult to get on with his life.

SØREN PEDERSEN | AGE 59

Søren Pedersen grew up in a family of artists on Bornholm. When he was 19 years old, he went to Paris where he met a music group which he became manager for. Later, he travelled around the world as a dock worker, cook and waiter.

He found a girlfriend and had two children in the early ’70s. The couple later split. Søren was never good with money and spends more than he earns.

Therefore, he was not able to pay his rent one day and ended up on the street.

FINN MAJLUND | AGE 43

Finn Majlund was born and raised in Frederikshavn.
At the age of 12, he asked to be sent to a children’s home because his mother beat him. He needed safety after having lived alone with her for a few years after his parents’ divorce. Later, his father died of cancer and his mother of a cerebral haemorrhage.

Finn began drinking in earnest as a 14-year-old and after finishing school, he tried to survive with different jobs. After four years in the army and a turn in prison for robbery, he became a trained floor fitter in 1989. He travelled to Norway, but instead he got a job in a carnival and returned to Denmark as a vagabond.
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Today, Finn is living as an alcoholic on the streets of Odense.

AMANDA OLINE ROSENDAHL | AGE 14

Amanda Oline Rosendahl was born in Copenhagen, but moved to Langeland when she was five years old with her mother and her new husband.

She was often home alone because her mother was working in a pub. Because Amanda’s father was manic-depressive, she could not live with him and therefore moved to Odense with her father’s girlfriend. She dropped out of school because her everyday life and not having enough money to live on had become too much for her.

Amanda has returned to Copenhagen and lives in different places around the city. At the time being, in a tent in the park ‘The Blue Garden’ in Åboulevarden in Copenhagen. Here, she feels free and there is nothing to tie her down.

ERIK ROSENLUND JENSEN | AGE 58

Erik Rosenlund Jensen is from Middelfart and became a skilled carpenter at the age of 15. He married and had two children.

When he was 26, he bet his friends that he could become a member of the army special forces. He applied for admission and got in. Erik was later stationed in Afghanistan, where he by mistake shot a father and his child.

Erik returned to Denmark and tried to resume his family life and work as carpenters. But the experiences continued to mark him. When he was 50, he finally got divorced, gave everything he had to his children and began living on the street.

JESPER ANDERSEN | AGE 19

Jesper Andersen was born in Odense. His childhood was marked by his parents’ alcoholism and that he practically took care of himself from the age of six. When he was 13, he was placed into a foster family after his parents’ divorce and his mothers death.


He did not finish school and also dropped out of production school. For a short while, Jesper lived with his brother, but after that he lived on the streets. He found ‘Gaderummet’, a group home and drop-in centre in Copenhagen, where he has lived for a year and a half. (The place has now closed).

GHEORGHE DUMITRACHE | AGE 32

Gheorghe Dumitrache is from Buzau in Romania. The family home was destroyed by a natural disaster, so the family moved around and lived with friends and family. He has three children, whom he cannot provide for, so he is in Denmark to find a permanent job and a place to live. Gheorghe sleeps in different parks in Copenhagen.

MARIA THOMASSEN | AGE 36

Maria Thomassen grew up on Vesterbro in Copenhagen. She lived alone with her mother, who was an alcoholic, and Maria started smoking marihuanna as a 13-year-old. She was sent to boarding school in West Jutland, got a degree in office administration and after that, she got a flat. But she got bored, returned to Copenhagen and became a drug addict at the age of 21. She met Lee, with whom she found peace and a kind of safety.

In 1998, she was diagnosed HIV-positive, and lived on the streets of Copenhagen with her belongings in two baby carriages until 2009, when she got her own flat.

DENNIS PATRICK KNUDSEN | AGE 44

Dennis Patrick Knudsen was born in Nyboder in Copenhagen.

His father beat both him and his mother. When he was 19, he had had enough and threatened to kill his father if he continued. The family disowned him and Dennis went into the military for 3 years. When he was returned, the love of his life had found another. Dennis ended up on the street, homeless and has been for 25 years.

MICHAEL BOSERUP | AGE 35

Michael Boserup grew up in a foster family on Djursland and had a good childhood. He never got an education, but travelled around in Denmark for a few years where he also found a girlfriend. They were together for a long time, but finally broke up. It was not a conscious decision that he came to live on the street, it just slowly happened.

Michael was homeless for 13 years, but in 2008, he was diagnosed with sclerosis and is now living in a care home in Odense.

ANNIE KÆRSHOLM FREDERIKSEN | AGE 62

Anni Kærsholm Frederiksen used to be a doctor’s wife with a large house, cars and three children, but when her loneliness became too much, she began drinking for comfort. Problems and disagreements with her husband could no longer be hidden and they were divorced after 32 years of marriage.

Shortly after, Anni had a cerebral haemorrhage and when she was discharged, she did not get any support. She began drinking again. She could not paying the rent and ended up losing her flat and had to stay overnight in a shelter, where she was raped. Anni now has her own flat.

DION CHRISTENSEN | AGE 25

Dion Christiansen is from Glostrup. He grew up with a sick mother and lived mainly with a foster family. Dion’s mother died when he was 11 years old. After that, he had it difficult in school, but when he, as a 17-year-old, was accepted to the film and theatre school Holberg, his life changed – he began to feel success.

At the age of 19, Dion went travelling, but when he returned he had a hard time settling down again. He did not have a place to live and began living on the street. He was later hospitalised due to a drug-induced psychosis and spent the next couple of years recovering.

Dion then rented a room, but was thrown out and has lived on the streets these last years.

LEE HØGSBERG | AGE 39

Lee Høgsberg was born in Germany, but was adopted to Denmark when he was one month old. He was very attached to his mother and when she died of cancer, he became violent and criminal from pure powerlessness. He was 14 years old.

Lee went sailing for a couple of years, but when he returned, he fell into the criminal environment again and became a drug addict. For 16 years, he lived alternately on the street and in prisons. Seven years ago, he was diagnosed HIV-positive, but he is on medication and gets by with a flat in Emdrup.

MITZI JULENDAL | 1986-2012

Mitzi Julendal was from Copenhagen and grew up in a family with an alcoholic father. As a 9-year-old, she moved in with an elderly woman, and here she found the love and care she did not receive from her parents.

When the woman died of a heart attack, Mitzi was placed with a Christian foster family where her friends were not allowed to visit. Later, she was sent to an independent school, but she soon lost interest in her surroundings when she started taking drugs.

In 2008, she lived in different places; in shelters, a car and on the street. Mitzi died of an overdose at the age of 26.

ROCKY | AGE 4 1/2

Rocky is Johnny Gram’s and Bettina Borregaard’s dog.

GIOACCHINO LO EASELO | AGE 33

Gioacchino Lo Easelo came to Denmark for the first time in 2002 and worked as a waiter in a restaurant. He lost the job and went back home to Sicily, but did not find work and therefore returned to Denmark.

He hopes to find a job, but it has not worked out for him yet. Gioacchino usually sleeps in the shelter in Stengade in Copenhagen.

BRITTA LARSEN | AGE 52

Britta Larsen grew up with five siblings in a working-class home in Fredriksberg in Copenhagen. The family was happy despite living under difficult conditions, but there was never any peace to do homework and enjoy some quiet time alone. Britta therefore got a position in the house when she was 15 and afterwards, she worked at the Heidelberg vinegar factory and later as a casual labourer.

She had a son when she was 21. The father was not of much help and moved, but she managed. In 1999, she was out of work and went on social security and could not pay her bank loans or for her flat.

Britta has lived on the street for the last five years.

PETER BAK DALSTRAND | AGE 41

Peter Bak Dalstrand is from Ballerup. He worked as a zookeeper for eight years at the Copenhagen Zoo and lived with his girlfriend and two children on a large property on Zealand with animals and fields, but the couple broke up when he was 30.

Peter then began drinking himself to death and living on the street.

JOHN THOMSEN | AGE 39

John Thomsen was born and raised in Frederikshavn. After 9th grade, he began training to become a skilled iron and steel worker, but he was bullied and began smoking hashish and taking drugs to forget. After that, he got by dealing drugs to fund his own use. He lived with friends, acquaintances and on the street.

John has now decided he wants his life back on track and has for the last two years lived in the reception centre Svenstrupgård in Aalborg.

LARS SONNE | AGE 49 AND FRANK JENSEN | AGE 78

Lars Sonne is originally from Greenland, but grew up in Hillerød. After 10th grade, he travelled around in Denmark and had various minor jobs. He began drinking already as a 12-year-old because he felt restless. Because of his problems with alcohol, Lars has been homeless for long periods of his life and has never started a family.

Frank Jensen was born on Falster and grew up in Valby. Throughout his professional life he has been a lorry driver in the Nordic countries. When he lost his wife, he moved out of his flat and has since lived in rented rooms, boarding houses and reception centres or been homeless on the streets.

Both Lars and Frank live in Kirkens Korshær’s shelter in Hillerødgade in Copenhagen.

Lars died in 2012 and Frank in 2013.

CAROL LARSEN | 1957

Carol Larsen, 51, is Britta Larsen’s younger brother. He lived at home until he was 21 years old and never got an education but has had different jobs in warehouses and factories.

Carol was never one to put up with anything, and so, he found it difficult to get references from his previous jobs. He became unemployed, started drinking and lost his unemployment benefits and his flat.

In 2004, he ended up on the street, where he managed to get by in the following years.

SABINA LENNART | AGE 45

Sabina Lennart was born in Greenland, but came to Denmark as a 5-year-old. She lived a chaotic life with her mother and finally ended up in a children’s home. Sabina dreamt of becoming a dental technician, but was never given any support and therefore never received an education.

She had her first child when she was 25 years old and later, she had four more children with a different man, but ended up alone with all the children when the man left her. This, she could not cope with and ended up on the street.

The children grew up in different places with foster families. After five years, Sabina got a flat, but she cannot stand being there. Therefore, she often sleeps in the shelters around the city.

MICHAEL ELISASSEN | AGE 33

Michael Eliassen is originally from Aarhus. When he was 11, he got a baby sister, and she received all the attention. Michael began drinking booze and smoking joints.

His friend’s father, drug addict and alcoholic, took care of him and introduced him to that world. He died, and Michael lost any joy of life and started on heroin. Later, he almost completed training as a chef, but crime and drugs had too strong a hold on him.

After a turn in prison he met a Christian woman, but her care became too much for him. He has chosen to return to the streets, which he cannot let go.

KURT HOLM CHRISTENSEN | AGE 62

Kurt Holm Christensen has lived his whole life in Copenhagen. For many years, he worked as a lorry driver and at Carlsberg. He had a wife and three children, but after 18 years of marriage, he got divorced and ended up on the street. Both of his legs were amputated due to gangrene after suffering a blood clot in 1993.

Kurt lived on the street for 15 years and died in 2008.

LILLIAN THELIN

Lillian Thelin grew up on Amager with her parents. When her mother died, her father was not capable of taking care of the children, so she and her sisters went to stay in a boarding house for a few years.

Later she met a man from Greenland with whom she had a daughter. Due to drinking, rows and noise in their home, their daughter was removed after one and a half month.

Lillian and her husband were evicted from their flat around the same time and were living on the street in 2008.

Lillian died at 47, the cause of death unknown.

JOHNNY DAM GRAM AND BETTINA BORREGAARD | 1968 and 1980

Johnny Dam Gram, 40, grew up in Tåstrup spent the first ten years of his life living with his single, alcoholic mother. The problems at home became so serious that he ran away when he was 15 and lived on the street for two years.

He started smoking weed and taking hard drugs, and he went to prison several times for theft. When Johnny entered a methadone treatment program, he met his girlfriend Bettina and worked various minor jobs.

Bettina Borregaard, 28, grew up in Copenhagen. She had a good upbringing, but she was tired of school and bored and soon began smoking weed. Later, she was introduced to heroin and became addicted.

She lived a turbulent life, but when she was 25, she decided to stop and get help. She met Johnny in a substance abuse centre and the two of them were together in 2008.