Imperial Union of Sweden-Germany

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The Reichsvereinigung Sweden-Germany ( Swedish : Riksföreningen Sverige-Tyskland ) was a nationalistic academic association in Sweden that was friendly to the German Reich .

history

The association was founded on December 14, 1937 in the university town of Lund in southern Sweden . Among the initiators were the professor emeritus of anatomy Ivar Broman , the professor of history Gottfrid Carlsson , Efraim Liljequist , professor emeritus in practical philosophy, the professor of genetics Herman Nilsson-Ehle , the ethnologist Carl Wilhelm von Sydow , father of Max von Sydow , the medic Sune Bergström and the sculptor Carl Milles . At their wedding, the association had 5,689 members, including well-known personalities such as Hjalmar Frisk , Verner von Heidenstam , Sven Hedin , Hans Karl August Simon von Euler-Chelpin , Karl Olivecrona , Hialmar Rendahl and Ivar Tengbom .

Goals and tendencies

The aim of the association was to “stand up for a fair assessment of the new Germany on a purely Swedish basis, without a party-political position”. The most important task from 1938 onwards, under the responsibility of Herman Nilsson-Ehle, was the publication of the magazine "Sverige-Tyskland" (Sweden-Germany), which was to serve as a propaganda instrument for the "new Germany". The political tendency was already evident in the first issue of the magazine. With many pro-German propaganda images, the return of the former German colonies was demanded. According to the edition, the danger of war lay in the “anti-German foreign policy” of the British. There was talk of the “spiritual rebirth” of an entire people as well as Hitler as a “statesman by God's grace”.

Jewish question

The Reich Association also took a stand on the so-called Jewish question . The November pogroms of 1938 (still called “Kristallnacht” in Sweden and to this day) were played down as an “attack on Jewish property”.

Annual meeting 1939

Building of Akademiska Föreningen , AF borrow in Lund.

The first public meeting of the association was held on March 28, 1939 at the Akademiska Förening . The main speaker was Sven Hedin , who in his speech sharply attacked the “defamation of the left Swedish press against Hitler” and described it as “tactlessness towards a big neighbor”.

At the annual meeting, Herman Nilsson-Ehle was replaced as chairman by Efraim Liljeqvist, who already wrote a letter to Nilsson-Ehle in February 1939 who advocated “Swedish nationalism” and a “cultured, anti-Semitic Sweden campaign”.

End of the union

When the German Reich invaded Norway in 1940, the mood began to turn. In particular, the shipment of 700 Norwegian Jews to concentration camps aroused strong reactions across Sweden. In 1943, many Danish refugees were taken in and Danish students were able to continue their studies in Lund. The Akademiska Förening excluded Nazi associations from their buildings and in December 1943 the Scientific Association (not the university) decided to break off all scientific contacts with Germany.

literature

  • Sverker Oredsson : Lunds universitet under andra världskriget. Motsättningar, debatter och hjälpinsatser . Lund 1996, ISBN 91-972850-0-5 .
  • Riksföreningen Sverige-Tyskland: Utveckling och målsättning: Föredrag inför förtroenderådet vid RST: s första sommarting i Jönköping . Malmo 1941.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ LUM - Lunds Universitet Meddelar, nr 6 1996 ( Memento from December 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ a b Oredsson, page 50
  3. ↑ Karaktärsmord på döda svenskar , Sydsvenskan, September 19, 2002.
  4. ↑ Riksföreningen Sverige-Tyskland: 5689 medlemmar 1938-42 (PDF; 172 kB)
  5. ↑ a b c Oredsson, page 52