Children…

Sweden and the Holocaust
At the beginning of the 1930s, Sweden, like every other
country, had to take a stand towards the Nazi dictatorship
in Europe’s midst. How were Swedes and Swedish
institutions to respond to the “new Germany” and
its aggressive, anti-democratic and antisemitic policies?
There were many possible answers. They were influenced
by different factors and they changed over time.
The First World War was a historic turning point.
Sweden, despite being militarily neutral, was not left
untouched by the war.By the time it ended in November
1918, Sweden was a different country. In 1917, democracy
“broke through”, and although the concept of parliamentary
democracy was initially met with disbelief
and resistance, it had come to stay. In 1921, women
were given the right to vote, and the Social Democratic
Party’s new position of power would change Swedish
politics forever.
The post-war peace treaties gave rise in Central
and Eastern Europe to many new, formally democratic
states. Democracy had taken a step forward, but so had
nationalism based on ethnicity. Historically, Europe was
made up of a mosaic of ethnic, cultural and religious
groups. After the First World War, the newly-emerged
nation-states’ policies toward their minority groups
became a contentious issue. A widespread notion
existed, in Sweden as elsewhere, that a nation must be
ethnically and “racially” homogenous in order to thrive.
To remain healthy, the nation had to protect its people
from “racial mixing”.
An application form for an “entry permit
for foreigners” issued by Sweden’s Ministry
for Foreign Affairs requests information
on “creed” as well as “race”. In September
1943, Germany began deporting Jews
from Italy to Auschwitz. The form pictured
here was submitted in October 1943 by a
stateless 47-year-old Jewish woman living
in Italy, who wished to enter Sweden to
escape the “persecution of Jews in Northern
Italy”. One of her Swedish references
was Sigfrid Siwertz, author and member of
the Swedish Academy.
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