1929-1939 Sweden since 1945






Sweden during World War II


In World War II, Sweden again declared neutrality. When Russia attacked Finland in the WINTER WAR (1939/40), more than 8,000 Swedes volunteered to fight for Finland's liberty; the Swedish government, however, strictly kept to it's neutral course.
In 1940 Germany occupied Denmark and Norway. Germany's ally Finland included, the Germans surrounded Sweden and could dictate conditions, such as free passage for German troops from Finland to Norway or vice versa, Sweden supplying the German industry with iron ore and ball bearings etc.
Later in the war, Sweden could take a tougher stand. In 1944, when the Holocaust was in full progress, Swedish diplomat RAOUL WALLENBERG went to Hungary, where he placed the country's Jews under Swedish protection, distributing blank passports. He is credited with saving between 60.000 and 100.000 lives. Sweden also gave shelter to many refugees, among them most of Denmark's Jewish population, as well as to political refugees such as Germany's future chancellor WILLY BRANDT.
In 1944, the Swedish ship 'Hansa' was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine. in 1945, several hundred German military personnel fled from Kurland to Sweden, together with a number of Baltic Germans; upon Soviet demand, they were handed over to the latter in December 1945 and January 1946..
COUNT FOLKE BERNADOTTE (nephew of King Gustav V.), as representative of the Swedish Red Cross, during WW II, acted as a mediator in the exchange of German and British P.O.W.s. Heinrich Himmler in April 24th conveyed his offer of a German surrender to Britain and the US through Count Bernadotte, who on this occasion achieved the release of 30,000 Danish and Norwegian prisoners from Germany's concentration camps.

IKEA was established in 1943, as a mail order supplier of farm implements, later to become a major international furniture producer and retailer.

In 1944 INGEMAR BERGMAN began his career as a movie director.
In 1939, Swedish actress INGRID BERGMAN arrived in Hollywood, starring in Casablanca (1942), For whom the bell tolls (1943) etc.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		The History of Sweden, from the Swedish Institute
Jodie-Ann McRae : Raoul Wallenberg, from Nordic News, 1999
Biography of Ingrid Bergman, from Estate of Ingrid Bergman
Biography of Count Folke Bernadotte, from US-Israel Org., from Ätten Bernadotte, in Swedish
Timeline of Swedish History, from timelines.ws, detailed, yet amateurish
Om interneringen av tyska soldater under 2a Världskriget (On the interning of German soldiers in WW II), from RA Stockholm, Krigsarkivet, in Swedish
Om Gränsbeväkningen under 2a Världskriget (On Border Guarding in WW II), from RA Stockholm, Krigsarkivet, in Swedish
Swedish Volunteers in the German Wehrmacht in WW II, article posted on feldgrau.com
Sweden, from Axis Biographical Research
Sweden, from www.waffen-ss.no
DOCUMENTS Swedish banknotes, from Currency Museum
WW II propaganda posters No.1, calling for Swedes to volunteer for fighting in Finland; No.2, posted by Old Eagle's Poster Archive
Swedish Merchant Marine Losses in WW II, posted by Lars Bruzelius
REFERENCE Franklin D. Scott, Sweden - A Nation's History, 1989 pp.503-510
Per Dahl, Svensk Militärhistorisk Atlas (Swedish Military Historical Atlas), Lund : Hjalmarson & Högberg 2000, in Swedish
Article : Sweden, in : Statesman's Year Book 1943 pp.1284-1298 [G]
Article : Sweden, in : Americana Annual 1940 pp.737-739, 1943 pp.688-690, 1944 pp.664-666, 1945 pp.680-682, 1946 pp.702-704 [G]
Article : Sweden, in : New International Year Book Events of 1940 pp.722-724, 1941 pp.631-634, 1942 pp.668-673, 1943 pp.620-623, 1944 pp.601-605, 1945 pp.590-593 [G]
Article : Sweden, in : Funk & Wagnall's New Standard Encyclopedia Year Book 1940 pp.487-489, 1941 pp.455-457, 1942 pp.430-432, 1943 pp.429-430, 1944 pp.334-337 [G]
Article : Sweden, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1944 pp.679-680, 1945 pp.678-679 (on events in 1944) [G]
Llewellyn Woodward, British Foreign Policy in the Second World War, London : HMSO 1962 [G]


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2000, last revised on November 3rd 2008

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