Sweden's World War II dilemmas. Case study: Czechoslovakia

0545389 - HÚ 2022 RIV CZ eng B - Monography
Němeček, Jan - Šitler, J. - Koutníková, I. - Strömberg Krantz, E. - Lomfors, I. - Österberg, O. - Matyášová, J. - Ekelund, S. - Dejmek, Jindřich
Sweden's World War II dilemmas. Case study: Czechoslovakia.
Prague: Institute of History: Stockholm: Paideia, 2020. 195 s. Opera Instituti Historici Pragae. ISBN 978-80-7286-376-1
Research Infrastructure: LINDAT/CLARIAH-CZ - 90101
Institutional support: RVO:67985963
Keywords : Czechoslovak-Sweden relations * WWII * refugees * Jews
OECD category: History (history of science and technology to be 6.3, history of specific sciences to be under the respective headings)

The publication illustrate a discussion of Sweden's role during and immediately after WWII. The break-up of Czecho-Slovakia and the German occupation of the Czech lands in March 1939 resulted in the handover of the Czechoslovak Legation in Stockholm with all its assets to Germany and the closure of the Swedish Legation in Prague. Circumstances of these events are described in articles of J. Němeček and O. Österberg. At first, there was little understanding in Sweden of the situation of Jewish refugees, including those from Czechoslovakia, when they were initially considered economic and not political migrants. Czech food-processing industrialist H. Felix, married to K. Cruickshank from a wealthy and influential Swedish family, regularly travelled on business trips to Sweden. The story of this couple is described in an article by I. Lomfors. Others were less fortunate and had to rely on help of influential individuals: Lomfors and E. Strömberg Krantz describe the efforts of K. Cruickshank and Amelia Posse to show a friendlier face of Sweden and their help to refugees from Czechoslovakia. Getting asylum was less problematic for political refugees. O. Österberg presents the captivating story of a Czechoslovak diplomat V. Vaněk, who took refuge in Sweden after the occupation in March 1939. In 1942, he was sentenced to prison for espionage „on behalf of an enemy power“: until the spring of 1943, Swedish security forces focused on fighting Allied activities against Germany. In 1943, however, Sweden changed its policy not only in the area of anti-espionage priorities, but also reformulated its refugee policy. The first step was the reception of thousands of Jewish refugees from Denmark in October 1943. J. Matyášová found that among these refugees was a group of young Czechoslovak Jews who had left for Great Britain after arriving in Sweden to join the Czechoslovak foreign army. The story of „good Sweden“ is examined by the contributions of S. Ekelund and I. Koutníková. They deal with Holocaust survivors originally from Czechoslovakia who were evacuated at the end of the war by the Swedish Red Cross and immediately after the end of the war in cooperation with UNRRA. The picture is complemented by an outline of Czechoslovak–Swedish relations during the Cold War by J. Dejmek, relations that were influenced by different post-war developments in both countries, where Sweden remained true to its policy of neutrality and strict non-participation in military blocs, together with its activities in international organisations, especially the UN. On the contrary, after the Communists seized power in February 1948, Czechoslovakia became an integral part of the Soviet bloc.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0322088