Swedish Refugee Policy Before the War
At the time, there were about half a million Jews in Germany. When they tried to flee, most countries responded with extremely strict refugee policies, allowing in very few. Sweden followed the same approach. However, during the war years, Sweden gradually changed its stance on the refugee issue.
After the annexation of Austria in March 1938, the number of Jewish refugees increased. Nazi Germany declared that Jews' passports were no longer valid for re-entry, meaning other countries could not deport fleeing Jews back to Germany.
Germany urged both Switzerland and Sweden to make it possible to identify all Jewish emigrants. Switzerland and Nazi Germany agreed that Jewish passports would be stamped with a red “J,” a measure Sweden accepted. In October 1938, the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs sent a secret instruction to border control stations to deny entry to anyone with a “J”-stamped passport unless they had valid entry documents.
In June 1938, the Evian Conference was held, bringing together 32 countries in an unsuccessful attempt to find a solution to the refugee crisis. Nearly all nations refused to take in Jewish refugees.
There were also protests in Sweden against helping the Jews. One example was the “Bollhus Meeting” in 1939, when medical students in Uppsala demonstrated against the idea of allowing ten Jewish doctors to enter the country.
Refugee Quotas
Despite strict entry regulations, there was some possibility of fleeing to Sweden if one secured a job or through special refugee quotas. The Swedish government required refugees to have guaranteed means of support. Jewish congregations and organizations financed and organized the majority of the refugee aid.
After the November Pogrom in 1938, Jewish organizations arranged rescue missions for Jewish children known as the Kindertransport. Several countries accepted these children on the condition that they arrived without their parents. Sweden took in about 500 children between the ages of three and fifteen under this quota. By the turn of 1938/1939, there were just over 1,500 quota places for Jewish refugee children and youth in Sweden.
The editor-in-chief of the Nazi newspaper Sverige fritt, Holger Möllman-Palmgren, wrote an article on April 1, 1938, titled “5,000 New ‘Swedish’ Citizens in the People’s Home.” He expressed outrage over the plan to grant citizenship to 5,000 stateless Jewish refugees. He mentioned “that one must speak cautiously so that said newspapers do not lose advertising from Jewish businesses in our country.” He concluded the article by praising the Nazi regime and how it handled the “Jewish question.”
But, since then, the situation has altered. New, fresh winds are blowing in Sweden, now that our German friends south of the Baltic sea have shown that it is possible to solve the Jewish question. Today, one could dare to call a Jew a Jew and filth filth.
Header: Uppsala-bild Upplandsmuseet (CC-BY-NC-ND)
Holger Möllman-Palmgren (EN)
Möllman-Palmgren was responsible for the publication and editorial work of the Nazi newspaper Sverige fritt, which was published in Gothenburg, during the 1930s and 1940s. He had already been the editor-in-chief of the Nazi newspaper Vår Front in Umeå in the 1920s. In addition to his involvement in the Nazi cause, he was active in the local heritage movement.
In Sverige Fritt, published on 1st April 1938, he published the article "5,000 new 'Swedish' citizens in the people's home", in which he wrote:
"Some time ago, we heard on the radio that the government intended to request certain powers from the parliament concerning about 5,000 so-called stateless and refugee people currently visiting our country. The idea, said the radio reporter, was that all of them would be granted (!) Swedish citizenship. The daily press has mentioned very little about this matter, primarily because this concerns so-called chosen people – that is, Israelites – and anyone can understand that one must speak with caution, lest said newspapers lose advertisements from Jewish businesses in our country.
It is indeed the case that even the slightest suggestion in a daily newspaper that a matter is Jewish immediately triggers a certain reaction from the Jews. We are reminded here of how Svenska Dagbladet had to retreat in its time. [---] But since then, the situation has changed. New, fresh winds have blown in our Sweden, since our Germanic friends south of the Baltic Sea have shown that it is possible to resolve the Jewish question. Nowadays, one dares to call a Jew a Jew and filth for filth in this country."
Möllman-Palmgren held Nazi sympathies and was anti-Semitic. Although many had less extreme views, there was a cautious attitude towards Jewish refugees, and Sweden had a very restrictive refugee policy for a long time. It was only in connection with the deportation of Norwegian Jews in November 1942 and the escape of Danish Jews over the strait in 1943 that public opinion and policy began to change. After this, Swedish refugee policy became more generous, and by the end of the war, rescue efforts like the White Buses were carried out.
The Turning Point
In November 1942, the Nazis began deporting all Jews in Norway. At the same time, increasing reports of mass murders and death camps appeared in Swedish newspapers.
Some Swedish politicians and officials, including Foreign Minister Christian Günther and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ legal director Gösta Engzell, had already seen these reports and begun to change their stance on the refugee issue. The fate of the Norwegian Jews became a kind of turning point for Swedish refugee policy. Sweden gradually opened its borders more to those who could flee.
When the Jewish population in Denmark faced the threat of deportation the following year, Sweden’s foreign minister went on the radio to announce that Sweden’s borders were open to all Jewish refugees. Almost all of Denmark’s roughly 7,000 Jews survived thanks to their escape to Sweden.
Mia Leche-Löfgren was a journalist writing for Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning. She reported continuously on the persecution and violence committed against Jews in Nazi Germany. Leche-Löfgren often appealed to readers’ empathy by focusing on the suffering of children. One example was published in Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning on 29 May 1943.
Out of all this suffering that presently is drowning the earth with tears, nothing could hit us harder that that of the Jewish children's.
Mia Leche Löfgren (EN)
Mia Leche-Löfgren was one of the most well-known female journalists of her time, working at Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning (Gothenburg's Trade and Shipping Newspaper). She was active in the peace movement and refugee aid. During the war years, she was a strong anti-Nazi voice.
Leche-Löfgren often appealed to the reader's empathy by focusing on the suffering of children. One example appeared in Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning on 29 May 1943:
"Of all the child suffering now drowning the world in tears, none is more gripping than that of the Jewish children. They suffer doubly because they must endure both the war and their heritage. The relief we can offer them, therefore, has a double meaning: it expresses both our compassion for the innocent and our solidarity with the race forced to bear the heaviest burden of this catastrophe. There is yet another reason, entirely selfish in nature: we must safeguard the Jewish people as an indispensable part of our own and all of Western civilisation. Europe must save Judaism if it wishes to save its culture."
Leche-Löfgren continuously reported on the persecution and acts of violence committed against Jews in Nazi Germany. She also wrote that she believed Swedes were indifferent to the vast crimes taking place.
After the war, Leche-Löfgren continued her work within the peace movement and refugee aid.
The Rescue Operations
At the end of the war and shortly after its conclusion, Swedes participated in several rescue operations. In Budapest, the couple Nina and Valdemar Langlet saved a large number of Jews. For the same reason, Raoul Wallenberg was in Budapest on behalf of the World Jewish Congress and the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
In the final stages of the war, the Red Cross organized a relief effort called the White Buses to evacuate Scandinavian prisoners from Nazi concentration camps. After the war, the so-called White Boats transported refugees to Sweden for medical care.
These major rescue efforts at the end of the war can, in hindsight, be seen as a way for Sweden to improve its reputation. At the same time, Swedish citizens carried out some of the most extensive rescue operations of World War II.