Farewell to man of the people
Family, friends, political allies and foes alike have gathered to remember the life of Svend Auken. Crowds gathered yesterday bid a final farewell to Social Democrat Party legend Svend Auken. A memorial service was held at Christiansborg Church, next to...
Crowds gathered yesterday bid a final farewell to Social Democrat Party legend Svend Auken.
A memorial service was held at Christiansborg Church, next to the parliament building at which Auken worked for almost four decades until last week when he succumbed to cancer aged 66.
Speaking to about 400 people attending the service, Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen set aside political animosities and thanked Auken for improving the situation of cancer sufferers, including his own father, by speaking out about the illness.
He also recalled Auken as an ‘honest politician’ who would be missed by the people.
Later, during funeral services at Frederiksberg Kirke, Auken’s sister Margrethe, a minister in the Church of Denmark, eulogised her brother as a man whose message was ‘to listen to your heart’.
She recalled a speech Auken made this June, when he defied his party’s line and urged that the Iraqi refugees denied asylum be permitted to remain in Denmark.
‘It’s not a question of title and code. It’s not about review panels of civil servants. It’s not about competing parties. It’s not about some people being bad, and some being good. It is about people. Fellow humans. It is about putting people first, and showing mercy.’
Later, during a reception held at parliament, Social Democrat leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt expressed her party’s gratitude for his service.‘We knew we only had him temporarily, but boy did we make use of him.’