It has been a digging to get information about what happened and how many were actually affected.
This is stated by Linda Karlsson, who put together the exhibition.
- Probably there were strong forces that did not want it to be known how bad it actually was.
Replace petrol with petrol
It was when people began to replace petrol with the chemical substance benzene (benzene today) during the Second World War that workers in the shoe factories began to get sick.
They became tired, pale and short of breath, had palpitations and suffered from constant bleeding from the mouth and nose.
15 people died but Linda Karlsson suspects that the dark figure was large.
- Many families were affected by terrible tragedies, and there were many in high positions in both industry and healthcare who claimed that benzene was not the reason at all.
A doctor chose to stand up for his opinion, but he and many others had to fight for the victims to be rehabilitated.
Still, many did not get it, says Linda Karlsson.
In the clip, Linda Karlsson tells, among other things, about Elis Andersson, who worked at one of the shoe factories in Kumla before he died