From indifference to activism: Swedish diplomacy and the Holocaust:1938-1944

Between 1939-42 the reaction of Sweden to the persecution of Jews in Nazi-controlled Europe did not differ from that of other democracies; after the "Kristallnacht" pogrom, the government even tightened immigration restrictions for refugees. However, mid-1942 marked a turning-point, when Sweden chose a course of energetic activism in trying to save Jews. The Foreign Office (Utrikesdepartementet, or UD), especially its Legal Division, headed by Gösta Engzell, was the main agency of rescue, and its motives were for the most part humanitarian. The UD intervened on behalf of the Jews in Norway and in France, and prepared the reception of the Danish Jews in October 1943. From March 1944, the UD and the legation in Budapest endeavored to rescue Hungarian Jews; Wallenberg's activities were only a part of their efforts. The only exception was the plan proposed to the Swedish government in early 1943 by Saloman Adler-Rudel, speaking for the Jewish Agency, that Sweden rescue Jewish children from Germany; the cabinet heard the proposal but did nothing about it. Concludes that Sweden did much more than other neutral states to rescue Jews and can not be regarded as a mere "bystander".