Children…

More documents

Recommendations

Info

“My friend led me to believe that Germany would be very pleased to see a volunteer’s movement in Sweden and that it would also benefit us greatly. Quite naturally, by the way. (…) Should we not find some way to actively display our interest in contributing to the obliteration of the Soviet Union? Surely we ought to make up for P.A. H(ansson)’s watered-down speech yesterday? Is there nothing we can do?” AN EXCERPT FROM A LETTER FROM COMMANDER ANDERS FORSHELL, SWEDISH NAVAL ATTACHE TO BERLIN, TO THE HEAD OF THE SWEDISH MILITARY INTEL LIGENCE, CARLOS ADLERCREUTZ, 30 JUNE 1941 Sweden after “Operation Barbarossa” The war in Europe took a new turn after Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. The Germans would fight a “war of annihilation”, urging all Europeans to join in their “crusade against Bolshevism”. In many countries, thousands responded to this call. The Swedish Government resisted abandoning its policy of neutrality, but reluctantly let the Wehrmacht’s Engelbrecht division transit from occupied Norway across Swedish territory to Finland. Some Swedes were unhappy with the Government’s reluctance, preferring more active participation on the German side. In December 1941, Japan’s attack at Pearl Harbor and Hitler’s declaration of war brought the US into the war alongside the Allies, essentially guaranteeing Germany’s eventual defeat. Despite the Soviet Union’s massive losses it stood victorious at war’s end; a fact lamented by some Swedes. Though public opinion had vacillated during the war, most Swedes supported the Allies throughout. First reports of mass murder News that Germany’s brutal policies had taken an even more murderous turn after June 1941 reached Swedish citizens and government officials through various channels.Although reports were sporadic, some newspapers published information about them frequently. In September 1941, both Stockholms-Tidningen and Dagens Nyheter quoted the Italian newspaper La Stampa, when it wondered where Croatia’s Jews had disappeared to. According to La Stampa, an investigation into the matter had “not been able to reveal what fate has befallen these 50,000 Croatian Jews”. Swedish officials often received information on how Germany’s policies were becoming increasingly radical. In mid-October 1941, Sweden’s Military Attaché at the Legation in Berlin, C.A. Juhlin-Dannfelt, reported on mass death among Soviet prisoners-of-war, which he thought might prove to be “history’s greatest decimation”. Twelve days later, he reported that “in occupied parts” of the Soviet Union, Jews were being shot by SS special units, “including women and children”. But how, and when, do random pieces of information turn into knowledge and an understanding which leads to a change in attitudes and actions? Sweden received several pieces of the mass murder jigsaw, but an overall understanding was difficult to achieve. The will to actually believe the information and acknowledge this broader perspective was crucial to the individual’s ability to comprehend what was happening. For example, such a willingness existed in some Christian circles. In August 1943, Fl. Hällzon, editor of Hemmets Vän, wrote: “The mass graves of Jews cry out to the world; yes, they scream, and the screams pierce the skies up to God in Heaven. Woe betide Germany and those responsible when the bloody crops are harvested. Woe betide the world, which through its sins has participated in this blood-soaked crime being committed in our days.” By the end of 1942, many were already more or less aware of what was happening, which had a significant impact on Sweden’s official reaction to the genocide. Despite this, when the war ended, there were still those who denied that Germany had perpetrated such crimes. 60
“Do we not even now remain silent before the horrible persecution of the Jews, which now seems to have reached levels of cruelty far beyond what the human mind can fathom? Can this silence at all be joined to a Swedish policy, which presumes to be Christian? The answer is obvious: It may be Swedish, but it can on no account be characterised as Christian.” LEADER IN ESKILSTUNA-KURIREN, 16 SEPTEMBER 1942 An article in the pro-Nazi newspaper Aftonbladet, 14 August 1941. Fritz Lönnegren, a journalist who had been granted special permission by the Germans to follow their troops, describes how the ghetto in Kaunas, Lithuania, takes shape. The article expresses a certain understanding for both the Lithuanian population’s cruelty towards the Jews when the Germans marched in, and of the need for establishing the ghetto. 61
Page 2 and 3:
In 1997, the former Swedish Prime M
Page 5 and 6:
STéPHANE BRuCHfELD AND PAuL A. LEV
Page 7 and 8:
Table of contents 6 foreword 7 Chil
Page 9 and 10:
Children as guinea pigs
Page 11 and 12: “I intend to deal with the Jewish
Page 13 and 14: ment were realised in Europe and th
Page 15 and 16: 1919 1933 16 Sept. Adolf Hitler joi
Page 17 and 18: Anne frank Anne Frank was born in F
Page 19 and 20: In 1926, the state of Bavaria passe
Page 21 and 22: The handicapped and “asocials”
Page 23 and 24: Persecution Although German Jews nu
Page 25 and 26: International reactions When Hitler
Page 27 and 28: The November pogrom On the morning
Page 29 and 30: The ghettos are formed During the M
Page 31 and 32: Life in the ghetto The first ghetto
Page 33 and 34: to the toilet. (…) They die durin
Page 35 and 36: Death in the streets Death was ever
Page 37 and 38: 1940 Jan. First trials to gas
Page 39 and 40: The deportation “to the East”,
Page 41 and 42: At the Umschlagplatz, people someti
Page 43 and 44: Separations On 12 July 1942, Hertha
Page 45 and 46: An expert on “the Gypsy nui
Page 47 and 48: 1943 18 Jan. The first rebellion in
Page 49 and 50: “Buses arrive in Hadamar several
Page 51 and 52: The Einsatzgruppen “Operation Bar
Page 53 and 54: Sweden and the Holocaust At the beg
Page 55 and 56: “Fundamentally, our ability and o
Page 57 and 58: The “new Germany” as seen from
Page 59 and 60: Reactions to the November pogrom Th
Page 61: “Business as usual” - everyday
Page 65 and 66: “One day, these heinous crimes wi
Page 67 and 68: Sweden’s Foreign Office fights g
Page 69 and 70: The White Buses and other res
Page 71 and 72: What does the Holocaust mean for Sw
Page 73 and 74: from bullets to gas After Germany
Page 75 and 76: Sign at Treblinka: “Attention War
Page 77 and 78: Franz Stangl Discussions about the
Page 79 and 80: Pictures from Birkenau in this book
Page 81 and 82: Women and children “of no further
Page 83 and 84: Working in hell The so-called Sonde
Page 85 and 86: “Most of you will know what it me
Page 87 and 88: Annihilation through work The Germa
Page 89 and 90: Resistance and rescue One of the mo
Page 91 and 92: The Warsaw ghetto revolt After more
Page 93 and 94: The death camp revolts Of all the a
Page 95 and 96: swear an oath of allegiance to Hitl
Page 97 and 98: The democracies close their doors N
Page 99 and 100: Witnesses to genocide From the day
Page 101 and 102: “These past few days the Jews fro
Page 103 and 104: The Holocaust - lessons to be learn
Page 105 and 106: O you who know did you know that hu
Page 107 and 108: “My past is always at my side, bu
Page 109 and 110: Lindberg, H., Svensk flyktingpoliti
Page 111: p. 101 Levi, P., p. 37. p. 101 Delb
show all

Children…

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?