Figure 1.--Europe was awash with displaced person when the Grmans surrendered (May 8, 1945). Getting them home was a monumental undertaking. This Belgian boy appears to have spent the War in Sweden. Unfortunaltely we do not know his name or story. The press caption here read, "Belgiaka barn till Sverige: Belgiaka fürdledarinnan med en belgare. Foto Otto Ohm. Malmö." That translates as "Belgian child in Sweden: Belgian travel-assistant with a young Belgian." The photograph was dated August 9, 1945. We believe that the lady is a Belgian official asigned to assist Belgian refugees in Sweden after the War. We are guessing that the boy became caught in Sweden after the Germans invaded Belgium (May 1940). We are not sure what uniform he is wearing. It is not a Scout uniform and he is too young to be in the military.

Most of the refugees in Sweden were from the countries bordering Sweden. This included the Finnish evacue children and adults and children frim Norway and Denmark. During 5 years of war, however, smaller numbers of refugees from many other countries reached Sweden. By the end of the War, Sweden had taken in well over 50,000 refugees from other countries. This includedg people from France, Poland, and the Baltic Republics (especially Estonia). The large numbers from Estonia reflect the Finnish connection and the difficulty in reachng Germany. Many of the Balts arrived in the last year of the War, fleeing the Red Army as it drove out the Germans. The Balts headed for both Germany and Sweden, often in overcrowded boats that were barely sea-worthy, Except for Jews, the Soviets had proven more brutal than the Germans. The Balts, however, were unaware that the Germans had targeted them for destruction as part of Generalplan Ost. The White Busses delivered concentration camp inmates from many countries in the last month of the War. These people were in terrible conditionan and required extensive medical care. In addition to these major groups, there ere small number of refufees from all over Europe. Also at the end of the War, Germans began seeking refuge in Sweden, many were from the eastern or what would become the Soviet occupation zone.

Swedish-Estonians

The Soviet Union demanded Estonia sign a treaty allowing them to establish military bases on Estonian territory (1939). The Soviets made similar demands on Finland, Latvia, and Lithuania. The Finns fought leading to the Winter War (1939-40), the Balts acquiessed. The ethnic Swedes in Estonia mostly lived along the coast and offshore islands. Estonia was once part of the Swedish Kingdom. Gaining contol of these islands was an important Soviet goal meaning that the Swedes in Estonia were especially affected. Note that they were people of Swedish ancestry, but Estonian citizens. The Soviet military occupied many of these islands and built military instalations of various types. The inhabitats were forced out of their homes and off the islands. After the Soviets invaded Poland (September 1939), they moved against Estonia and the other two Baltic Republics annexing them to the Soviet Union. As far as we know, reltively few Estonian Swedes were able to flee to Sweden at this time. Estonia had been part of the Tsarist Empire. Thus there wer ethnic Russians in Estonia. The Soviets began moving more Russians into Estonia to improve the security situation. The Soviets alsobegan conscripting Estonian men, including the Swedish-Estonians, into the Red Army. After the Germans invaded (June 1941), the Germans conscripted men into the Wehrmacht. The Germansvery rapidly swept through the Baltics as part of Operation Barbarossa. With the German reverses in the East, the Red Army began to move toward the Baltics (1944). Most of the Estonian Swedes fled to Sweden at this time. The Germans do not appear to have prevented this nd began evacuating German civilins and wounded soldiers. At the end of the War, there were some 6,600 Estonian Swedish refugees in Sweden. [Zerterberg]

Estonia

Beyond the countries bordering on Sweden. the largest numbers of refugees in Sweden came from Estonia, And they mostly arrived in the last year of the war. The large numbers from Estonia reflect the Finnish connection and the difficulty in reachng Germany. Many of the Balts arrived in the last year of the War, fleeing the resurgent Red Army as it drove out the Germans. The Soviet Union's ruthless treatment of the Balts when they seized control (June 1940) terrified the population in the three Baltic republics. The Balts headed for both Germany and Sweden, often in overcrowded boats that were barely sea-worthy, Except for Jews, the Soviets had proven more brutal than the Germans. The Balts, however, were unaware that the Germans had targeted them for destruction as part of Generalplan Ost. At the end of the War, there were some 21,800 ethnic Estonian refugees in Sweden. [Zerterberg]

Latvia

Quite a few refugees ariived in Sweden from Latvia, another Baltic republic in the final year of the War. Not as many as from Estonia, but still a substantial number fot a small country. More would have come if bpts had been available. Before world War II, some 45,000 Latvians had semigrted to the West. Most went to the United States, but there was also emigration to Brzil. This was primarily economic emigration. Most assimilate in their new country. Latvia had achieved independence independence from Russia after World War I and like the other Baltic republics, managed to fight off the Bolsheviks. World War II was a diiferent matter. Caught between the NAZI and Soviet Union behemoths. Latvia had no possibility of defending itself. Before the war, Hitler called the German minority 'Home to the Reich'. Some 0.4 million Latvians were killed during the war, by both the Soviets and NAZIs. This began when the Soviets seized control and annexed the country (June 1940). The NKVD arrested large number of Latvians connected with the Government or with targeted social class origins. Some were shot, mostly men. Families were sent to a Siberian exile. Many perished in the harsh deportations or primitive conditions in Siberia. When the Grmns invaded, the Jewish minority was murdered. More Latvians were killed during he War. The resurgent Red Army as it entered Latvia caused many Latvians, rememering the Soviet NKVD repressions of 1940-41 fled the country -- an estimted 0.25 million people. Many were cut off in the Courland Pocket. An estimted 50-60 thousand were killed by Red Army troops as they fled west in Poland and Germany. Some 6,000 refugees managed to find boats and make it to Sweden. The larger number found refuge in the western occpation zones of Germany. Small numbers reached Denmark and Austria. After the War, many of the Latvian refugees moved on to the United States, Canada, and Australians.

France

We also note some French refugees in Sweden. They were one of the countries with substantial numbers of refugees outside of the major, neigboring countries. We think this simply reflected that France was a large European country with extensive commercial contacts in Sweden. The Germans did not seize French private corporatios. That would have occured after the Germanson the war. They did oversee the operations of major operations. Thus not all commercial contacts were broken with Sweden and other countriess within the NAZI orbit.

Belgium

We notice some images of Belgians going home from Sweden after the War. We know of no special reasons why Belgians were in Sweden. We think that for the most part that they were simply Belgians caught in Sweden when the Germans invaded Belgium (1940). There were foreigners living and wirking in every European country before the War and the Belgians in Sweden which just the typical expartriate population. Belgium was a small, but highly industrialized country with commercial contacts throuhout Europe. The Germans of course ended trade with Britain, but not with neutral Sweden. Some Belgians in Sweden may have returned to ocupied Belgium chose to remain in Sweden rather than subject themselves and their family to German occpation. Other than Swedish press photos, we have been unable to find information on Belgian refugees in Sweden.

White Busses

The White Busses rescued concentration camp inmates from many countries safely to Swedem during the last months of the War. These people were in terrible condition and many required extensive medical care. This was a humanitarian operation organized by the Swedish Red Cross and the Danish government (stll occupied by the Germans). The Danes were involved because the busses had to travel through Denmark to get to Sweden. The goal was to rescue camp inmates in the remaining German concentration camps and transport them to neutral Sweden. Although the operation was initially designed to save inmates from Scandinavian countries, it soon was expanded to include other nationalities. Hitler never would have permitted tis if he had known. It was only possible because the organizers go permission from of all people SS-Reich Führer Heinrich Himmler. The arch war crinimnal and mass murderer at the time was thinking about his post-War future and had convinced himself that the Allies were not all that bothered about killing Jews. He was convinced by the organizers that allowing same camp inmates out would build a reputation as a humanitarian. That of course sounds absurd, bit on't forget that he saw his various actions as justified as bebefitting humanity. Some 300 Swedes and Danes were involved in the opertion. A total of 15,345 inmates were saved, 7,795 Scandinavian and 7,550 people of other nationlities (Polish, French, etc.). Only afew were Jews because so many Jews had already been killed. There were 423 Danish Jews who were saved from the Theresienstadt concentration camp in German-occupied Czechoslovakia. They were many of the few Danish Jews that had not been spirited awah fron Denmark in 1943. The term 'White Buses' for the name of the opertiom resulted from the buses having been painted white with red crosse sso they would not be confusion with Wehrmacht military vehicles by Allied aircraft.

German Refugees

We note some German refugees in Sweden, but have been able to find little about them. We note that German anti-NAZIs and Jews attempted to enter Sweden. We know that for the most part that Jews were refused entry, but some respected individuals were granted entry like physicist Lise Meitner. We are not sure about anti-NAZI Germans. Some did gain entry, but were no allowed to egage in provocative activities. We believe some were arested and held in the interment camps Swedish authorities opened. Swedish resistance to Jewish immigration first began to crack when Norwegian Jews were allowed to enter after the German invasion (April 1940). The big shidt occurred when the NAZIs attemted to round up Danish Jews (October 1943). As the War went increasingly against Germany and the Allied bombing campaign intensifid that some Germans attemted to reach Sweden. We believe that the numbers were smaller than was the case for the German refugees who sought safety in Denmark. We do not know what the Swedish policy was oward these German refugees. It was more difficult to reach Sweden than Denmark. Nor do we know about German ppolicies toward the refugees. Many of the refugees may have been Germans with family or business connections. We have been able to find little information at this time.

Created: 9:16 AM 5/7/2016
Last updated: 8:20 PM 2/14/2018