Sweden’s Role In War Examined
Sweden’s Role In War ExaminedSweden’s neutral role during World War Two is the subject of a new museum exhibition which displays documentary evidence of war-time medical experiments, commerce with the Nazis and indifference to the plight of Jews. Despite it’s official neutrality, Sweden delivered railway tracks and ball-bearings to Germany and was paid for the deliveries in gold. It also helped transport German soldiers on its railroads up to the north to the border of occupied Norway. Helene Loeoew, head of the Living History Forum, which set up the exhibit said. ”Our main aim is to reveal the problematic nature of Sweden’s role during the war and raise questions about it. There is a lot of forgotten history ... I think it’s important to remember, especially when it comes to our own history,” Loeoew said, acknowledging that some might find the exhibit controversial. ”Some might think that some parts are too graphic ... This is not an exhibit for children,” she said, adding that others might think it gives to much of a negative picture of Sweden’s role in the war. ”But we also show how Swedes helped save Norwegians and Danes fleeing from the Nazis. What we wanted to cast a spotlight on was the complexity of this,” Loeoew said. The exhibit opened Wednesday evening, coinciding with the anniversary of the 1938 Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass, when Nazis roamed Jewish neighborhoods in Germany breaking windows of businesses and homes, burning synagogues, looting and physically attacking Jews.
posted by Unknown @ 12:19 PM
5 Comments:
One of the reasons that Sweden takes such an extreme Multicultural stance is that they feel guilty about their role in WW2, which is the icon of present day Western culture.
Everyone remember that Arabs were Nazi sympathizers as were the Irish. It was a matter of the enemy of my enemy is my friend. In this case, the enemy of the Arabs and the Irish were the English who at the time occupied their lands. Sweden wasn’t occupied by an allied power, so it begs the question of why, other than the obvious one, they aided the Nazi war effort.
Luckily for Sweden, their neighbors and allies, stepped up to the plate and fought the fight that put an end to Nazism and continued the fight over the next decades that put an end to Communism and I guess it’ll be up to us to fight the WoT to put an end to Islamism.
George Orwell is quoted as saying, "Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." I couldn’t agree more with Orwell, except that I’d substitute the words, “sniveling cowards” for the words, “good people.”
Oh, please stop the self-righteousness. At the onset of WWII Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden ALL declared neutrality. The US declared neutrality and the UK and France would have if they could have.
Because Denmark was too close to Germany and Norway had good fjords for hiding submarines in they were attacked by the Germans, plus they were easy targets. Sweden was not as strategically crucial and stronger militarily, therefore it wasn't attacked. Just like Switzerland it didn't make sense to spend precious military resources attacking.
So, don't drag the old "we fought for freedom while you hid" stuff, it just doesn't hold up to reality. Just like Sweden, Norway and Denmark declared neutrality at the onset of the war and were willing to bend very far to avoid being attacked.
@ erp:
You seem to forget that your country, the US, is country which has done the most to promote islam in Europe - Bosnia, Kosovo and Turkey.
Throughout the war in Bosnia the US was the strongest supporter of the muslim government of Alija Itzebegovic. It was the US which scuppered the first peace plan by Vance and Owen because they told the muslims they'd support them militarily so they could hold out for a better deal. In the meantime they kept a blind eye to the Irianians and Saudis flying in jihadists (just like they did in Pakistan 10 years before).
That's one muslim state in Europe, created with the support of the US.
Five years later the US took the lead in bombing Serbia to force it to give up its southern province of Kosovo the muslim kosovar albanians. Of course US forced didn't have the guts to enter Serbia, they just terror bombed its cities, power plants, bridges and hospitals from 10,000 feet. During their occupation of Kosovo the US forces have been completely incapable of defending Kosovo's churches from being burned and looted. Now the US government is the strongest supporter of full independence for Kosovo.
That's two muslim states in Europe, created with the support of the US.
Finally we have Turkey. Who is the strongest supporter of Turkey's membership in the EU? The US, of course. Turkey is the US's strongest ally in the Middle East (plus, it's really friendly with Israel, which is popular in the Pentagon) and the US has put a lot of pressure on European countries over the years to promote Turkish membership. Now the membership negotiations have started.
That's soon three muslim states in Europe, created with the support of the US.
@ erp:
Talking about aiding the Nazis, the US was the largest financer of German/Nazi rearmament ahead of the war. Once the war began, the US declared neutrality, even though its 'ally' Britain was being bombed by the Luftwaffe and the US itself didn't run any risk of being invaded. The US didn't join in the war quite late. You seem to forget this.
Finally, being a small country right next to Germany with no allies nearby, Sweden had to walk a tightrope to avoid occupation. It allowed the Germans to transport troops on its railways, but it was also very active in building up the Norwegian resistance (f.ex. allowing training camps for the Norwegian resistance in Sweden) and sending volunteers to fight in Finland against the Russians.
Finally, the 'German trains' as they are called, are hardly news or very controversial in Sweden.
@ snouck:
The "extreme multicultural stance" of Sweden has nothing to do with WWII and all to do with social democratic ideals. Other countries with very similar policies are, for example, Norway and the Netherlands, both occupied during WWII.
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