Lasse-Maja

Lars Larsson Molin, alias Lasse-Maja (Djupdalen, Ramsberg, Västmanland, 5 October 1785 – 4 June 1845, Arboga), was a Swedish thief and memoirist.

His disguise gave him the nickname Lasse-Maja, a combination of the male name Lars and the female name Maja.

In his childhood parish, he was described as an easygoing character with a fondness for entertaining people with jokes, but also for his refusal to work and for his thefts.

He was the nephew of Maria Olsdotter, his maternal aunt, who owned and operated the Stråssa Mine after her husband.

Reportedly, he used female clothing so as to catch his victims off-guard, as well as aid his escapes from the crime scenes.

However, the disguise was not used solely for professional reasons: he was also said to have been comfortable in women's clothes, and described in his memoirs, that he lived both as a woman as a man during his free time.

In his memoirs, Lasse-Maja described male clothing as preferable when escaping from crime scenes because they were easier to move in, and that he often impersonated women working as a lady's maid, as a housekeeper and a prostitute.

He was judged guilty as charged and sentenced to Uppenbar kyrkoplikt and life imprisonment in the Carlsten Fortress in Marstrand.

In 1835, he was visited by the crown prince, the future king Oscar I., whose father finally had him pardoned and released in 1839.

He is mentioned in memoirs and diaries, appears as a character in novels and films, and is undoubtedly the most famous transvestite in Swedish history – he became almost an icon, and is much romanticised.

There is a walking trail starting in Morskoga close to his home parish, and ending in Ösarhyttan, where he used to visit his relatives during his upbringing, with information about him on signs the way.

Lasse-Maja and his cousin Anna-Stina Ersdotter (daughter of his aunt Maria Olsdotter) were passengers and both escaped unharmed.