Fun facts about the faculty: Christmas at the old maternity hospital

It is Christmas Eve 1910. The stars sparkle in the dark December sky, and Christmas snow drifts quietly down. Chief Physician Victor Albeck and his family are travelling by horse-drawn carriage to the Jydske Fødselsstiftelse to wish the single and impoverished new mothers a Merry Christmas. Did you know that …

The Albeck family at the dining table in the chief physician’s residence in 1927 – not at Christmas dinner, although they are smartly dressed. From left: Georg Albeck; Victor Albeck, gazing intently at his fork; Ella Albeck; Gustav Albeck, who later helped to found what became the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra; and finally, the youngest, Wilhelm Albeck. Photo: Photographer unknown. From the University History Committee.

18 December 2025 by Lise Wendel Eriksen

The maternity hospital around the time of its inauguration in October 1910 – no Christmas snow, but with a flagpole, smoke rising from the chimney and staff in white coats on the balcony of the west wing. Photo: E.A. Ebbesen

… the wards and delivery rooms were scented with spruce and exotic fruits?
The entire maternity hospital – which we now know as the Victor Albeck Building – was decorated for the festive season. Fir greenery adorned the white lamp shades, and red paper was wrapped around the bulbs. Each room had a small Christmas tree, and along one of the long corridors a large coffee table was laid out for the institution’s salaried staff.

Gustav Albeck, the middle son of Victor and his wife, aged 3½, in Copenhagen. His next Christmas – and many thereafter – were celebrated in Aarhus and at the maternity hospital in Jutland, where his father became the first chief physician. Photo: Unknown

… Victor Albeck’s wife knitted, crocheted and sewed baby clothes as Christmas gifts for the women in hospital? Ella Albeck started the tradition of handmade hats, socks and jumpers on that very first Christmas of 1910. However, as the maternity hospital grew, the tradition quickly expanded, and production of the clothes had to begin as early as January. The family’s young maid, Fie, also lent a hand, and later so did the hospital’s nurses. The myriads of gifts were not only for the young women. Each year, the matron and the head midwife jointly gave a present to the Albeck family’s three sons. One year during the First World War it was, very fittingly, a huge fortress. The inventive and cheerful head midwife, Miss Bartholdy, also spoiled her chief physician every year with a large parcel. Placed on Victor Albeck’s desk, it bore the words: “To Father himself!

In a pause between the hymns, the Chief Physician Victor Albeck gave a short Christmas address. It was always built around the same theme: the lights lit in the deepest darkness of the year as a sign that spring and longer days were on the way. Hint, hint, nudge, nudge to the young, single women who might, at that very moment, be facing the future with sorrow and anxiety. Photographer unknown

… the maternity hospital’s large and beautifully decorated Christmas tree stood in “the Blue Room” by the staircase on the first floor? The Blue Room is known today as the Victor Albeck Room, and on Christmas Eve, Victor himself would take his family, the staff and all ambulant patients by the hand and dance around the Christmas tree, while everyone sang the classic Christmas carols, personally selected by the chief physician. He insisted that they also sing “Nu titte til hinanden”, as he was particularly fond of it. Especially the verse, which translated into English goes: “God’s Son holds us so dear, he is the great friend of children; he carries the child to God in his arms” is said to have brought tears to the eyes of the young women. For that reason, the gathering always ended with Faber’s cheerful “Højt fra træets grønne top”.

Merry Christmas to staff, chief physicians, single mothers and other good people at the old maternity hospital and across the rest of Health.

This text is based on machine translation