Originally posted by georges
Now let me remember the past of Sweden during wwII, Sweden supplied a big amount of steel quantities to Germany, a lot German banks had gold stocks in Sweden. Some Swedes even faught with German during WWII. After WWII and more especially in the 80's-90's theer were investiagtion concerning from where was the gold from Sweden probably from the goods stolen by nazis which belong people who were killed in concentration camps by them. Despite Sweden wasn't involved in war we can consider it as an ally of the 1/3rd Reich so Starman who is nazi there????
Oh, how your memory deceives you, and your lack of education and your abundance of prejudice shows.
The investigation about the Nazi gold was about Switzerland, not Sweden. Swiss banks, not Swedish banks. Switzerland, East of France, South of Germany, West of Austria and North of Italy. The land of cuckoo clocks and white chocolate, one of the neighboring countries to the country you live in, France. Not Sweden located in Scandinavia, North Europe. The country that has the Northern Polar Circle passing through in the northernmost part of the country.
"Some Swedes even faught with German during WWII."
Yes, it was Swedish Conservatives that loved the Nazi-rule of Germany, and before the war emigrated to Germany to help out. The same did Conservatives from many other countries too, also from your homeland France. They viewed Nazi-Germany, about the same way that Commies view Cuba today, like it is somekind of paradise on earth. Conservatists has all through the history never really had anything against dictatorship regimes, they might even co-operate with them, as long as they aren't a threat to their own power. Like for example USA and Pinochet in Chile, or USA and Saddam in Iraq.
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About Swedish iron ore during World War II
A vital factor in Sweden's relations with the great powers, particularly those with Germany and Britain, was that of trade. Prior to the war, Sweden had important trade routes with both Germany and Britain and the outbreak of war in September of 1939 obviously threatened those trade routes. If Sweden had showed any preference to either side in the war, such leanings would have threatened its policy of neutrality and possibly its independence as well. Maintaining such trade routes with the great powers was not only important in a political sense, but also an economic one as well. In 1938 for example, 24 percent of Sweden's total exports went to Britain, with another 18 percent of its exports going to Germany that same year. When the Second World War began, trade between both countries was greatly affected.
At the beginning of the war, agreements were signed between Sweden and the two great powers in order to sustain these vital trade routes. However, when Germany invaded Denmark and Norway in April of 1940, coupled with a German blockade of the North Sea, Sweden's trade with the west was cut by a total of 70 percent. Trade with Germany, within the blockade, increased with 37 percent of Sweden's exports going to Germany. Had Sweden stopped providing Germany with its iron-ore on its own accord, Sweden would have run the risk of a German invasion. It was known in government circles in Sweden that Germany had been considering an invasion of Sweden.
From 1943 onward, when Germany began to meet with a greater amount of misfortune after its losses at Stalingrad and elsewhere, Germany was forced into a more defensive position, while Allied forces met with greater successes on the battlefield, such as the battle in North Africa. Such a position allowed Sweden to be more decisive in its own policies and actions. Following August and September of 1943, Sweden was able to stiffen to German demands, and abandon its trade with Germany. However, despite Germany's defensive posture, Sweden was in constant fear that "the whole course of events suggested that the unexpected might happen," an attitude that was sustained until the very end of the war.
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Next, though Sweden claimed they were neutral, that was hardly the case, which these facts will show you.
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Sweden and the Winter War
The Winter War broke out when the Soviet Union attacked Finland on November 30, 1939, three months after the start of World War II. The war lasted until March 1940 and during the conflict Finland received crucial support from Sweden.
When the Soviet Union attacked Finland in 1939, an overwhelming number of Swedes favored some sort of involvement in the conflict, both on a humanitarian and a military basis, and as many as 20,000 Swedes voluntarily went to Finland to help the Finns defend their homeland against the advancing Soviet army during the Winter War. The Swedish government did send food, clothing, medicine and an amount of weapons to aid the Finns. Of those 20,000 volunteers, some were trained fighter pilots, which we allowed using Swedish fighter planes.
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Other things Sweden did during the war was:
- Sweden spied for the allied forces, and we had, amongst other things, spy-planes that took pictures of strategic targets.
- The Norweigan and Danish resistance forces, against the German occupation, had bases in Sweden. We did also fund the resistance forces with food, clothing, medicine and weapons.
- We saved many Jews, that otherwise would have been killed.
The Swedish legation in Budapest succeeded in negotiating with the Germans that the bearers of these protective passes would be treated as Swedish citizens and exempt from wearing the yellow Star of David on their chest. It was Per Anger, a young diplomat at the legation in Budapest, who initiated the first of these Swedish protective passes. (In 1982, Per Anger was also awarded the honor of "righteous among the nations" by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem for his heroic actions to save Jews during the war.)
Raoul Wallenberg, known as a quick thinker, energetic, brave and compassionate, is thought to have saved the lives of between 20,000 and 100,000 Jews. In comparison you can consider that Oskar Schindler, the German businessman, that Steven Spielberg has made a film about, saved 1,200 Jews. The Swedish government had given Raoul Wallenberg a full diplomatic status, and a right to issue out temporary Swedish passports, so that the Jews could get to the safety in Sweden. Just like the story about Oskar Schindler, there has been films made about the story of Raoul Wallenberg too.
Raoul Wallenberg - http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/wallenberg.html
Wallenberg: A Hero's Story (1985) (TV) - http://akas.imdb.com/title/tt0090285/
God afton, Herr Wallenberg (1990) (AKA: Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg (1990)) - http://akas.imdb.com/title/tt0099673/
Raoul Wallenberg was made an Honorary Citizen of the United States in 1981. The bill was sponsored by Representative Tom Lantos, a Hungarian Jew who as a teenager sought refuge in one of Wallenberg's safe houses. He was later made an honorary citizen of Canada in 1985, and of Israel in 1986.
He was honored by Israel's Yad Vashem memorial as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations", recognizing those non-Jews who helped save Jews from the Holocaust.
And we had more people rescuing Jews, Raoul Wallenberg was just the most successful one.
Count Folke Bernadotte af Wisborg (January 2, 1895 - September 17, 1948), is noted for his negotiation for the release of prisoners from the German concentration camps in World War II. Just before the end of World War II he gained much good will leading a rescue operation transporting interned Norwegians, Danes and other inmates from German Concentration Camps to hospitals in Sweden. In the "White Buses" of the Bernadotte-expedition, funded by the Swedish King, Gustav V, 27,000 persons were liberated, a considerable share of them Jews.
- We received and accepted refugees from our neighboring countries.
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So as you can see, we fought in the war on the side of the allies, not through weapons, but through intelligence and cunning. We knew that if we started a war with Germany, we would probably have been quickly over-run, so instead we, in the guise of neutrality, undermined the Germans, maked sabotage, and spied at them. We supported their enemies. Using our claim to be neutral, we decieved the Germans, so that Sweden could give Intelligence to the Allies. We weren't really neutral at all, instead we just put the German's into a false sense of security. If you make your enemy feel safe, then you have the advantage. We have always been against Conservative extremists, no matter if they are Nazis, Facists or Commies.