Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

The 6 best things to do with kids in the D.C. area this weekend 

The 33 best things to do in D.C. this weekend and next week

Trevor Williams’s escape act helps Nationals blank Rangers 

Miss Manners: Offering my bedroom to guests

Ask Amy: My wife’s sister confessed her feelings for me

Carolyn Hax: Will request for a postnup offend much younger wife?

NASA moon capsule suffered extensive damage during 2022 test flight

Russian state media ramping up English, Spanish presence on TikTok, study finds

Apple is behind in AI and killed its self-driving car project. What’s next?

This masterpiece ‘Birth of Venus’ probably isn’t of Venus at all

The beginner’s illustrated guide to watching an F1 race

Wait, what is Stephen A. Smith talking about? Find out with our quiz.

Cat climbed into Amazon return box, found alive 630 miles away

Brave Little Hunter is free: Baby orca escapes lagoon for open seas

I learned to heal my sadness by cradling dying chickens 

That time football legend, rig-driving eligible bachelor Biden was arrested

Trump and allies say Biden pays rent for ‘illegals’ in Michigan. Not true.

Eighty percent of Ukraine-Israel bill will be spent in U.S. or by U.S. military

Young Georgians want to be part of Europe. Their government is in the way.

On Press Freedom Day, little to celebrate for Hong Kong’s journalists

Taxes are inevitable. Paying to prepare them doesn’t have to be.

What’s the best bus to New York? We tested 5 for comfort and value.

You asked: Do I need a passport for my cruise?

Adaptive equipment is making national parks more inclusive

Chinese EVs are good for the world. Biden says they’re bad for America. 

Why the Solomon Islands election matters to China and the U.S.

Biden calls ally Japan ‘xenophobic’ like China, Russia, at campaign event

Stephen A. Smith would like even more of your attention

Local sports networks go dark mid-game amid dispute with Comcast 

World Press Freedom Day, 2024

How Trump convinces Republicans to adopt extreme views

Campuses are grappling with the Gaza war. So are our columnists.

US President Joe Biden Departure

Jan Myrdal, a radical leftist Swedish writer who chronicled his lifelong rebellion against his parents, both of whom received Nobel Prizes, and whose books extolled the virtues of communist regimes, died Oct. 30 in Varberg, Sweden. He was 93.

The death was announced on social media by Lasse Diding, the founder of the Jan Myrdal Society. Swedish media reports indicated that Mr. Myrdal had been hospitalized for a blood ailment.

Mr. Myrdal was the oldest of three children of Gunnar and Alva Myrdal, who were at the center of international political and intellectual life for decades.

Gunnar Myrdal, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics in 1974, helped design Sweden’s social welfare system, and his 1944 book “<a href="https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B077F33KJZ&amp;preview=newtab&amp;linkCode=kpe&amp;ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_PrDOFbD1R2ED3&amp;tag=thewaspos09-20" title="read.amazon.com">An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy</a>” was cited a decade later by the U.S. Supreme Court in its Brown v. Board of Education ruling outlawing segregation in public schools. <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1982/myrdal/facts/" title="www.nobelprize.org">Alva Myrdal</a>, a U.N. official and Sweden’s onetime ambassador to India, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982 for her work advocating nuclear disarmament.

[Gunnar Myrdal, Swedish economist who shared Nobel Prize, dies at 88]

To their son, however, they were little more than overbearing tyrants who belittled or ignored him throughout his childhood. He wrote that he was mocked for being overweight and that his father grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground. When he cried out of need for maternal attention, he wrote in a memoir, his mother “took out her black notebook and made notes.”

In 1938, the family moved to New York, where Gunnar Myrdal was invited by the Carnegie Corporation to study Black life in the United States. Jan Myrdal attended a progressive private school in Manhattan, which he said helped shape his social views.

He was downcast when his family moved back to Sweden in 1942. At 15, he quit school, declared himself a communist and embarked on an independent career as a writer, social scientist and filmmaker. He traveled widely and published the first of dozens of books in 1954.

After visiting Afghanistan, India and Myanmar (then known as Burma), Mr. Myrdal and his wife, photographer Gun Kessle, spent a month in rural China in 1962. The trip led to a breakthrough book, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000H3T6NM?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=thewaspos09-20&amp;camp=1789&amp;linkCode=xm2&amp;creativeASIN=B000H3T6NM" title="www.amazon.com">Report From a Chinese Village</a>” (1965), which examined the daily lives of local residents.

“I have attempted to reproduce as accurately as possible,” Mr. Myrdal wrote, “how these villagers, these individual men and women, portray their own reality; the experiences they remember and the role they believe they have played during one of the great social and political upheavals of modern times, the Chinese revolution.”

The book was generally well received and was notable as one of the first in-depth Western reports on life in China after the communist revolution of the 1940s led by Mao Zedong. But in the book, and in a 1984 sequel, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0394724534?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=thewaspos09-20&amp;camp=1789&amp;linkCode=xm2&amp;creativeASIN=0394724534" title="www.amazon.com">Return to a Chinese Village</a>,” Mr. Myrdal showed little skepticism toward Mao’s “Cultural Revolution,” marked by widespread persecution and massacres.

Mr. Myrdal also wrote books about Afghanistan, India and Albania, praising Albanian <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/04/12/albanian-leader-dead-at-76/205dd2f5-49fb-4457-8a74-d3ce8f292f9b/" title="www.washingtonpost.com">dictator Enver Hoxha</a>, who ruled his backward country with a ruthless brand of communism.

[Nexhmije Hoxha, widow and unapologetic defender of Albanian dictator, dies at 99]

During the 1960s, Mr. Myrdal left the Communist Party but remained a leader among Sweden’s left-wing intelligentsia. He opposed what he considered U.S. cultural imperialism and spoke out against the war in Vietnam. His condemnation of Western incursions in underdeveloped countries — including economic and social programs — helped advance the idea that European and American hegemony had a harmful effect on the world.

“We have written the theories,” he wrote in his 1968 book “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/094170226X?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=thewaspos09-20&amp;camp=1789&amp;linkCode=xm2&amp;creativeASIN=094170226X" title="www.amazon.com">Confessions of a Disloyal European</a>,” “we have filled the universities with learned men giving rational motivations and reasonable techniques for every crime.”

Mr. Myrdal’s brand of Marxism was far to the left of the communism of the old Soviet Union. The liberal culture of Sweden, with its generous social and health benefits, was too conservative for him, in part because it was shaped by his parents.

“Confessions of a Disloyal European,” which some saw as a high-minded critique of Western imperialism, was viewed by others as a baffling riddle, with lines such as, “The dog looks at me. It is my dog. Whose dog am I?”

New York Times book critic <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/06/AR2008110603896.html" title="www.washingtonpost.com">John Leonard</a> called it “a particularly disturbing combination of fiction, reportage and allegory” in which “the social reformism of Mr. Myrdal’s parents was reviled.”

As the world lionized his parents — Gunnar Myrdal was often called the greatest economist of his time — Mr. Myrdal exacted his revenge in a series of books, including a 1982 memoir, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0941702294?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=thewaspos09-20&amp;camp=1789&amp;linkCode=xm2&amp;creativeASIN=0941702294" title="www.amazon.com">Childhood</a>,” which became a bestseller in Sweden.

His scathing criticism of his parents, who were still alive at the time, created a furor. In one passage, a 10-year-old Jan Myrdal asked his father, “Am I your illegitimate son?”

His father “only got angry,” Mr. Myrdal wrote. “He didn’t answer, but left the table and slammed the door behind him.”

He continued in the same vein in several novels, and he was long estranged from his parents by the time his mother died in 1986, followed by his father one year later. Mr. Myrdal did not attend his mother’s funeral, saying, “I did not want to create a scene with my father.”

(One of his sisters, ethicist and philosopher Sissela Bok, published a 1991 memoir that was more compassionate toward their parents and their shortcomings.)

In the meantime, Mr. Myrdal became an intellectual exile as he continued to hold political and social views that were increasingly hard to defend. In the late 1970s, he visited Cambodia and dined with Khmer Rouge leader <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1998/04/17/khmer-rouges-pol-pot-is-dead/c38d38ea-c8f7-460e-8161-a5eeaf9a9c01/">Pol Pot</a>, who orchestrated the mass murder of millions of his countrymen. As Mr. Myrdal returned from the country of the killing fields, he told the New York Times that he saw “no horror stories” in Cambodia.

[Sydney H. Schanberg, whose 1970s coverage of Cambodia won Pulitzer, dies at 82]

Mr. Myrdal’s credibility continued to erode as he defended the free-speech rights of Holocaust deniers and opposed same-sex marriage because it could be seen as a Western affront to religious clerics from other cultures.

In the 1990s, he reversed his views of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests that led to mass arrests and killings by the Chinese communist government. After supporting the uprising at first, Mr. Myrdal later sided with the government, concluding that the brutal crackdown was justified because it restored stability to the country.

Jan Myrdal was born July 19, 1927, in Stockholm. He continued to write for Swedish journals until the last year of his life.

His marriages to Maj Lidberg and Nadja Wiking ended in divorce. He was married to Kessle, whose photographs appeared in many of his books, from 1963 until her death in 2007. A fourth marriage, to Gaytan Vega, ended in divorce. Survivors include a daughter from his first marriage, a son from his second marriage; and two sisters.

For all his political posturing and his anger toward his parents, Mr. Myrdal had a serious literary bent and was a student of the Swedish playwright August Strindberg. A literary society bearing his name was established to maintain his private library of 50,000 books.

Mr. Myrdal was also praised as a sensitive prose stylist, deeply attuned to the countless places he visited around the world.

“Traveling is not just seeing the new; it is also leaving behind,” he wrote in his 1977 book “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039448231X?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=thewaspos09-20&amp;camp=1789&amp;linkCode=xm2&amp;creativeASIN=039448231X" title="www.amazon.com">The Silk Road</a>.” “Not just opening doors; also closing them behind you never to return. But the place you have left forever is always there for you to see whenever you shut your eyes. And the cities you see most clearly at night are the cities you have left and will never see again.”

Read more <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/">Washington Post obituaries</a>

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/nexhmije-hoxha-widow-and-unrepentant-defender-of-albanian-dictator-dies-at-99/2020/02/27/cd0adf3c-5980-11ea-9b35-def5a027d470_story.html">Nexhmije Hoxha, widow and unapologetic defender of Albanian dictator, dies at 99</a>

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/hosni-mubarak-dies-at-91-his-autocratic-rule-of-egypt-ended-with-a-citizens-revolt/2020/02/25/d70e076a-57bf-11ea-ab68-101ecfec2532_story.html">Hosni Mubarak dies at 91. His autocratic rule of Egypt ended with a citizens’ revolt.</a>

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/sidney-rittenberg-american-adviser-to-the-chinese-communist-party-dies-at-98/2019/08/25/b43c6074-e54f-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html">Sidney Rittenberg, American adviser to the Chinese Communist Party, dies at 98</a>

More than 30 regional and national journalism awards.

Muhammad Ali: The Birth of a Legend, Miami, 1961-1964

University of Nebraska,  (A.B., English)

University of Virginia (M.A., English)

Matt Schudel has been an obituary writer at The Washington Post since 2004. He previously worked for publications in Washington, New York, North Carolina and Florida.

Matt Schudel

The Washington Post

Alamy Stock Photo

stock

Jan Myrdal View your order summary at: https://www.alamy.com/Order-summary.asp?OrderID={54BCC132-70B7-4CEC-8BEB-6E924831326E} Your Ref: Jan Myrdal obit 11/2020 DY48798123 Downloaded: 04 November 2020 Image ID: H506Y1

Search Death Notices

Place a Death Notice

Request a News Obituary

Obituaries

iptc-media/conflict_war_and_peace/armed_conflict/war

iptc-media/arts_culture_entertainment_and_media/arts_and_entertainment/literature

iptc-media/arts_culture_entertainment_and_media

iptc-media/economy_business_and_finance/economic_sector/media/book_industry

iptc-media/society/family

iptc-media/science_and_technology/social_sciences

iptc-media/arts_culture_entertainment_and_media/arts_and_entertainment

iptc-media/economy_business_and_finance/economic_sector/media

iptc-media/economy_business_and_finance

iptc-media/politics/government

iptc-media/arts_culture_entertainment_and_media/arts_and_entertainment/literature/fiction

iptc-media/politics

iptc-media/science_and_technology

iptc-media/politics/political_process

iptc-media/politics/political_process/political_system

iptc-media/society

iptc-media/science_and_technology/social_sciences/philosophy

iptc-media/politics/political_process/political_system/dictatorship

client-blocklists/Client List: Morgan Stanley KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Amazon KWs - EXCLUDE ALL 

client-blocklists/Client List: Becton Dickinson KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/CLIENT LIST: Nomura KWs 2021 - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Boeing KWs 2021- INCLUDE ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Exxon Mobil  - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/GEICO KWs - INCLUDES ANY_4.26.21

client-blocklists/Client List: Microsoft KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: T. Rowe Price KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/T. Rowe Price KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/HBO KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Ford/Lincoln KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/ExxonMobil 03312021 KWs - INCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Bank of America KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/Horror and Thriller Entertainment

client-blocklists/WaPo: Combined Disaster Keyword List - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Eli Lily KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Embassy, Ambassador, & Diplomat Content_legacyaux_1ho

client-blocklists/Client List: Purina KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Family Matter 2.12.15_legacyaux_lf3

advertising/B2_Family & Parenting_legacyaux_v02

advertising/Client Keywords: On Running

advertising/Racing and Nascar Enthusiasts

client-blocklists/BP KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/ CLIENT LIST: AT&T KWs 2021 - EXCLUDES ALL

advertising/B2_Family_legacyaux_icy

advertising/B2_LGBT & Same Sex Marriage_legacyaux_l3o

advertising/B2_Liberal_legacyaux_1a5

advertising/B2_Politically Active - DO NOT REMOVE_legacyaux_lmp

advertising/B2_Politics_legacyaux_8f3

advertising/B2_Positive News_legacyaux_hlt

advertising/B2_Society_legacyaux_0cz

advertising/B2_STEM Enthusiasts_legacyaux_gx0

client-blocklists/Client List: KPMG KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Siemens KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Cisco KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T ALT KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Mercedes KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/FX Excludes All Disney

client-blocklists/Client List: Inpixon KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Boeing KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY - 12.23.20

client-blocklists/Client List: Google KWs - INCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Philip Morris KWs - INCLUDES ANY 

client-blocklists/Capital One KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY - 1.4.21

client-blocklists/Bank of America Merrill Lynch KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Google PG KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Chase KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Office Depot KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: ETrade KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

prism://prism.query/obits-stream&limit=20

The Washington Post Obituaries section has Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia obituaries, appreciations and death notices as well as historical obits and celebrity obituaries.

Fast, informative and written just for locals. Get The 7 DMV newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning.

D.C., Md. & Va.

The Washington Post offers breaking local news, weather and traffic information for the DC, Maryland and Virginia metro areas, plus information about school districts, crime, government, religion, the lottery,restaurant reviews and obituaries.