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Sweden helped hundreds of thousands refugees from neighbouring countries and they also donated 30% of its military army equipment to Finland. Furthermore they trained Norwegian and danish police troops in secret and helped their resistance movements. 12.000 swedes and volunteered in Finland. Sweden sold steel and industrial products to both sides. Most engine that was produced in the west with SKF ball bearing from Sweden. Bofors 40mm AA gun was the most produced word wide during WW2, used by both sides.
My grandfather and grandmother too. They meet in Stockholm after lol. Grandpa is still alive, born in 1932. Grandma died 2016. But her family didnt flee. She told me some crazy things.
Swede here, my grandfather used to tell me that the german fighter pilots were scared of Sweden because the country was riddled with artillery. What they saw from the sky was actually "hässja" a stack of thin logs used to dry hay but stored in a way that looked like an artillery gun off-season from the sky. This was just the way the thin logs had been stored for centuries and not an actual strategy or anything. Any other Swedes ever hear that story?
I haven't heard that before, but it does sound reasonable. My grandfather told me he served as a truck driver in Helsingborg during the war and that what they mostly did was just to drive round and round along the coast so that the German soldiers in Denmark would think that there was a lot of military activity. In actuality they only had a few trucks and even less offensive military equipment.
They were propably more afraid of Swedish Bofors Anti Aircraft artillery. Some of them attacked those guns, and at least one Swedish soldier died from Luftwaffe bullets...
It is not often talked about or highlighted as much as other major battles of the second world war, but that which took place in Norway during the second world war, the work of the resistance fighters, not to mention the sabotage of the heavy water facility that delayed Hitler into being the first to produce the atomic bomb. What took place in Norway was a MAJOR factor in the Allies winning the war, and had Sweden not been neutral and a safe heaven for Norwegian resistance, the war could just aswell had taken a whole completely other turn. So even if people sometimes have given Sweden shame for being neutral, there is evidence that this was a major key to the Scandinavian success, and also the success of the Allies winning the war as whole.
Well, Sweden exported heavy water produced at Ljungaverk to Germany so they were not so heroic. To give sweden credit for the Rjukan sabotage is also maybe a bit of a stretch. Kompani Linge was established and trained in the UK and AFAIK did not set foot in Sweden unlike ye Gestapo officer who transported the heavy water from the factory in Ljungaverk all the way to Germany.
@@wathaet1386 Did I ever give credit to any Swedes for the heavy water sabotage? No. You clearly did not read what I said. It was a Norwegian victory on Norwegian soil, read what I said and don't put words into my mouth. Many Norwegian resistance fighters sought temporarily hideout in Sweden when the Gestapo was hot on their tails, without a neutral Sweden to flee to and hide in, those resistance fighters would more than likely have been cought, and the sabotage offense in Norway would most likely not have been as successfull as it was, which in turn was a major impact on the Allies turning the tides of the war.
@@wathaet1386Helping the Nazis OR tolerating some activities from whom is threatening you with “total war” is not the same thing. We made a bet to stay neutral but had to abide by some of Nazi-Germanys demands and by doing so we were able to “keep our noses above the water” and survive as a nation, keeping our own military research on weapons, ammo, artillery, naval and aircraft technologies out of Nazi and Soviet hands. The research of a lot of these were “secret” from not only other nations but also from our own public. My wife’s grandfather were in one of these black operations and he wasn’t even allowed to tell his wife that he was working for the Swedish government. He never did tell her or us or anyone except when he got cancer in his late 80s and had only a few more months to live he told us. Apparently it seems to have been an enormous effort in concealing information and intelligence from reaching anyone and everyone in fear of it reaching the Nazis and/or Soviet governments. He was a physicist researching nuclear fission and eventually helped engineer the Swedish nuclear energy reactors being developed in Sweden. Oh and btw I learned a couple days ago that the physicists that came to the realization about how to build the atom bomb, which in turn was because of a German discovery that sending neutrons into the nucleus of uranium had led to the forming of new elements, and these 2 individuals were Jewish physicists, located in Sweden, that Sweden saved from Germany. Their realization led to the forming of the Manhattan project.
We have had stonewalls everywhere in Sweden since forever, gotta put the stones from the fields somewhere. Just an urban tale that people that don’t read fall for. And it was the BritBongs that planned the invasion of Sweden first ffs…
Yes, many people often hate Sweden for it but it was clearly the most intelligent move to play both axis and Allies, and considering the majority of Finlands army was made up of lend lease material from Sweden it’s safe to say Sweden did enough to not get obliterated. Sweden also saved a lot of close neighboring Jews and Norwegian partisans
You should look into the Swedish-Allies cooperation during the war. Ballbearings were exported to England during the whole war. SOE used Sweden as a safe country after missions in Norway. SOE also had bases in the Swedish mountains Almost all Danish Jews fled to safety in Sweden. All the bomber crews that landed on Swedish fields after raids in Germany. Sweden constructed new well-lit airfields just for that purpose. The signal intelligence cooperation with the US continued from WW2 to current day. Yep, during the coldwar the US and Sweden shared intelligence.
I was very good that the Danish Jews could find safety in Sweden .Do not forget that it was the Danish people that helped them hide and escape from the Nazis. Their fishing boats arrived in Sweden ,they took the risks. This was oktober 1943 by then even the Swedish government had realised that Germany had lost the war.
90% of swedish steel went to germany during the war and was of enormous help as they imported half their steel and sweden was the second largest exporter in Europe, the first being occupied France
Sweden also harbored finnish/danish/norwegian refugees, especially finns and that's one of the reasons I exists today due to these open policy's My relatives fled during the civil war in Finland when the Reds slaughtered civilians in their town and would'nt Sweden been so welcoming, I might've not even exist. That's why it's so important that we keep the North safe in peace and in troublesome times, we should assist each other. I personally believe that Sweden and the King played their cards correctly with what they had up their sleeve, I just wished we had done more for our brothers in general. But now it's 2024 and we're all independent country's with a great sense of brotherhood. Long live the North.
This is partial not true. During the war did the Norwegian Goverment try to persuade the Swedish Goverment to this. The truth is that Sweden very long hold back and didn't want this. Of course do we have to remember that it is a political and police/military side, and that the political side was sceptical and made the formation of the Norwegian military police difficult. The big change came in 1944, when Sweden understood that Germany would loose, plus the liberation of Norther Norway buy Sovjet troops. Then the Norwegian Reserve police changed from police to more military troops. Before that didn't Sweden let the troops get weapon training (only a few troops got this). But on the 8th of may 1945 did 13000 Norwegian police troops move into Norway to take control, and they all got their training in Sweden. The training was done by Norwegian and Swedish instructors. But it was the Norwegian Goverment that paid for the training and equipment of the Norwegian police troops. This was done through the income from Northraship and administered by Sweden
@jonnor6883 You are dead right! The thing is, it was the socialist government pre WW2 that is to blame for a lot about Sweden's predicament. The 1925 defence budget slashed it's national defence to shreds! We were not better off than the Danes and the Norwegians. If Hitler would have pounced, he would have taken Sweden within months! This is the army that made France succumb within months! England almost lost it's entire army at Dunkerque! They would have been mince! And while this is all going on, Finland is on the ropes! And Sweden have a significant part of their air force in Finland + some fair amount of men and rifles! Sweden got lucky! Dealt shitty cards, but made them work.. There was Swedes fighting for the allies too... SOE-people some of them. And quite a few merchant mariners perished or didn't see their families for four or five years! Good on you, Sweden! You are a brave lot! They seem cool as cucumbers, and somewhat afraid of conflict, but don't get them going. They're stone cold and ruthless! Glad they joined NATO! Good people!
@@jonnor6883 Thats also only partial truth , "revolver Harry" did not follow the goverments rule of not arming the norwegians , so majority had already weapons training by 1944 , you can look up why he was given that nickname.
@@matso3856 I know that. Also why i wrote "and that the political side was sceptical and made the formation of the Norwegian military police difficult." and "The training was done by Norwegian and Swedish instructors". The Swedish police and military didn't follow the Swedish politicians. "Revolver Harry" mainly did his part in the last part of the war (you can look it up:) ), but he tried to conspire to arrest Adolf Hitler earlier in the war
Some thoughts about this great video: 1) It was mainly Norwegian and Danish (as the southern part of Sweden was part of the Danish lands) vikings that ravaged most of Europe, Swedish vikings went mainly eastwards and traded, hunted and pillaged the lands that is now the baltic states as well as Russia down to Turkey (through the russian rivers down to the black sea). 2) The SWedish military made fasle panzers and canons and placed as well as german pilots who saw stack of thin logs used to dry hay but stored in a way that looked like an artillery gun off-season from the sky. Also, we had military concrete and dirt bunkers along the entire coasts. Some of them are still there, with great visibility over Öresund (The straits between Denmark and Sweden) But it was a great video that i as a swede .
The story of the Swedes taping the lines of the Germans is actually quite exciting. The system was called the G-printers but was encrypted communication through telephone lines. To break the code, they recruited Mr. Arne Beurling, a mathematician from the Upsala University. With only pen and paper he broke the code in 2 weeks. Til this day no one knows how he managed this. It is regarded as something on the same level as breaking the Enigma code. He was quite reclusive and never revealed his method. Later on, he took Einsteins chair at Princeton University. He was most likely on the same level as Alan Turing but less known. However, the Swedes made a great mistake in trying to help the Finns by passing on all information to them when they were fighting the Soviets. Unfortunately, the info was somehow leaked to the Nazis who they were fighting together with. The Nazis then realized they had been exposed and had to change method.
@@bitcodexx What u saying is that one man broke this code in 2 weeks, and british used 1000s of people in months to break same complexity. Hard to believe
According to local history there was also another reason that made Hitler take a step back. The amount of explosives in the iron mines rivaled the weight of the iron ore why it became clear for the Germans that an attack on Sweden would have cut the iron production to 0 in no time. Considering the pressure on the German factories to produce weapons that was unthinkable.
During World War II, BOAC (the predecessor to British Airways) operated Mosquito fighter aircraft as civilian fast passenger planes to Sweden. Sweden produced the world's best ball bearings, but due to neutrality, military planes were prohibited from landing. BOAC's Mosquito planes were fast enough that German fighter planes couldn't catch them. RAF lent BOAC 15 Mosquito planes, painted in BOAC colors. Upon arrival in Sweden, cargo would be loaded while the crew went to the pilots' lounge and met Lufthansa crews flying to Germany. Between 1940 and 1945, Mosquito planes transported 500,000 tons of goods and a Danish nuclear physicist smuggled out of occupied Denmark by the resistance, who had to buy his own ticket for the flight.
In 1939 our military was under-sized. But we had learned after WW1 to improve our agriculture so we had a quite good possibility to feed the people ( better than today). During the war years the defense was much improved. We were however very dependent on import of coal- otherwise many in the cities would not have survived the winters. This coal was imported from Germany. The Nazis also knew that they had a very slight support in the population as shown in elections. Our best ally was -as often before- the Baltic Sea.
U should not be proud. Read more history what your country did in 1940 to 1942.... How many norwegians killed because of sweden love with Hitler these year, is unknown. I loves Sweden and swedish people today, so no worry. U should look up what Eric Erikson did during the war. He worked for Shell before ww2 and its a very good story about a true swedish hero.
No! I don't think so as an American because Stalin is a bigger monster than Hitler was .Hitler was just mental for the most part and I don't know why in the hell the USA and UK joined with the Soviets ..I don't know so much that the US wanted to do it but Britain definitely did which is probably why Roosevelt did . Americans couldn't stand communists. I know that the Soviets would have been starved out and what would have happened in 41 and 42 is that most of the Soviets would have starved and the Germans would have starved on the Eastern Front .the British Canadian and Americans would have going ahead and done everything else they did but the USA and the Royal Air Force was bombing the plants that made the roof off of a German airplanes and tanks to help the Soviets during the war and the whole time Stalin kept bitching when America is sending him everything including food for his people and food to the UK .the man was never freaking happy .he wanted a another front opened up in 1943 and Roosevelt said we were in Italy and we can either send them food and more tanks and big trucks or we could open another front and Molotov said they'll take the supplies .😂Stalin still bitched . it would have costed the Americans British and Canadians more casualties and maybe twice as many but it still would have gotten the job done ..
It was a strategic decision, if Hitler conquered Soviet he would've established potentially an unbeatable state. Only thing worse than comnunists in the Heartland are industrious nazis. Not being a fan of Stalin, but the Axis and their subordinates were a tad worse.
In helping the Sovjets, Stalin did´nt have to pay Anything. The British have to pay years and years to come, they almost got bankcropcy. America in a nutshall, GREDY.
Some demands? In 1940-45, 90% of swedish iron was exported to Germany mostly shipped from the port of Narvik Norway. Only France exported more in Europe. Germany imported some 50-60% during the war so this was extremely imortant to the war effort.
Nä. Hitler hatade Sverige. "In September 1942, the Finnish ambassador to France, Harri Holma, had a conversation with Jacques Benoist-Méchin, a minister without portfolio in the Vichy government. Benoist-Méchin told Holma he had recently met Hitler's Chief of the Military Cabinet, where Hitler's comments about Finland were discussed. Holma submitted a report to the Foreign Ministry on 7 September 1942. "He especially mentioned that Hitler's admiration and respect for Finland had developed to the point of love. In contrast, the person concerned had told him [Benoist-Méchin] that Hitler downright hated Sweden (he specifically used the word 'hate')," Holma wrote."
Sweden was balancing on a knife's edge. As long as NaziGermany could get iron from Sweden, it wasn't worth the effort to conquer her. 40% of Germany's steel production was depending on Sweden. On the other hand the allies bought sophisticated production equipment from Sweden making massproduction with a higher level of quality possibly. An interesting fact with the trains with German soldiers transported through Sweden. My grandfather was one of the Swedish military guarding the transport, but they were not afraid of the Germans would do anything "stupid", they guarded themselves. It was if someone outside, allied or whatever would attack the germans and causing a conflict.
My grandfather met a young hot danish on vacation in northern Sweden 1938. They kept sending snailmail to each other. When Denmark was invaded, he sent a letter with instructions for evacuation by boat to Helsingborg and train to Stockholm, where he had arranged an apartment. 12 months later my mother was born but by that time he was stationed in the north to hold the line north of Torneå in case Soviet broke through Finland and advanced against the mines. North of Finland was mainly protected by Swedish volunteers, and they managed to hold the lines. In the west the nazis had their eyes on the same mines from Narvik, but were attacked from the Englishmen with intel from Swedish soldiers. For more than 50 years 80% of all iron ore in Europe were mined in Sweden. We had the industry to build something with it as well. Beautiful pics and letters my grandparents left behind. The content of the letters changed after danish invasion, they knew people were reading them.
@@4nd3rzzon Hahaha! Japp jag har sett bilder, hon var snygg när hon var ung. Som 80-åring som vilken 80-åring som helst, hade inte en tanke på snygghet. :D
There are also practical strategic issues involved, such as Sweden, being ribboned by rivers would’ve made tank warfare and its support vulnerable to sabotage and ambush.
My grandfather drove an ambulance in the winter wars back in Finland. He voluntered and was a fireman here in Västerås in Sweden. He never wanted to say anything about his time in Finland except one time to my father when he told him about the bonfires when they burned the deep frozen corpses of the dead and how some of them tending the fires hair got white while watching the bodies moving as they was burned alive as their bodys was unfrosen.😢😔❤️❤️❤️. War is hell on earth, please make love, not w*r🙂💕❤️❤️❤️…!!!
Saying Sweden did something to stay out is saying Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Poland, Netherlands, Greece, Yugoslavia etc did something wrong. Swedens fate was decided in Berlin and Moscow, not in Stockholm. It is very important to remember this going into the subject of Sweden in ww2. There us also what the government did, what the general people did, what the armednforced did, and what individuals did. F ex Sweden had a very clear definition if what was to be allowed concerning german transports, but germany also bribed swedes in the railways and especially sea pilots and customs. The event where allied ships blocked in swedish ports made a daring everyone at once dash for England saw swedish law enforcement trying to help germany while the navy tried to help the allies. The constant illegal use by germany of swedish waters snd even swedish flagged ships for transports also infuriated the soviets who in 1943 launced an unrestricted submarine campaign that threatened swedish Gotland with starvation. The respons was an undeclared sea war and armed naval camapign between sweden and soviet, probably the most intense and simultaneously forgotten part of the entire war experience in sweden. Many swedes died in the sea, both military and civilians, and an undisclosed number of soviet mariners. In some swedish books you can still see these events described as unrelated accidents. About 2000 german sailors also died from swedish minings while using swedish waters without permits. Sweden balanced neutrality pretty well all things concidered. The cabinet clearly viewed the german campaigns against neutral countries as erratic and thus lacked the capacity to make a sober conclusion about the risks and this lead to some unwarranted cautions early on. But already before ElAlamein, they had started the slow shift towards more determination. One must however remember sweden was entirely dependent on germany for energy and weapons import. There were among military personnel a professional acknowledgement of german martial successes but even western spies concluded the people of sweden read english books, watched american movies, and were over all quite anglophilic unlike sentiments dominating during the previous war. The difference in treatment between allied and axis personnel captured speaks volumes in this, in stark contrast to a lingering misconception that sweden was socially leaning towards germany. What is most fascinating about the sibject is perhaps the many perspectives, misconceptions and over all contestating sentiments regarding swedish neutrality. Had other countries been successful I am quite certain we would all view it as rather standard practice but the fact sweden alone stand out as relatively untouched apparently sparks debate. One final note. The swedish horizon wasn't the Pacific, Atlantic, or even continental Europe. It was the bordic and baltic countries. As such it is easy today from outside Sweden to forget how equally threatening to swedes the soviet union was besides nazi germany. Also in this equation rests the then alreadyvwell established good relations between nordic peoples and the circumstances were that Finland and Norway were on opposite sides and a war that involved armed conflict with either would have been absolutely unthinkable to basically every swede, regardless what happens in Poland, Belgium, China, Libya or Ukraine. That's simply not the horizon a small country can be expected to operate with when war is at their doorstep.
I can't say that i have ever seen such a well written comment on youtube. Especially on such a complicated and controversial topic. Bravo! Starkt jobbat!
well said Oscar. a good balanced argument but you forget the moral argument.....we should have remained neutral in England too. We would have come out of the war rich like the Swedes, not saddled with war debts to the Yanks. Shame you stood by when your Nordic brothers were invaded. They have still not forgiven you..
@@edwarddavies8411 We sure fucked up, as we generally do in times of war. What bothers me (who was born in 87', 40-something years after the war) is how many of my countrymen simply don't realize that sweden's realtive wealth was caused by the fact that everyone else got bombed back several decades. Many swedes believe that we got so far ahead through hard work and today, as sweden is literally falling apart everyone is wondering what happened. What happened is clearly that as everyone around us rolled up their sleves we instead got complacent. We've been loosing speed ever since, and now that everyone else is passing us by we ask how... 😭
Your numbers about Swedish volunteers in Finland are misleading, too big!! Only 1629 Swedish volunteer fighters were in Finland during Continuation war and during Winter war 8260 Swedish volunteers. Check Finnish sources!! Swedes helped us Finns by sending warm clothes and by inviting Finnish children to live in their homes, safe from bombings. My close relative was a war child in Sweden, too. Finns would have desperately needed more weapons, while Swedes made money by selling steel to Germany.
Carin Göring herman görings first wife was swedish and Herman was a friend of the swedish king. He also had othet strong ties to Sweden and lived in briefly on Odengatan in Stockholm. He was working as a pilot for here.
You gotta do what you gotta do and they kept their population safe. Easy to talk about morality now as an afterthought. But at the time, playing the game was the right thing to do.
I can't say it wasn't Göring who was the person responsible for Sweden not being invaded, however, it is the first time I hear about it. When I grew up in Sweden in the 80's and 90's, we were taught that Sweden weren't invade because the Swedish government threatened to blow up all of the iron mines if the Nazis were to invade, so that they didn't have anything to gain to invade. I can't say if that is true either, but that is what was taught. But I do think it does sound more plausible that the risk of destroying your supply of iron, from a country that doesn't pose any threat is mor likely than a high rankings personal relationship.
I can believe both are true, our ties with Göring but also the fact that we had rigged the mines for destruction in the event of war as it would take a very long time to get the mines functional again were both reasons to why they didn't invade
I agree with your statement. Goring was the financier of Nazi. The Nazi economy at that time wasn’t really built from their own country. It was accumulated through credit from investors. Although we already know that Nazi would loose in Stalingrad, they wouldn’t haven’t sustain for long if they invaded Sweden.
Its crazy because it was a swedish proffesor who cracked the enigma code its was just they didn’t reaveal it in fear of being invaded. But they did send it to uk)
Well, almost. He cracked the Lorentz code, which was used on telegraph wires, not the Enigma. The Swedes hadn't enough Enigma messages. It was Poland that first cracked the Enigma code. The Lorentz wasn't easier, but it was a different machine.
It is a shame that no mrntion has been made of the number if Jews that found sanctuary in Sweden. Nor the number of Swedush fields that were filled with YS bombers, that were parked wing-tip to wing-tip, after having having suffered, whilste on the way to bomb Germany, convenienr "engine trouble"; the crews of which spent a very pleasent war as internees.
Pity that large numbers of Jews were turned away or had the letter 'J' stamped in their passports. Where was your 'Kindertransport' that saved thousands of Jewish children ?
I would have appreciated to be told the that the fact that Hermann Görings beloved dead wife Carin von Kantzow was Swedish. Although she passed away in 1931 but Göring loved her so much he built her a mausoleum. If you have a second in command in a country that adores a person that much, it might, be a factor to consider.
It is said that sometime in 1944 the air defence with FLAK in Malmö in southern Sweden had the following telegraph conversation with the RAF bombers, flying in the night and following the Swedish coast line for air raids in northen Germany, and now and then violating Swedish air space: Swedish air defence: Tommy, you are violating Swedish air space! Please remove yourself or we will fire for effect. Bomber crew: We know... so the Swedes start a gun barrage. Bomber crew: Hey Swedes, you're aiming too low. Swedish air defence: We know... (it is most unlikely this story is true) What however is true was that the Swedish PTS ordered the staff at the broad casting station at Motala to send a short wave signal every night, probably as a navigation aid for the RAF bombers.
It's actually true, my late grandfather served as an aa-gunner first in Malmö then in Helsingborg. He told me that they always warned the allies and then when they Opened fire, they always aimed too low. At the other hand they earned even the German pilot before they Open fire, but there they did'nt aim low. Another thing is that when any allied airplane went down in Sweden, the Sweden secretly sent them back to England, while the German crews got internated in Most cases
The situation is even more complicated than you tell here. Sweden basically placated the germans as much as needed. Being able to listen in on German communication helped the government in their balancing act. And while Goering played his part, it was not the only reason. Goering also informed that he could not guarantee that he could take out the swedish navy. This is probably one of the most forgotten part of this story, but the swedish navy, while somewhat aged in some respect, was large. It was designed to fight in the baltic and also to use the swedish archipelago. The swedish submarines had benefited from german expirience and were considered very capable and a real wild card. Sweden also a large force of destroyers and even more smaler torpedo boats and motor torpedo boats. Kriegsmarine also could not guarantee the safety of german supply ships in the baltic. And to reliably supply an invading army, even if it came from Norway, you needed to ship supplies. Even Hitler considered the swedish navy as a huge problem. The german army was pretty confident but it also had to accept that it would in the long run need supplies ship from Germany by boat. Sweden had the means to threaten any german surface ship apart from the battleships. Even the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau would have had to be careful if they engaged swedish coastal defence ships (or armoured ships as the swedish called them), especially in coastal waters. These ships were armed with 28cm cannons with long range, same guns as the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. One can argue that the german pocket battleships, Graf Spee, Sheer and Lutzow, were a beffed up version of the swedish ships. Considering the huge losses the German navy took attacking Norway, against a way more unprepared opponent, launching an amphibious assault against Sweden was not a tempting prospect. It would have needed the support of many of Kriegsmarines bigger units. And after 1941 they could not easily be re-located to the Baltic sea. And doing that would have been a dead giveaway about any invasion plan. Like I wrote, the german army was pretty confident they could pull it of, but Luftwaffes leader did not like it and the kriegsmarine did not like it either. And when even the fuhrer shared some of the kriegsmarines worries about the swedish navy, well, the longer the war progressed, the more dangerous a full scale invasion became. And there is also the Bismarck story. The swedish cruiser Gotland spotted Bismarck and her escort when they were headed to Norway and promtly reported it. And the swedish navy made sure a liasion officer from the free norwegian force could read the report. And he in turn hurried to inform the british naval attache. The swedes could if the germans found out claim they were innocent. The swedish navy was very well aware of Bismarck and here capabilities. The first foreign officer to be allowed to visit the battleship was Swedens naval attache. Considering the fact that Bismarck was the german warship that the swedish navy had no real counter too, save massed torpedo attacks, getting rid of her would be a good thing. So making sure that Bismarck was taken out of the equation in the Baltics was very important from a strategic point of view. And if they could help the Royal Navy getting rid of her, so much better. Like I said, the Swedish navy may have been the one institution outside of germany that had the best intelligence about Bismarcks capabilities. It is complicated but even more than is told in the video. Goering was opposed but since Hitler already had personal doubts and some fear when it came to the swedish navy, Goerings opposition only played a part. Hitler was overall becoming pretty unimpressed by the kriegsmarines larger ships and knowing full well how a hastly assembled force of die-hard norwegians, commaned by a retired colonel has blown the heavy cruiser Bluecher out of the water after having made it past the main norwegian coastal defences, well, he may been very reluctant to roll that die once again.
My grandmother was a war-child from finland and when the war was over she couldnt return because her dad had severe ptsd from figthing in the war and didnt want them back in the country because he was afraid for their life.
My father's grandfather fought in Finland and in Norway during World War II (was Swedish). He and several others would not have been able to do it if Sweden had been involved in the war. Then Sweden was a haven for Danes, Norwegians, Finns and others. Built up a large Norwegian police force, took care of Finnish children, saved Jews from the surrounding area and also other parts, gave medical care to resistance fighters and sanctuary, medical care to Finnish and Finnish-Swedish soldiers, etc. The government may have been jerks, but the Swedish people to 98% were the best😁👍
Sweden 🇸🇪 did a good attitude for its population and bravely rescued enormous numbers of Norway Jewish ✡️....criticism of Sir Winston Churchill towards Sweden 🇸🇪 was not logical and unpredictable.
My grandfather was abandoned at birth at a cloister. Given the name Franciscus, Petrus, Maria. He was from the Netherlands. He was taken captive during ww2 and forced to work in a steel factory. Bombs dropping close by every day. He was always afraid of fireworks, and i never knew why. Until my father told me.
A important thing was that Sweden in that time, have to make choice, invaded by nazis or by soviet. Not an easy thing, but when Sweden got information about barabosa, and the Americans helped British, they knew that the nazis will fall in one or other way. So Sweden made very good decision.
@@davidlittle7182 Most of them did, but were lucky to be invaded, so that their great-grandchildren can be proud and talk down to those who were not invaded.
@@davidlittle7182Care to name all the countries that declared war on Germany on principle? Take Norway as an example. Declared itself neutral, traded with Germany, offered very little help to Finland when they were invaded, much less than Sweden did in fact. USA was dragged into it, very reluctantly. Churchill pleaded quite a bit before pearl harbor.
Well, Sweden ww2 history is not so good. Sweden exported so much to nazi Germany that it kept war mashine running. More than 70 percent of all steel in German warmashine comes from Sweden. In April 1940, Norway had 16 ships located at Gøteborg. What a nice nabour should do, is to find a "good" reason to "arrest" these ships to war ends. But no, Sweden made clear that these ships had to leave Sweden and all becomes victoms of submarines. Before 1943, norwegian were sent back to german Gestapo if they tried to escape from germans, but later in the war, Sweden was very helpfull when they relise how war was turning against Germany... Not to mentions they allow german troops to use swedish trains to be transported through sweden to attack Norway. Swedish goverment during the war was a true shame and if they have done right thing, they could make war much shorter... But they didnt dare to do it.
Well missing here is that one really big reason Sweden went totally neutral and unwilling to fight in any more wars was after the loss of Finland 1809. That was ⅓ of the total swedish territory that was lost to Russia. So after about 350 years that Finland had been a part of Sweden the brotherly roots had never really faded, and the natural feelings of Swedish people to help Finland in any way against Russia was quite high.
There was plans to invade Sweden from Trondheim in Norway and cut the country in two. But things happened in the eastern front so invasion did never happen. The germans run into serious problem when they tried to invade Sovietunion, and that was Swedens luck.
Interesting video, and as a Swede today, i have dual feelings about it. I feel for the other Scandinavian countries but same time, knowing what we know today and seeing how it progressed, i believe we did the right thing. The best would have been if we had made a Scandinavian union with a strong defence, then maybee none have been attacked, but this is semantics coz we never did. Be safe all
No. As a Swede I am glad the government went in the peaceful but hard line. Everything isnt always black and white. During the war, we also trained Norwegian resistance fighters. So working behind enemies lines can also be necessary from time to time.
Exactly! The positive part about being neutral and keeping Germany off our backs let us help neighbors like you said, I wish people in general understood that sometimes you need to placate the enemy to not get destroyed.. Väldigt intressant diskussion iaf, vi pratade mycket om detta i skolan när jag var ung och slutsatsen var nog att vi gjorde så mycket vi kunde.
A primary reason for Germany to invade Norway, was that Churchill was planning on invading Norway and Sweden himself. Even if there were plans from the germans before they found out about Churchills plans, they were definitely moved up in the priority. The reason Churchill planned to invade Norway, was that the ore was transported via norweigian ports. Which is also why it became a priority from Germany to prevent the Allies from invading. Sweden also supplied ore to the allies before the invasion of Norway. A major advantage for the swedish government, was that Arne Beurling broke the german "T52 Geheimschreiber"-encryption. Now I don't know what the differenace was from Enigma, or which was actually more advanced. The germans found out via finland though, in the Continuation-war. Sweden supplied Finland with intelligence, and Finland in turn informed the germans that Sweden had broken 'G', since they were now allies against the USSR. After which the germans switched encryption for messages sent via the swedish telecommunications-network.
The reason I've been told in school was that the germans of course traded with us and to secure that trade they invaded denmark and norway (not the only reason) but they didn't secure the mines directly because then the swedish mines would get bombed by the brits and americans and all those so by not invading they made sure that the mines didn't get bombed and they still got the precious metals.
Where is the narrator from? Very odd pronunciations of some of the stuff mentioned..."Stailin" instead of Stalin, "Swedden" instead of Sweden and at other times they are pronunounced correctly
Another reason, which I speculate, why Germany did not invade Sweden during the war might have been that an invasion would lead to production obstacles for iron supply.
You failed to talk about the "Norwegian police troops" an norwegian military force that got trained in sweden during the nazi occpation of norway, a secret millitary that was rebelling against the nazis
Being a Swede, I´ve for sure felt some shame over not standing up and taking the fight. However, if you consider we were facing invasion by both Germany and Soviet and the fact that our army wouldnt have been able to withold more than a couple of days, it kind of makes sense. If we were to be occupied by either of these evil nations, absolutely no aid would reach the neighbour countries. No jews would find shelter here and thousands more would have been killed.
My dad was 8 years old when WW2 started. He told me that he had sold newspapers to the Nazi generalconsulate in Luleå. One day when he stopped to deliver the newspaper, one of the staff told him that they wanted to pay their bill. So when my dad came to the office and told 2 men at the newsoffice, they started to laugh! No wonder, they said. They just lost the war! That was May -45. When my dad came by later, I think it was the same day, the Naziflag was gone.
Helping the Nazis OR tolerating some activities from whom is threatening you with “total war” is not the same thing. We made a bet to stay neutral but had to abide by some of Nazi-Germanys demands and by doing so we were able to “keep our noses above the water” and survive as a nation, keeping our own military research on nuclear-fission, weapons, ammo, artillery, naval and aircraft technologies out of Nazi and Soviet hands. The research of a lot of these were “secret” from not only other nations but also from our own public. My wife’s grandfather were in one of these black operations and he wasn’t even allowed to tell his wife that he was working for the Swedish government. He never did tell her or us or anyone except when he got cancer in his late 80s and had only a few more months to live, and then he told us. Apparently it seems to have been an enormous effort in concealing information and intelligence from reaching anyone and everyone in fear of it reaching the Nazis and/or Soviet governments. He was a physicist researching nuclear fission and eventually helped engineer the Swedish nuclear energy reactors being developed in Sweden. Oh and btw I learned a couple days ago that the physicists that came to the realization about how to build the atom bomb, which in turn was because of a German discovery that sending neutrons into the nucleus of uranium had led to the forming of new elements, and these 2 individuals were Jewish physicists, located in Sweden, that Sweden saved from Germany. Their realization led to the forming of the Manhattan project.
This is the most beautiful story I've heard in a while. Countless lives and Swedens autonomy was saved by love. You have lots of reasons to be proud of your women!
As a Swede, Sweden during WW2 is one of the more interesting subjects for me. I would just like to add some stuff, that could be fun to know. Firstly, the Swedish ministry of foreign affairs chose Raoul Wallenberg as someone to help Jews in Hungary with fake passports to be able to flee the country. Raoul saved the lives of tens of thousands of Jews, only to be captured by Soviet soldiers when the Nazis fell, and unfortunately died in prison. Today Raoul Wallenberg is quite famous in Sweden, and is remembered for example in the Swedish army museum. Secondly, something that I find quite funny: The Germans built telephone lines through Sweden, to easier reach locations in Norway. They arranged some kind of code, planned to stop the swedes from listening to what they were saying. I don’t know any details about this, but my dad have said that “the code was meant to hold off the Swedes permanently, but they cracked it in a matter of minutes.” It might also have been hours or days, but as mentioned I don’t know how true this is. Lastly, I also believe that Sweden did make plans to send troops into Norway and Denmark to liberate them, later on in the war. However it came to an end before these plans could come into effect. I’m no expert and I can’t say with confidence if anything I have mentioned is true.
Sweden was not invaded for the simple reason that the Germans got all they wanted without having to invade and commit troops to an occupation. Access to railways for troops and supplies, steel, ball bearings, storage of supplies in a ”neutral” country. Sweden did the dishonorable thing of colaborating then prtending it did not happen in the history books of their children. Had sweden joined on the allied side, the war would have been significantly shortened due to the resources thereby tied up in an occupation
It is more than that. Arne Burling broke the Geheimfernschreiber ("secret teletypewriter"). Compared to the more known Enigma, a more advanced/complex cipher machine. Arne Burling did get Albert Einstein's office at Princeton University after the war. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arne_Beurling
I have not learned about the second world war in school yet, and I’m not sure what specific parts they teach really. Although if i remember correctly from museums, Swedish television and what teachers have said, the government isn’t really trying to hide any ”bad” part about our history. I can agree that the war would have been shorter if Sweden joined it, and I said nothing against it. All I wanted to do was to share some things I found cool about my country at this time. However I still belive Sweden did the right thing. Sure, they chose to be ”dishonerable” to other nations, but what are you suggesting they should have done? The germans were questionably one of the strongest nations in the world militarily. With no big allies on their border, Sweden would surely get overrun by them if they got invaded. And nobody in the country knew what would happen, people were scared for their lives, for the existance of their home country. So they chose to rather be on Germany’s good side, than that probably hundreds of thousands of swedes and refugees would die, their democratic government would be overthrown, and that the country would be destroyed in many ways. Then wouldn’t the germans get the swedish benefit anyways?
@@wathaet1386 Nah, the "history books" didn't cover that up. I were taught in school that Sweden unfortunately had a lot of nazi sympathizers, quite a lot of volounteers joined Germany. And we also discussed that Sweden's peace with Germany came from the fact that we without restriction traded iron ore etc. Not to mention there being several old TV-series and movies that portrayed the reality of jewish refugees and whatnot in Sweden during WW2.
@@ickerolig Well, most swedes are not aware and parties like the “Liberals” proudly claimed on campaign posters a few years back “fighting nazis and fascists since the 30s when they in fact supported the nazi deal until they clearly were loosing then started “fighting nazis” again. Never once with spilled blood or at any cost to themselves though
During the War, the famous Swedish author; Astrid Lindgren had a top-secret job. There was a law on censorship in Sweden. Censorship means that it was forbidden to write about certain things. For example, soldiers were not allowed to write where in the country they were. If an enemy read the letter, they could figure out how the Swedish defense worked, for example. Astrid Lindgren's top-secret work consisted of opening other people's mail, crossing out everything that was forbidden to write, and then passing it on to whoever was supposed to receive the letter. The post office was located in the Central Post Office on Vasagatan.
2 месяца назад
Having visited Sweden many times, being 1/2 Swedish I met many German National Socialists (Nazi is a joo word) in Sweden , that went to Sweden after 1944. At a reunion in Sweden, I had the honor of singing "Horst Wessel" with 3 "Swedes". I tried to join the Nordiska (now Nordic) Resistance Movement which still uses the tune of Horst Wessel in their marching song.
During WW2, Swedish goverment was playing around with Allies, Germany and Russians. They did everything to stay away from the war. Lots of Swedes were angry over this. Some swedes took arms and helped. Like helping Finland.
It’s a factor of many many things,it’s like saying if England hadn’t been an island what would of been the out come?Or if Japan hadn’t attacked pearl harbour would America of joined the war….Sweden did what it thought was right for its people,all I’m saying is if they had of resisted hitler,how much would it of changed things?Apart from even more people being extinguished😥
Several strategical and tactical reasons from a purely military point of view existed that meant that the casualties to conquer Sweden would be high. The Swedish Navy at the time would be a serious opponent to the Hoch Sea Flotte. Several manouvers proved both that Sweden had a high capacity to relocate troops, but also that the motivation to defend the country if attacked was high. Import of vital ball bearings and iron ore would stop completely, way before the Wehrmacht was able to occupy the territory those facilities was on due to how the Swedish terrain look. Hundreds of forts and fortresses. Et cetera. Nazi Germany would still have won, and managed to occupy the entirety of Sweden, but at the cost of very high casualties and after a significantly longer time than it took them to fully occupy Norway.
7:32, i am a Swed, but I dont think this is true. Germany invaded Norway to be able to buy iron ire from Sweden and not let the British stop the imports
@@victorpaulander9606 Norway was more strategic with her North Atlantic ports to control the shipping lanes from the US to Britain with the German Submarine fleet, the Wolfpacks.
my grandfather was in a secret military operation to help the Norway royal family children to cross the border over to Sweden,he spoke perfect german,russia language and we find a lot of secret maps and war treasure nodes after he passed away,he was a great brave man
😂 Really?! And they use the same strategy today when all this illegal aliens comes in but never goes away again = 50 years left for you swedes until you Country is gone !. No weapons needed because they out smart you with unity = Islam. Truth is a biatch.
I’m from Skania in the very south of Sweden. I had a discussion about 25 years ago with a man who was already old then, meaning he was in his prime during ww2. He told me most of southern Sweden was actually quite pro Nazi during the war. Especially much of the military officers corps. This of course was before events such as the Holocaust were known. But at the time Hitlers rebuilding of a shattered Germany and the combination of nationalism and socialism under a strong leader held great appeal.
Also in Limhamn, Malmö on Linnégatan there is a house, and in that house lived Herman Göring for a while. He was very fond of Sweden and it’s said he commented that the first true Aryans came from the Siljan woods of Sweden. Plus he had a Swedish mistress. And he had a great influence even with Hitler himself, so that might also be part of why Sweden was never invaded.
I believe Göring had something to do about it. After he became a war heroe in WW1 he married Karin, a Swedish woman, and lived in Stockholm. The connection between Göring, the royal family and Swedish novelty.
Im pretty sure the vikings in sweden were actually neutral back then. It was norwey and denmark that was raiding. Atleast 10x more than swedes. Could be wrong tho🤷♂️ Great vid regardless! Good job😊
As a Swede i liked this but why did you show some footage from Denmark? Approx 1.50 into the film you show a, althought short, snippet from Denmark. Strange indeed haha
God bless you and your beautiful country and my children are almost half Swedish because their dad is Swedish and they didn't know because he was adopted .they took a DNA test and they thought the Swedish came from me because I'm the blonde hair blue-eyed one but no no it's their daddy .I was telling the kids I'm half English and the rest is Southern Medallion and Eastern European 😂😂I always wondered about him because he had this Germanic Look to Him ..I don't know how sweet and managed to keep the Germans out of that works at playing some pretty tricky politics with Hitler ..
My grandfather valunteered when Sovjet invaded Finland. He later went and valunteered for the "Norwegian resistance movement/Norska motståndsrörelsen" to help them fight the Nazis. He told me that he couldn't just sit and watch while the Nazis travel by train through our cities without doing anything.
Lucky for many that have not lived a direct war. It is easy to judge or have a position from far and long ago. The technology and the information and misinformation of that era was so different and yet we will never know how much the population have to endure to survive. Many stories of courage have emerged that are opaqued by the traitorous ones.
Sweden assisted the nazis and let them use our railroad to transport soldiers and prisoners thrue Sweden back to Germany. So the Nazis did not have to invade Sweden,
We also denied them that access both at the start of the war and at the end of the war, but between 1941-1943 Sweden were a bit surrounded by the Axis. But if you study anything you will learn that we played ball with the Allies as well and that we were way more focused on having that working out but that we kept the minimum trade with germany wihtout pissing them off too much. The economic factor of our relations with Germany was way more important for Germany then any military access through Sweden was. So calling it assisted help is not correct at all. Sweden allowed them to transport military personnel(whole divisions) to Finland but not the other way around. And we let transportships sail in swedish water to reach Finland as well but most of you ignored people dont know that either or the importance of that to even use that in your agruments so please stop spreading unhistorical nonsense...
Indeed, my grandfather was one of many soldiers hiding in trenches along the sides of the railroads, making sure no Nazis was to leave the trains....All went smoothly from what o know
@@DasenSWEwhat you yappin about, racism was created in Sweden by Von Linne and Hitler loved it. Even to this day 2024 xenophobia is a huge issue in Sweden.
You need to check your numbers dude “87.000 Swedish men and women” volunteered in the winter war is plain wrong. Somewhere between 8000-8900 volunteered. Still Sweden gave more to Finland in aid and volunteers than any other nation on the planet these crucial month in dec 1939 to march 1940.
Yes there were 8260 Swedish volunteer fighters during Winter war and only 1694 fighters during the longer Continuation war, according to sources presented in Finnish Wikipedia. There is an old saying telling that "Finland is Sweden's army"...
@@bengtgronlund9447 Yes Finns did the fighting and Swedes collected the taxes... Finns spoke Finnish and lived in eastern part and northern part of the combo state and never identified themselves as Swedes.
The portrayal that "the Finns did the fighting and the Swedes collected the taxes" is an exaggerated simplification that does not accurately reflect historical reality. The Finns were an integral part of the Swedish realm and participated in both military and civil duties, just like the Swedes. There was a significant mix of languages and cultures, and identity was more complex than a simple division between Finns and Swedes.So here is some facts: Political and Administrative Unity: Finland was an integral part of the Swedish realm from the Middle Ages until 1809. There was no separate Finnish state during this period; Finland was part of the Swedish realm with the same laws and administration. Language and Culture: It is correct that the majority of the population in Finland spoke Finnish. However, Swedish was widely spoken, especially in cities and by the ruling elite. Many Finns identified themselves as Swedes culturally and politically. Military Service: Finnish soldiers participated in the Swedish army and were often known for their courage and skill. However, it is not accurate to say that only Finns did the military work while the Swedes only collected taxes. Both groups participated in both military and civil administration. Identity: The concept of national identity was not as strongly defined during this period as it is today. Many inhabitants of Finland saw themselves as subjects of the Swedish king rather than having a separate Finnish or Swedish identity. The rise of nationalism came later, primarily in the 19th century. Geography: Finns did not only live in the eastern and northern parts of the realm. They lived in the entire area that today constitutes Finland, including the western and southern parts, which today have a significant Swedish-speaking population.
To luck of 100 000:s that fled from Scandinavian countries ,and Europe, also jews, Sweden avoided being ockupied, and became valuable to build up post-war Sweden. in 60ies one of the richest countries in the world. But later allowing uneducated muslims, luck-seekers to enter the country, and that was beginning of downfall....
Sweden delivered iron ore to Germany as long as Sweden got coal in exchange.. Sweden was never on Hitler's side, and we even sent Raoul Wallenberg to save lots of Jews!
By staying natural they saved alot of Jewish lives and don't know how many other peoples lives they saved.you.cant blame.them.from not.wanting their country.reducsed to rubble.
Det var Sverige som ville att tyskarna satte ett J i judarnas pass....så vi kunde avvisa dom redan vid gränsen. Vet inte hur många judar som dog av denna grymma handling.
Instead of 'never invade' in your title try 'never have invaded' (British English) or 'never invaded' (American English). This is just a small error, but it's easily corrected.
As a Norwegian that lives in Sweden today and has great respect for the country. Im not impressed by the choices they made at the time. Sure they helped Norwegians and Danes over the border, and other stuff for the allies. But they also let Germans pass through like a highway on the ground. Without Sweden they would have had to take the water or airway to reach Norway at all after the invasion. The older generation in Norway often feel betrayed by Sweden. Some would argue that Sweden had some questionable morals about racial hygiene as well. With the institution in Uppsala and their work and study. Pretty fu*k up stuff when you get in to it.. Nonetheless, Sweden did good things as well. I and i live and love this country very much today! Great video👍🏻
I’m half Swedish, half Norwegian, and I can relate to what you say. My grandparents on mother’s side (Norwegian, Kristiansand) often told me tales from the war. And it was clear that Sweden had lost a grate deal of credibility in the eyes of most of that generation and rightly so, at lest from a Norwegian standpoint. Growing up I’ve come to look at it as a dilemma with only bad choices in a time of chaos and uncertainty. I believe Sweden did the right choice but ONLY for Sweden and it leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth.
I can understand the feeling on a personal level, however, war is war and it's never pretty. Sweden did actually fend off German requests to use its railroads to Norway for quite a while, only when the fighting had ceased in Norway were they no longer able to deny the request. The most honorable thing to do is probably to declare war on evil but I definitely get that it's not that easy of a choice in reality, when countless lives are at stake, both citizens of the country and losing a safe-ish place for refugees. I think Sweden acted as most countries would under similar circumstances, and that's not to say it's the best way to act. The fact is that Norway, Denmark and Sweden all declared themselves neutral. Norway also having trade treaties with Germany. Norway and Denmark simply didn't have leverage enough to prevent invasion. In addition, what Britain demanded of the nordic countries would often put them in an awful situation that would no doubt result in a lot of destruction and little hope of getting help since, Sweden in particular, at that time was completely surrounded by the Nazis and Soviets. Britain even had plans of invading Norway and, when reaching Sweden, blowing up the iron mines in hopes of starting a new front in the war in Sweden. In short, war is ugly, and it's always a lot easier to condemn actions in retrospect.
The fact is if Sweden had acted against Nazi Germany it would have ended up very bad for Sweden. Sometimes you must do what is best for its country and people even if its against your moral wishes and considerations.
You could have defended your own country; not even a proper mobilisation even though Swedes warned you, and you didn't rearm anywhere near what Sweden and Finland did.
The truth about this is still considered too crazy for publication. Which Swedish family through their holdingcompany called investor owned the majority of American IG farben and several companys of crucial importance for the nazi wareffort? And which swedish family worked with the upcoming nazigovernment since long before 1936? And which swedish family had direct influence if not direct control of the swedish government? Did not a swedish family really decide? Was not Hitler afraid of opposing this family?
There was plans for Sweden to join the war aka operation save norway and operation save denmark but germany surrenderd before sweden was set to join. Sweden also trained some Danish and Norwegian troops and resistance members during the war.
In so many analyzes its presented like the alliances where the same during all WWII. Considering Soviet/Russia actually was a part of the Axis from 1938 to 1941 it made the nordic countries pushed into a corner...So actually both Finland and Sweden started WWI fighting the Axis in trying to whitstand the Russian attack on Finland.
For the first time in 500 years, the Nordic military is once again united. Let’s build the Nordic union and never be afraid of invading neighbors again.
No they just only did what they could do given the circumstances. Sweden is not the only country, with small population in Europe, that did everything to survive the war and not condemning large portion of its male population to death or captivity. We all know the story of Bulgaria siding with the Germans but not giving away its Jews and soldiers for the Russian front. So yeh they did what they could and there is no shame in that!
Do not for a second think that confronting the nazis would have been a good thing. Bringing a swifter end to WW2? Not likely. A diiferent outcome maybe. Sweden being overrun by the germans and later by the soviets? Probably, and not only would it had meant certain death to many swedes but by doing so Sweden would have turned their back on another even closer brother nation, Finland. Not giving them the aid they needed would have been a disaster increasing the chances of Stalin reaching Helsinki. Or perhaps declaring war with both Hitler and Stalin would have been the "moral" thing to do? Well there was not many options for a small nation stuck between nazis and the red army than to officially stay neutral. Then segretly be a training ground for operation Sepals, safe haven for refugees from neighboring countries and for all the american aircrews that turned for Sweden when the hope of reaching England was to small. Talking about a nations "unworthiness" from outside its encirclement is just ignorant and saying it today is even more so.
Difficult to question Sweden’s part in the war. How many Swedes were killed by the Soviets or Germans? How many Allied citizens were killed by the Swedes? How many Jewish people were protected by the Swedes? True enough that the Swedes collaborated with Germany, but what was the true “cost” of that collaboration against the Allies? The Swedes protected their borders, their infrastructure and their citizens. Was that really a bad thing they did? If Sweden had defied Germany, how much help would they actually have contributed to the Allied cause? How great a loss would it have been to Sweden?
Easy, they didn't have to invade; Sweeden sold Germany iron ore and allowed transshipment of Nickel ore from the Petsamo area mines in Finland. Iron and Nickel= Tank armor.
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Sweden helped hundreds of thousands refugees from neighbouring countries and they also donated 30% of its military army equipment to Finland. Furthermore they trained Norwegian and danish police troops in secret and helped their resistance movements. 12.000 swedes and volunteered in Finland. Sweden sold steel and industrial products to both sides.
Most engine that was produced in the west with SKF ball bearing from Sweden.
Bofors 40mm AA gun was the most produced word wide during WW2, used by both sides.
John Rambo and Schwarzenegger would defeat them alone in cca 90 minutes ...
Thank you to all swedes! We are brothers 🇫🇮❤️🇸🇪
Thank you! Our Finnish brothers and sisters 🤝🇸🇪🇫🇮
@@pederfallbom jag är dessutom finlandssvensk så vi kan nog tala svenska också 😘 tack, min brorsa ☺️🇫🇮❤️🇸🇪
@@nixutps😀👌 Trevligt! Önskar jag kunde Finska men dålig på det. Ta hand om dig och dina vänner bror🤝
@@pederfallbom du också ☺️❤️
Ps: Finska är en av dom svårigaste språken 😅
@@nixutps 🤪jag vet! En av anledningarna till att jag inte tagit någon kurs i Finska...
My great grandmother fled from Norway to Sweden during the war and that’s the reason why I’m here today. She’s still kicking it at 101 years old.
My grandfather and grandmother too. They meet in Stockholm after lol. Grandpa is still alive, born in 1932. Grandma died 2016. But her family didnt flee. She told me some crazy things.
That’s cool!
Was she part of the lebensborn program?
@@anthonyscully2998 No she was born in norway before the war...
Swede here, my grandfather used to tell me that the german fighter pilots were scared of Sweden because the country was riddled with artillery. What they saw from the sky was actually "hässja" a stack of thin logs used to dry hay but stored in a way that looked like an artillery gun off-season from the sky. This was just the way the thin logs had been stored for centuries and not an actual strategy or anything.
Any other Swedes ever hear that story?
Yup, I have heard it from my grandfather as well! :D
I haven't heard that before, but it does sound reasonable. My grandfather told me he served as a truck driver in Helsingborg during the war and that what they mostly did was just to drive round and round along the coast so that the German soldiers in Denmark would think that there was a lot of military activity. In actuality they only had a few trucks and even less offensive military equipment.
Sounds like the kind of story I’d make up if I was ashamed of my country’s war record
It was made dummies.
They were propably more afraid of Swedish Bofors Anti Aircraft artillery. Some of them attacked those guns, and at least one Swedish soldier died from Luftwaffe bullets...
It is not often talked about or highlighted as much as other major battles of the second world war, but that which took place in Norway during the second world war, the work of the resistance fighters, not to mention the sabotage of the heavy water facility that delayed Hitler into being the first to produce the atomic bomb. What took place in Norway was a MAJOR factor in the Allies winning the war, and had Sweden not been neutral and a safe heaven for Norwegian resistance, the war could just aswell had taken a whole completely other turn. So even if people sometimes have given Sweden shame for being neutral, there is evidence that this was a major key to the Scandinavian success, and also the success of the Allies winning the war as whole.
Well, Sweden exported heavy water produced at Ljungaverk to Germany so they were not so heroic. To give sweden credit for the Rjukan sabotage is also maybe a bit of a stretch. Kompani Linge was established and trained in the UK and AFAIK did not set foot in Sweden unlike ye Gestapo officer who transported the heavy water from the factory in Ljungaverk all the way to Germany.
@@wathaet1386 Did I ever give credit to any Swedes for the heavy water sabotage? No. You clearly did not read what I said. It was a Norwegian victory on Norwegian soil, read what I said and don't put words into my mouth. Many Norwegian resistance fighters sought temporarily hideout in Sweden when the Gestapo was hot on their tails, without a neutral Sweden to flee to and hide in, those resistance fighters would more than likely have been cought, and the sabotage offense in Norway would most likely not have been as successfull as it was, which in turn was a major impact on the Allies turning the tides of the war.
@@wathaet1386Helping the Nazis OR tolerating some activities from whom is threatening you with “total war” is not the same thing. We made a bet to stay neutral but had to abide by some of Nazi-Germanys demands and by doing so we were able to “keep our noses above the water” and survive as a nation, keeping our own military research on weapons, ammo, artillery, naval and aircraft technologies out of Nazi and Soviet hands. The research of a lot of these were “secret” from not only other nations but also from our own public. My wife’s grandfather were in one of these black operations and he wasn’t even allowed to tell his wife that he was working for the Swedish government. He never did tell her or us or anyone except when he got cancer in his late 80s and had only a few more months to live he told us. Apparently it seems to have been an enormous effort in concealing information and intelligence from reaching anyone and everyone in fear of it reaching the Nazis and/or Soviet governments. He was a physicist researching nuclear fission and eventually helped engineer the Swedish nuclear energy reactors being developed in Sweden.
Oh and btw I learned a couple days ago that the physicists that came to the realization about how to build the atom bomb, which in turn was because of a German discovery that sending neutrons into the nucleus of uranium had led to the forming of new elements, and these 2 individuals were Jewish physicists, located in Sweden, that Sweden saved from Germany. Their realization led to the forming of the Manhattan project.
Germany actually feared the swedish navy, which was pretty big for a minor nation
@@BaddaBingBaddaBom oooooh. the big bad Swedish navy. Sweden would have been defeated. Sweden was a silent partner and the allies knew it
Husband's relatives told how the Swedes built stone fences across fields so Germans could not land planes on them.
Yes and other obstacles was put on open fields to prevent landing
To be fair back in the days small open drainage ditches and fences were still everywhere in Sweden. But yes I've heard that story as well
sweden has a lot of rocks and stones from the ice age and farmers hundreds of years ago built walls with them so it wouldt make farming hard
BULL SHIT
We have had stonewalls everywhere in Sweden since forever, gotta put the stones from the fields somewhere.
Just an urban tale that people that don’t read fall for.
And it was the BritBongs that planned the invasion of Sweden first ffs…
I’m swedish and my grandpas dad was one off the people that helpd finland
Same
All things considered, Sweden came out of WWII prosperous and undamaged. The most intelligent government.
Yes, many people often hate Sweden for it but it was clearly the most intelligent move to play both axis and Allies, and considering the majority of Finlands army was made up of lend lease material from Sweden it’s safe to say Sweden did enough to not get obliterated. Sweden also saved a lot of close neighboring Jews and Norwegian partisans
"The most intelligent government"? Take a look at it now, turning into a third world country because of past choices.
@@arvalb0 its called being smart
@@10thAngel its called being smart
@@m.h_productions smart but unworthy..
You should look into the Swedish-Allies cooperation during the war. Ballbearings were exported to England during the whole war. SOE used Sweden as a safe country after missions in Norway. SOE also had bases in the Swedish mountains Almost all Danish Jews fled to safety in Sweden. All the bomber crews that landed on Swedish fields after raids in Germany. Sweden constructed new well-lit airfields just for that purpose. The signal intelligence cooperation with the US continued from WW2 to current day. Yep, during the coldwar the US and Sweden shared intelligence.
I was very good that the Danish Jews could find safety in Sweden .Do not forget that it was the Danish people that helped them hide and escape from the Nazis. Their fishing boats arrived in Sweden ,they took the risks. This was oktober 1943 by then even the Swedish government had realised that Germany had lost the war.
90% of swedish steel went to germany during the war and was of enormous help as they imported half their steel and sweden was the second largest exporter in Europe, the first being occupied France
Sweden also harbored finnish/danish/norwegian refugees, especially finns and that's one of the reasons I exists today due to these open policy's
My relatives fled during the civil war in Finland when the Reds slaughtered civilians in their town and would'nt Sweden been so welcoming, I might've not even exist.
That's why it's so important that we keep the North safe in peace and in troublesome times, we should assist each other.
I personally believe that Sweden and the King played their cards correctly with what they had up their sleeve, I just wished we had done more for our brothers in general.
But now it's 2024 and we're all independent country's with a great sense of brotherhood. Long live the North.
Yes they made money both ways. It wasn’t out of generosity or courage
@@TompiiAgree, 🇫🇮🇸🇪🤝
Sweden also trained and equiped a Danish brigade and 3 Norwegian brigades that were supposed to help liberate their countries.
This is partial not true. During the war did the Norwegian Goverment try to persuade the Swedish Goverment to this. The truth is that Sweden very long hold back and didn't want this. Of course do we have to remember that it is a political and police/military side, and that the political side was sceptical and made the formation of the Norwegian military police difficult.
The big change came in 1944, when Sweden understood that Germany would loose, plus the liberation of Norther Norway buy Sovjet troops. Then the Norwegian Reserve police changed from police to more military troops. Before that didn't Sweden let the troops get weapon training (only a few troops got this). But on the 8th of may 1945 did 13000 Norwegian police troops move into Norway to take control, and they all got their training in Sweden. The training was done by Norwegian and Swedish instructors.
But it was the Norwegian Goverment that paid for the training and equipment of the Norwegian police troops. This was done through the income from Northraship and administered by Sweden
@jonnor6883 You are dead right! The thing is, it was the socialist government pre WW2 that is to blame for a lot about Sweden's predicament. The 1925 defence budget slashed it's national defence to shreds! We were not better off than the Danes and the Norwegians. If Hitler would have pounced, he would have taken Sweden within months! This is the army that made France succumb within months! England almost lost it's entire army at Dunkerque! They would have been mince! And while this is all going on, Finland is on the ropes! And Sweden have a significant part of their air force in Finland + some fair amount of men and rifles! Sweden got lucky! Dealt shitty cards, but made them work.. There was Swedes fighting for the allies too... SOE-people some of them. And quite a few merchant mariners perished or didn't see their families for four or five years! Good on you, Sweden! You are a brave lot! They seem cool as cucumbers, and somewhat afraid of conflict, but don't get them going. They're stone cold and ruthless! Glad they joined NATO! Good people!
@@jonnor6883 Thats also only partial truth , "revolver Harry" did not follow the goverments rule of not arming the norwegians , so majority had already weapons training by 1944 , you can look up why he was given that nickname.
@@matso3856 I know that. Also why i wrote "and that the political side was sceptical and made the formation of the Norwegian military police difficult." and "The training was done by Norwegian and Swedish instructors".
The Swedish police and military didn't follow the Swedish politicians.
"Revolver Harry" mainly did his part in the last part of the war (you can look it up:) ), but he tried to conspire to arrest Adolf Hitler earlier in the war
SWEDEN RUN AND GIVE NO SHIT. WE ARE AS MUCH NAZI AS THE GERMANS
Some thoughts about this great video:
1) It was mainly Norwegian and Danish (as the southern part of Sweden was part of the Danish lands) vikings that ravaged most of Europe, Swedish vikings went mainly eastwards and traded, hunted and pillaged the lands that is now the baltic states as well as Russia down to Turkey (through the russian rivers down to the black sea).
2) The SWedish military made fasle panzers and canons and placed as well as german pilots who saw stack of thin logs used to dry hay but stored in a way that looked like an artillery gun off-season from the sky. Also, we had military concrete and dirt bunkers along the entire coasts. Some of them are still there, with great visibility over Öresund (The straits between Denmark and Sweden)
But it was a great video that i as a swede
.
Founding Kyiv Rus on the way and selling their military might to the Emperor.
The story of the Swedes taping the lines of the Germans is actually quite exciting. The system was called the G-printers but was encrypted communication through telephone lines. To break the code, they recruited Mr. Arne Beurling, a mathematician from the Upsala University. With only pen and paper he broke the code in 2 weeks. Til this day no one knows how he managed this. It is regarded as something on the same level as breaking the Enigma code. He was quite reclusive and never revealed his method. Later on, he took Einsteins chair at Princeton University. He was most likely on the same level as Alan Turing but less known. However, the Swedes made a great mistake in trying to help the Finns by passing on all information to them when they were fighting the Soviets. Unfortunately, the info was somehow leaked to the Nazis who they were fighting together with. The Nazis then realized they had been exposed and had to change method.
Ty you for sharing info, ive never heard of Beurling before.
@@liebherr66 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arne_Beurling
How did he break enigma code in two weeks???? I dont think that is true, unless germans use a different type of coding messages
@@janhansen554 That's not what is said. He broke the G-printer code in two weeks, and it was on the same complexity level as the enigma code.
@@bitcodexx What u saying is that one man broke this code in 2 weeks, and british used 1000s of people in months to break same complexity. Hard to believe
According to local history there was also another reason that made Hitler take a step back. The amount of explosives in the iron mines rivaled the weight of the iron ore why it became clear for the Germans that an attack on Sweden would have cut the iron production to 0 in no time. Considering the pressure on the German factories to produce weapons that was unthinkable.
And the Germans took Norway to keep the Swedish Iron to flow on rail to Narvik. And to keep the English out blockading it.
During World War II, BOAC (the predecessor to British Airways) operated Mosquito fighter aircraft as civilian fast passenger planes to Sweden. Sweden produced the world's best ball bearings, but due to neutrality, military planes were prohibited from landing. BOAC's Mosquito planes were fast enough that German fighter planes couldn't catch them.
RAF lent BOAC 15 Mosquito planes, painted in BOAC colors. Upon arrival in Sweden, cargo would be loaded while the crew went to the pilots' lounge and met Lufthansa crews flying to Germany.
Between 1940 and 1945, Mosquito planes transported 500,000 tons of goods and a Danish nuclear physicist smuggled out of occupied Denmark by the resistance, who had to buy his own ticket for the flight.
STUKA planen var bygga i Sverige. Vi tvingade tyskarna sätta ett rött J i passen. Vi ljög för de allierade om mängden järn Vi sålde. Vi var fega svin
Field marshal Mannerheim’s speech to the Swedish volunteers after the end of the Winter War, was erratic noticedas a speech of a Swedish general.
In 1939 our military was under-sized. But we had learned after WW1 to improve our agriculture so we had a quite good possibility to feed the people ( better than today). During the war years the defense was much improved. We were however very dependent on import of coal- otherwise many in the cities would not have survived the winters. This coal was imported from Germany. The Nazis also knew that they had a very slight support in the population as shown in elections. Our best ally was -as often before- the Baltic Sea.
I'm actually more proud of my country after hearing this.
makes us 2
Ditt land är vackert, bro, du ska alltid vara stolt över det
I've always been proud of our country.
Pity your country is now invaded and taken over by foreign criminals that your govt fails to contain
U should not be proud. Read more history what your country did in 1940 to 1942.... How many norwegians killed because of sweden love with Hitler these year, is unknown. I loves Sweden and swedish people today, so no worry. U should look up what Eric Erikson did during the war. He worked for Shell before ww2 and its a very good story about a true swedish hero.
Sweden did the right thing, a reluctant compliance with some demands. Did the U.S. do the right thing in helping Stalin?
No! I don't think so as an American because Stalin is a bigger monster than Hitler was .Hitler was just mental for the most part and I don't know why in the hell the USA and UK joined with the Soviets ..I don't know so much that the US wanted to do it but Britain definitely did which is probably why Roosevelt did . Americans couldn't stand communists. I know that the Soviets would have been starved out and what would have happened in 41 and 42 is that most of the Soviets would have starved and the Germans would have starved on the Eastern Front .the British Canadian and Americans would have going ahead and done everything else they did but the USA and the Royal Air Force was bombing the plants that made the roof off of a German airplanes and tanks to help the Soviets during the war and the whole time Stalin kept bitching when America is sending him everything including food for his people and food to the UK .the man was never freaking happy .he wanted a another front opened up in 1943 and Roosevelt said we were in Italy and we can either send them food and more tanks and big trucks or we could open another front and Molotov said they'll take the supplies .😂Stalin still bitched . it would have costed the Americans British and Canadians more casualties and maybe twice as many but it still would have gotten the job done ..
It was a strategic decision, if Hitler conquered Soviet he would've established potentially an unbeatable state. Only thing worse than comnunists in the Heartland are industrious nazis. Not being a fan of Stalin, but the Axis and their subordinates were a tad worse.
In helping the Sovjets, Stalin did´nt have to pay Anything. The British have to pay years and years to come, they almost got bankcropcy. America in a nutshall, GREDY.
Some demands? In 1940-45, 90% of swedish iron was exported to Germany mostly shipped from the port of Narvik Norway. Only France exported more in Europe. Germany imported some 50-60% during the war so this was extremely imortant to the war effort.
@@montrelouisebohon-harris7023is a true American
In short words, they liked Sweden. I can´t go in to openly what it means ;) /Marcus from Sweden.
Nä. Hitler hatade Sverige. "In September 1942, the Finnish ambassador to France, Harri Holma, had a conversation with Jacques Benoist-Méchin, a minister without portfolio in the Vichy government.
Benoist-Méchin told Holma he had recently met Hitler's Chief of the Military Cabinet, where Hitler's comments about Finland were discussed.
Holma submitted a report to the Foreign Ministry on 7 September 1942.
"He especially mentioned that Hitler's admiration and respect for Finland had developed to the point of love. In contrast, the person concerned had told him [Benoist-Méchin] that Hitler downright hated Sweden (he specifically used the word 'hate')," Holma wrote."
Sweden was balancing on a knife's edge. As long as NaziGermany could get iron from Sweden, it wasn't worth the effort to conquer her. 40% of Germany's steel production was depending on Sweden. On the other hand the allies bought sophisticated production equipment from Sweden making massproduction with a higher level of quality possibly. An interesting fact with the trains with German soldiers transported through Sweden. My grandfather was one of the Swedish military guarding the transport, but they were not afraid of the Germans would do anything "stupid", they guarded themselves. It was if someone outside, allied or whatever would attack the germans and causing a conflict.
My grandfather met a young hot danish on vacation in northern Sweden 1938. They kept sending snailmail to each other. When Denmark was invaded, he sent a letter with instructions for evacuation by boat to Helsingborg and train to Stockholm, where he had arranged an apartment.
12 months later my mother was born but by that time he was stationed in the north to hold the line north of Torneå in case Soviet broke through Finland and advanced against the mines. North of Finland was mainly protected by Swedish volunteers, and they managed to hold the lines.
In the west the nazis had their eyes on the same mines from Narvik, but were attacked from the Englishmen with intel from Swedish soldiers.
For more than 50 years 80% of all iron ore in Europe were mined in Sweden. We had the industry to build something with it as well.
Beautiful pics and letters my grandparents left behind. The content of the letters changed after danish invasion, they knew people were reading them.
Kallade du precis din mormor het?
@@4nd3rzzon
Hahaha! Japp jag har sett bilder, hon var snygg när hon var ung. Som 80-åring som vilken 80-åring som helst, hade inte en tanke på snygghet. :D
There are also practical strategic issues involved, such as Sweden, being ribboned by rivers would’ve made tank warfare and its support vulnerable to sabotage and ambush.
My grandfather drove an ambulance in the winter wars back in Finland. He voluntered and was a fireman here in Västerås in Sweden. He never wanted to say anything about his time in Finland except one time to my father when he told him about the bonfires when they burned the deep frozen corpses of the dead and how some of them tending the fires hair got white while watching the bodies moving as they was burned alive as their bodys was unfrosen.😢😔❤️❤️❤️. War is hell on earth, please make love, not w*r🙂💕❤️❤️❤️…!!!
Saying Sweden did something to stay out is saying Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Poland, Netherlands, Greece, Yugoslavia etc did something wrong. Swedens fate was decided in Berlin and Moscow, not in Stockholm. It is very important to remember this going into the subject of Sweden in ww2.
There us also what the government did, what the general people did, what the armednforced did, and what individuals did. F ex Sweden had a very clear definition if what was to be allowed concerning german transports, but germany also bribed swedes in the railways and especially sea pilots and customs. The event where allied ships blocked in swedish ports made a daring everyone at once dash for England saw swedish law enforcement trying to help germany while the navy tried to help the allies. The constant illegal use by germany of swedish waters snd even swedish flagged ships for transports also infuriated the soviets who in 1943 launced an unrestricted submarine campaign that threatened swedish Gotland with starvation. The respons was an undeclared sea war and armed naval camapign between sweden and soviet, probably the most intense and simultaneously forgotten part of the entire war experience in sweden. Many swedes died in the sea, both military and civilians, and an undisclosed number of soviet mariners. In some swedish books you can still see these events described as unrelated accidents. About 2000 german sailors also died from swedish minings while using swedish waters without permits. Sweden balanced neutrality pretty well all things concidered. The cabinet clearly viewed the german campaigns against neutral countries as erratic and thus lacked the capacity to make a sober conclusion about the risks and this lead to some unwarranted cautions early on. But already before ElAlamein, they had started the slow shift towards more determination. One must however remember sweden was entirely dependent on germany for energy and weapons import. There were among military personnel a professional acknowledgement of german martial successes but even western spies concluded the people of sweden read english books, watched american movies, and were over all quite anglophilic unlike sentiments dominating during the previous war. The difference in treatment between allied and axis personnel captured speaks volumes in this, in stark contrast to a lingering misconception that sweden was socially leaning towards germany. What is most fascinating about the sibject is perhaps the many perspectives, misconceptions and over all contestating sentiments regarding swedish neutrality. Had other countries been successful I am quite certain we would all view it as rather standard practice but the fact sweden alone stand out as relatively untouched apparently sparks debate.
One final note. The swedish horizon wasn't the Pacific, Atlantic, or even continental Europe. It was the bordic and baltic countries. As such it is easy today from outside Sweden to forget how equally threatening to swedes the soviet union was besides nazi germany. Also in this equation rests the then alreadyvwell established good relations between nordic peoples and the circumstances were that Finland and Norway were on opposite sides and a war that involved armed conflict with either would have been absolutely unthinkable to basically every swede, regardless what happens in Poland, Belgium, China, Libya or Ukraine. That's simply not the horizon a small country can be expected to operate with when war is at their doorstep.
Hehe well written comment, appreciate it! 😊
I can't say that i have ever seen such a well written comment on youtube. Especially on such a complicated and controversial topic. Bravo! Starkt jobbat!
well said Oscar. a good balanced argument but you forget the moral argument.....we should have remained neutral in England too. We would have come out of the war rich like the Swedes, not saddled with war debts to the Yanks.
Shame you stood by when your Nordic brothers were invaded. They have still not forgiven you..
@@edwarddavies8411 We sure fucked up, as we generally do in times of war. What bothers me (who was born in 87', 40-something years after the war) is how many of my countrymen simply don't realize that sweden's realtive wealth was caused by the fact that everyone else got bombed back several decades. Many swedes believe that we got so far ahead through hard work and today, as sweden is literally falling apart everyone is wondering what happened. What happened is clearly that as everyone around us rolled up their sleves we instead got complacent. We've been loosing speed ever since, and now that everyone else is passing us by we ask how... 😭
The people of Sweden were a symbel of survival of humanity in world of turmoil and depravity.
Your numbers about Swedish volunteers in Finland are misleading, too big!! Only 1629 Swedish volunteer fighters were in Finland during Continuation war and during Winter war 8260 Swedish volunteers. Check Finnish sources!! Swedes helped us Finns by sending warm clothes and by inviting Finnish children to live in their homes, safe from bombings.
My close relative was a war child in Sweden, too.
Finns would have desperately needed more weapons, while Swedes made money by selling steel to Germany.
Winter war: 8700 volunteers, 87 hundred, from Sweden. Not 87 "thousand"
Carin Göring herman görings first wife was swedish and Herman was a friend of the swedish king. He also had othet strong ties to Sweden and lived in briefly on Odengatan in Stockholm. He was working as a pilot for here.
Hermann göring was friends with Henry koux in Västerås. He visit him on hes island aggarön.
You gotta do what you gotta do and they kept their population safe. Easy to talk about morality now as an afterthought. But at the time, playing the game was the right thing to do.
I can't say it wasn't Göring who was the person responsible for Sweden not being invaded, however, it is the first time I hear about it. When I grew up in Sweden in the 80's and 90's, we were taught that Sweden weren't invade because the Swedish government threatened to blow up all of the iron mines if the Nazis were to invade, so that they didn't have anything to gain to invade. I can't say if that is true either, but that is what was taught. But I do think it does sound more plausible that the risk of destroying your supply of iron, from a country that doesn't pose any threat is mor likely than a high rankings personal relationship.
I can believe both are true, our ties with Göring but also the fact that we had rigged the mines for destruction in the event of war as it would take a very long time to get the mines functional again were both reasons to why they didn't invade
I agree with your statement. Goring was the financier of Nazi. The Nazi economy at that time wasn’t really built from their own country. It was accumulated through credit from investors. Although we already know that Nazi would loose in Stalingrad, they wouldn’t haven’t sustain for long if they invaded Sweden.
Its crazy because it was a swedish proffesor who cracked the enigma code its was just they didn’t reaveal it in fear of being invaded. But they did send it to uk)
Well, almost. He cracked the Lorentz code, which was used on telegraph wires, not the Enigma. The Swedes hadn't enough Enigma messages. It was Poland that first cracked the Enigma code. The Lorentz wasn't easier, but it was a different machine.
It is a shame that no mrntion has been made of the number if Jews that found sanctuary in Sweden. Nor the number of Swedush fields that were filled with YS bombers, that were parked wing-tip to wing-tip, after having having suffered, whilste on the way to bomb Germany, convenienr "engine trouble"; the crews of which spent a very pleasent war as internees.
Pity that large numbers of Jews were turned away or had the letter 'J' stamped in their passports.
Where was your 'Kindertransport' that saved thousands of Jewish children ?
I would have appreciated to be told the that the fact that Hermann Görings beloved dead wife Carin von Kantzow was Swedish.
Although she passed away in 1931 but Göring loved her so much he built her a mausoleum.
If you have a second in command in a country that adores a person that much, it might, be a factor to consider.
Hey, that’s what I’ve been told too. I’m related to Carins ex husband Nils von Kantzow
It is said that sometime in 1944 the air defence with FLAK in Malmö in southern Sweden had the following telegraph conversation with the RAF bombers, flying in the night and following the Swedish coast line for air raids in northen Germany, and now and then violating Swedish air space:
Swedish air defence: Tommy, you are violating Swedish air space! Please remove yourself or we will fire for effect.
Bomber crew: We know...
so the Swedes start a gun barrage.
Bomber crew: Hey Swedes, you're aiming too low.
Swedish air defence: We know...
(it is most unlikely this story is true)
What however is true was that the Swedish PTS ordered the staff at the broad casting station at Motala to send a short wave signal every night, probably as a navigation aid for the RAF bombers.
It's actually true, my late grandfather served as an aa-gunner first in Malmö then in Helsingborg. He told me that they always warned the allies and then when they Opened fire, they always aimed too low.
At the other hand they earned even the German pilot before they Open fire, but there they did'nt aim low.
Another thing is that when any allied airplane went down in Sweden, the Sweden secretly sent them back to England, while the German crews got internated in Most cases
Farfar berättade samma sak
The situation is even more complicated than you tell here. Sweden basically placated the germans as much as needed. Being able to listen in on German communication helped the government in their balancing act. And while Goering played his part, it was not the only reason. Goering also informed that he could not guarantee that he could take out the swedish navy. This is probably one of the most forgotten part of this story, but the swedish navy, while somewhat aged in some respect, was large. It was designed to fight in the baltic and also to use the swedish archipelago. The swedish submarines had benefited from german expirience and were considered very capable and a real wild card. Sweden also a large force of destroyers and even more smaler torpedo boats and motor torpedo boats. Kriegsmarine also could not guarantee the safety of german supply ships in the baltic. And to reliably supply an invading army, even if it came from Norway, you needed to ship supplies. Even Hitler considered the swedish navy as a huge problem.
The german army was pretty confident but it also had to accept that it would in the long run need supplies ship from Germany by boat.
Sweden had the means to threaten any german surface ship apart from the battleships. Even the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau would have had to be careful if they engaged swedish coastal defence ships (or armoured ships as the swedish called them), especially in coastal waters. These ships were armed with 28cm cannons with long range, same guns as the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. One can argue that the german pocket battleships, Graf Spee, Sheer and Lutzow, were a beffed up version of the swedish ships.
Considering the huge losses the German navy took attacking Norway, against a way more unprepared opponent, launching an amphibious assault against Sweden was not a tempting prospect. It would have needed the support of many of Kriegsmarines bigger units. And after 1941 they could not easily be re-located to the Baltic sea. And doing that would have been a dead giveaway about any invasion plan.
Like I wrote, the german army was pretty confident they could pull it of, but Luftwaffes leader did not like it and the kriegsmarine did not like it either. And when even the fuhrer shared some of the kriegsmarines worries about the swedish navy, well, the longer the war progressed, the more dangerous a full scale invasion became.
And there is also the Bismarck story. The swedish cruiser Gotland spotted Bismarck and her escort when they were headed to Norway and promtly reported it. And the swedish navy made sure a liasion officer from the free norwegian force could read the report. And he in turn hurried to inform the british naval attache. The swedes could if the germans found out claim they were innocent.
The swedish navy was very well aware of Bismarck and here capabilities. The first foreign officer to be allowed to visit the battleship was Swedens naval attache. Considering the fact that Bismarck was the german warship that the swedish navy had no real counter too, save massed torpedo attacks, getting rid of her would be a good thing.
So making sure that Bismarck was taken out of the equation in the Baltics was very important from a strategic point of view. And if they could help the Royal Navy getting rid of her, so much better. Like I said, the Swedish navy may have been the one institution outside of germany that had the best intelligence about Bismarcks capabilities.
It is complicated but even more than is told in the video. Goering was opposed but since Hitler already had personal doubts and some fear when it came to the swedish navy, Goerings opposition only played a part. Hitler was overall becoming pretty unimpressed by the kriegsmarines larger ships and knowing full well how a hastly assembled force of die-hard norwegians, commaned by a retired colonel has blown the heavy cruiser Bluecher out of the water after having made it past the main norwegian coastal defences, well, he may been very reluctant to roll that die once again.
My grandmother was a war-child from finland and when the war was over she couldnt return because her dad had severe ptsd from figthing in the war and didnt want them back in the country because he was afraid for their life.
My father's grandfather fought in Finland and in Norway during World War II (was Swedish). He and several others would not have been able to do it if Sweden had been involved in the war. Then Sweden was a haven for Danes, Norwegians, Finns and others. Built up a large Norwegian police force, took care of Finnish children, saved Jews from the surrounding area and also other parts, gave medical care to resistance fighters and sanctuary, medical care to Finnish and Finnish-Swedish soldiers, etc. The government may have been jerks, but the Swedish people to 98% were the best😁👍
Han var även engelsk underrättelse officer😊👍
Sweden 🇸🇪 did a good attitude for its population and bravely rescued enormous numbers of Norway Jewish ✡️....criticism of Sir Winston Churchill towards Sweden 🇸🇪 was not logical and unpredictable.
My grandfather was abandoned at birth at a cloister. Given the name Franciscus, Petrus, Maria. He was from the Netherlands. He was taken captive during ww2 and forced to work in a steel factory. Bombs dropping close by every day. He was always afraid of fireworks, and i never knew why. Until my father told me.
A important thing was that Sweden in that time, have to make choice, invaded by nazis or by soviet. Not an easy thing, but when Sweden got information about barabosa, and the Americans helped British, they knew that the nazis will fall in one or other way. So Sweden made very good decision.
So other countries should have done the same as Sweden?
Well Norway and Denmark was invaded very fast, so they didn’t know about Germans plan
@@davidlittle7182 Most of them did, but were lucky to be invaded, so that their great-grandchildren can be proud and talk down to those who were not invaded.
@@davidlittle7182Care to name all the countries that declared war on Germany on principle?
Take Norway as an example. Declared itself neutral, traded with Germany, offered very little help to Finland when they were invaded, much less than Sweden did in fact. USA was dragged into it, very reluctantly. Churchill pleaded quite a bit before pearl harbor.
@@shade84342 LOL Norway had a proper resistance, Sweden didn’t. Finland received help from the Nazis
Sweden was smart
Sweden was collaborating with the nazis… I don’t call that smart, just cowardly
Norwegians bitch alot though, if they had wanted our help they should've stayed in the goddamn union ;)
but morally cowardly god bless the Finns
Well, Sweden ww2 history is not so good. Sweden exported so much to nazi Germany that it kept war mashine running. More than 70 percent of all steel in German warmashine comes from Sweden. In April 1940, Norway had 16 ships located at Gøteborg. What a nice nabour should do, is to find a "good" reason to "arrest" these ships to war ends. But no, Sweden made clear that these ships had to leave Sweden and all becomes victoms of submarines. Before 1943, norwegian were sent back to german Gestapo if they tried to escape from germans, but later in the war, Sweden was very helpfull when they relise how war was turning against Germany...
Not to mentions they allow german troops to use swedish trains to be transported through sweden to attack Norway.
Swedish goverment during the war was a true shame and if they have done right thing, they could make war much shorter... But they didnt dare to do it.
Well missing here is that one really big reason Sweden went totally neutral and unwilling to fight in any more wars was after the loss of Finland 1809. That was ⅓ of the total swedish territory that was lost to Russia. So after about 350 years that Finland had been a part of Sweden the brotherly roots had never really faded, and the natural feelings of Swedish people to help Finland in any way against Russia was quite high.
There was plans to invade Sweden from Trondheim in Norway and cut the country in two.
But things happened in the eastern front so invasion did never happen. The germans run into serious problem when they tried to invade Sovietunion, and that was Swedens luck.
The plan could well have led to failure. Sweden 1943 was much more difficuly to defeat than Norway or Denmark.
Interesting video, and as a Swede today, i have dual feelings about it. I feel for the other Scandinavian countries but same time, knowing what we know today and seeing how it progressed, i believe we did the right thing. The best would have been if we had made a Scandinavian union with a strong defence, then maybee none have been attacked, but this is semantics coz we never did. Be safe all
No. As a Swede I am glad the government went in the peaceful but hard line. Everything isnt always black and white. During the war, we also trained Norwegian resistance fighters. So working behind enemies lines can also be necessary from time to time.
Exactly! The positive part about being neutral and keeping Germany off our backs let us help neighbors like you said, I wish people in general understood that sometimes you need to placate the enemy to not get destroyed..
Väldigt intressant diskussion iaf, vi pratade mycket om detta i skolan när jag var ung och slutsatsen var nog att vi gjorde så mycket vi kunde.
A primary reason for Germany to invade Norway, was that Churchill was planning on invading Norway and Sweden himself. Even if there were plans from the germans before they found out about Churchills plans, they were definitely moved up in the priority.
The reason Churchill planned to invade Norway, was that the ore was transported via norweigian ports. Which is also why it became a priority from Germany to prevent the Allies from invading. Sweden also supplied ore to the allies before the invasion of Norway.
A major advantage for the swedish government, was that Arne Beurling broke the german "T52 Geheimschreiber"-encryption. Now I don't know what the differenace was from Enigma, or which was actually more advanced. The germans found out via finland though, in the Continuation-war. Sweden supplied Finland with intelligence, and Finland in turn informed the germans that Sweden had broken 'G', since they were now allies against the USSR. After which the germans switched encryption for messages sent via the swedish telecommunications-network.
The reason I've been told in school was that the germans of course traded with us and to secure that trade they invaded denmark and norway (not the only reason) but they didn't secure the mines directly because then the swedish mines would get bombed by the brits and americans and all those so by not invading they made sure that the mines didn't get bombed and they still got the precious metals.
We will always help our neighbours, Finland, Norway and even Denmark and im sure they will do the same!
Love from Sweden ♥️
Where is the narrator from?
Very odd pronunciations of some of the stuff mentioned..."Stailin" instead of Stalin, "Swedden" instead of Sweden and at other times they are pronunounced correctly
Another reason, which I speculate, why Germany did not invade Sweden during the war might have been that an invasion would lead to production obstacles for iron supply.
We had a free surströmmingsbufé at the border.
🤣
You failed to talk about the "Norwegian police troops" an norwegian military force that got trained in sweden during the nazi occpation of norway, a secret millitary that was rebelling against the nazis
Being a Swede, I´ve for sure felt some shame over not standing up and taking the fight. However, if you consider we were facing invasion by both Germany and Soviet and the fact that our army wouldnt have been able to withold more than a couple of days, it kind of makes sense. If we were to be occupied by either of these evil nations, absolutely no aid would reach the neighbour countries. No jews would find shelter here and thousands more would have been killed.
My dad was 8 years old when WW2 started. He told me that he had sold newspapers to the Nazi generalconsulate in Luleå. One day when he stopped to deliver the newspaper, one of the staff told him that they wanted to pay their bill. So when my dad came to the office and told 2 men at the newsoffice, they started to laugh!
No wonder, they said. They just lost the war!
That was May -45. When my dad came by later, I think it was the same day, the Naziflag was gone.
4:29 Look at that handshake
Masonic?
Helping the Nazis OR tolerating some activities from whom is threatening you with “total war” is not the same thing. We made a bet to stay neutral but had to abide by some of Nazi-Germanys demands and by doing so we were able to “keep our noses above the water” and survive as a nation, keeping our own military research on nuclear-fission, weapons, ammo, artillery, naval and aircraft technologies out of Nazi and Soviet hands. The research of a lot of these were “secret” from not only other nations but also from our own public. My wife’s grandfather were in one of these black operations and he wasn’t even allowed to tell his wife that he was working for the Swedish government. He never did tell her or us or anyone except when he got cancer in his late 80s and had only a few more months to live, and then he told us. Apparently it seems to have been an enormous effort in concealing information and intelligence from reaching anyone and everyone in fear of it reaching the Nazis and/or Soviet governments. He was a physicist researching nuclear fission and eventually helped engineer the Swedish nuclear energy reactors being developed in Sweden.
Oh and btw I learned a couple days ago that the physicists that came to the realization about how to build the atom bomb, which in turn was because of a German discovery that sending neutrons into the nucleus of uranium had led to the forming of new elements, and these 2 individuals were Jewish physicists, located in Sweden, that Sweden saved from Germany. Their realization led to the forming of the Manhattan project.
I think it had to do with the Swedish royals being in strong relationships with the Germans
A good documentary that seems very accurate . Tnx 🙂👍
This is the most beautiful story I've heard in a while. Countless lives and Swedens autonomy was saved by love. You have lots of reasons to be proud of your women!
As a Swede, Sweden during WW2 is one of the more interesting subjects for me. I would just like to add some stuff, that could be fun to know.
Firstly, the Swedish ministry of foreign affairs chose Raoul Wallenberg as someone to help Jews in Hungary with fake passports to be able to flee the country. Raoul saved the lives of tens of thousands of Jews, only to be captured by Soviet soldiers when the Nazis fell, and unfortunately died in prison. Today Raoul Wallenberg is quite famous in Sweden, and is remembered for example in the Swedish army museum.
Secondly, something that I find quite funny: The Germans built telephone lines through Sweden, to easier reach locations in Norway. They arranged some kind of code, planned to stop the swedes from listening to what they were saying. I don’t know any details about this, but my dad have said that “the code was meant to hold off the Swedes permanently, but they cracked it in a matter of minutes.” It might also have been hours or days, but as mentioned I don’t know how true this is.
Lastly, I also believe that Sweden did make plans to send troops into Norway and Denmark to liberate them, later on in the war. However it came to an end before these plans could come into effect.
I’m no expert and I can’t say with confidence if anything I have mentioned is true.
Sweden was not invaded for the simple reason that the Germans got all they wanted without having to invade and commit troops to an occupation. Access to railways for troops and supplies, steel, ball bearings, storage of supplies in a ”neutral” country. Sweden did the dishonorable thing of colaborating then prtending it did not happen in the history books of their children.
Had sweden joined on the allied side, the war would have been significantly shortened due to the resources thereby tied up in an occupation
It is more than that.
Arne Burling broke the Geheimfernschreiber ("secret teletypewriter"). Compared to the more known Enigma, a more advanced/complex cipher machine.
Arne Burling did get Albert Einstein's office at Princeton University after the war.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arne_Beurling
I have not learned about the second world war in school yet, and I’m not sure what specific parts they teach really. Although if i remember correctly from museums, Swedish television and what teachers have said, the government isn’t really trying to hide any ”bad” part about our history.
I can agree that the war would have been shorter if Sweden joined it, and I said nothing against it. All I wanted to do was to share some things I found cool about my country at this time. However I still belive Sweden did the right thing. Sure, they chose to be ”dishonerable” to other nations, but what are you suggesting they should have done? The germans were questionably one of the strongest nations in the world militarily. With no big allies on their border, Sweden would surely get overrun by them if they got invaded. And nobody in the country knew what would happen, people were scared for their lives, for the existance of their home country. So they chose to rather be on Germany’s good side, than that probably hundreds of thousands of swedes and refugees would die, their democratic government would be overthrown, and that the country would be destroyed in many ways. Then wouldn’t the germans get the swedish benefit anyways?
@@wathaet1386 Nah, the "history books" didn't cover that up. I were taught in school that Sweden unfortunately had a lot of nazi sympathizers, quite a lot of volounteers joined Germany. And we also discussed that Sweden's peace with Germany came from the fact that we without restriction traded iron ore etc.
Not to mention there being several old TV-series and movies that portrayed the reality of jewish refugees and whatnot in Sweden during WW2.
@@ickerolig Well, most swedes are not aware and parties like the “Liberals” proudly claimed on campaign posters a few years back “fighting nazis and fascists since the 30s when they in fact supported the nazi deal until they clearly were loosing then started “fighting nazis” again. Never once with spilled blood or at any cost to themselves though
During the War, the famous Swedish author; Astrid Lindgren had a top-secret job. There was a law on censorship in Sweden. Censorship means that it was forbidden to write about certain things. For example, soldiers were not allowed to write where in the country they were. If an enemy read the letter, they could figure out how the Swedish defense worked, for example.
Astrid Lindgren's top-secret work consisted of opening other people's mail, crossing out everything that was forbidden to write, and then passing it on to whoever was supposed to receive the letter. The post office was located in the Central Post Office on Vasagatan.
Having visited Sweden many times, being 1/2 Swedish I met many German National Socialists (Nazi is a joo word) in Sweden , that went to Sweden after 1944. At a reunion in Sweden, I had the honor of singing "Horst Wessel" with 3 "Swedes". I tried to join the Nordiska (now Nordic) Resistance Movement which still uses the tune of Horst Wessel in their marching song.
During WW2, Swedish goverment was playing around with Allies, Germany and Russians. They did everything to stay away from the war. Lots of Swedes were angry over this. Some swedes took arms and helped. Like helping Finland.
It’s a factor of many many things,it’s like saying if England hadn’t been an island what would of been the out come?Or if Japan hadn’t attacked pearl harbour would America of joined the war….Sweden did what it thought was right for its people,all I’m saying is if they had of resisted hitler,how much would it of changed things?Apart from even more people being extinguished😥
didnt sweden build a massive coast line defence around the south part? witch also had some mental effect?
Yes. The Per Albin Line ( swedish pm).
Several strategical and tactical reasons from a purely military point of view existed that meant that the casualties to conquer Sweden would be high.
The Swedish Navy at the time would be a serious opponent to the Hoch Sea Flotte.
Several manouvers proved both that Sweden had a high capacity to relocate troops, but also that the motivation to defend the country if attacked was high.
Import of vital ball bearings and iron ore would stop completely, way before the Wehrmacht was able to occupy the territory those facilities was on due to how the Swedish terrain look.
Hundreds of forts and fortresses.
Et cetera.
Nazi Germany would still have won, and managed to occupy the entirety of Sweden, but at the cost of very high casualties and after a significantly longer time than it took them to fully occupy Norway.
Göring lived and worked in Malmö, Sweden pre war. He was a mail pilot on the route to Stockholm. Had his office in Limhamn. Nowdays a gym...
7:32, i am a Swed, but I dont think this is true. Germany invaded Norway to be able to buy iron ire from Sweden and not let the British stop the imports
@@victorpaulander9606 Norway was more strategic with her North Atlantic ports to control the shipping lanes from the US to Britain with the German Submarine fleet, the Wolfpacks.
my grandfather was in a secret military operation to help the Norway royal family children to cross the border over to Sweden,he spoke perfect german,russia language and we find a lot of secret maps and war treasure nodes after he passed away,he was a great brave man
I think Sweden did what it had to do to protect it's people.
😂 Really?! And they use the same strategy today when all this illegal aliens comes in but never goes away again = 50 years left for you swedes until you Country is gone !. No weapons needed because they out smart you with unity = Islam. Truth is a biatch.
I’m from Skania in the very south of Sweden. I had a discussion about 25 years ago with a man who was already old then, meaning he was in his prime during ww2. He told me most of southern Sweden was actually quite pro Nazi during the war. Especially much of the military officers corps.
This of course was before events such as the Holocaust were known. But at the time Hitlers rebuilding of a shattered Germany and the combination of nationalism and socialism under a strong leader held great appeal.
Also in Limhamn, Malmö on Linnégatan there is a house, and in that house lived Herman Göring for a while. He was very fond of Sweden and it’s said he commented that the first true Aryans came from the Siljan woods of Sweden. Plus he had a Swedish mistress. And he had a great influence even with Hitler himself, so that might also be part of why Sweden was never invaded.
I believe Göring had something to do about it.
After he became a war heroe in WW1 he married Karin, a Swedish woman, and lived in Stockholm.
The connection between Göring, the royal family and Swedish novelty.
Im pretty sure the vikings in sweden were actually neutral back then.
It was norwey and denmark that was raiding. Atleast 10x more than swedes.
Could be wrong tho🤷♂️
Great vid regardless! Good job😊
My Grandfather was Swedish. He was sent to Denmark to fight.
Denmark surrendered after just 6 hours of fighting.
Not true
@@JDkonsult Denmark had an active restistance movement during the war and it was alot of traffic between Sweden and Denmark in Small boats.
@@hansericsson7058 dont forget how we saved the danish navy
You have misunderstood what your grandfather told you, or he lied. No Swede was sent anywhere to fight anything in WWII.
As a Swede i liked this but why did you show some footage from Denmark? Approx 1.50 into the film you show a, althought short, snippet from Denmark. Strange indeed haha
God bless you and your beautiful country and my children are almost half Swedish because their dad is Swedish and they didn't know because he was adopted .they took a DNA test and they thought the Swedish came from me because I'm the blonde hair blue-eyed one but no no it's their daddy .I was telling the kids I'm half English and the rest is Southern Medallion and Eastern European 😂😂I always wondered about him because he had this Germanic Look to Him ..I don't know how sweet and managed to keep the Germans out of that works at playing some pretty tricky politics with Hitler ..
My grandfather valunteered when Sovjet invaded Finland. He later went and valunteered for the "Norwegian resistance movement/Norska motståndsrörelsen" to help them fight the Nazis.
He told me that he couldn't just sit and watch while the Nazis travel by train through our cities without doing anything.
Lucky for many that have not lived a direct war. It is easy to judge or have a position from far and long ago. The technology and the information and misinformation of that era was so different and yet we will never know how much the population have to endure to survive. Many stories of courage have emerged that are opaqued by the traitorous ones.
Sweden assisted the nazis and let them use our railroad to transport soldiers and prisoners thrue Sweden back to Germany. So the Nazis did not have to invade Sweden,
So much lies.... We also got them free aliegence to our mines that made all the weapon....
We also denied them that access both at the start of the war and at the end of the war, but between 1941-1943 Sweden were a bit surrounded by the Axis. But if you study anything you will learn that we played ball with the Allies as well and that we were way more focused on having that working out but that we kept the minimum trade with germany wihtout pissing them off too much. The economic factor of our relations with Germany was way more important for Germany then any military access through Sweden was. So calling it assisted help is not correct at all. Sweden allowed them to transport military personnel(whole divisions) to Finland but not the other way around. And we let transportships sail in swedish water to reach Finland as well but most of you ignored people dont know that either or the importance of that to even use that in your agruments so please stop spreading unhistorical nonsense...
Indeed, my grandfather was one of many soldiers hiding in trenches along the sides of the railroads, making sure no Nazis was to leave the trains....All went smoothly from what o know
@@DasenSWEwhat you yappin about, racism was created in Sweden by Von Linne and Hitler loved it. Even to this day 2024 xenophobia is a huge issue in Sweden.
Was the script written by an AI? Some of the word choices sound so weird
why is a photo of Swiss soldiers used as the thumbnail?
At some points, you say his name Stahlin and then Staylin.
Then you say Sweeden, followed by Swedden.
What's up with that?
AI generated bs is whats up
Just want to say, already at the first point there was an error, swedish vikings are famous for going east not west
And south.
You need to check your numbers dude “87.000 Swedish men and women” volunteered in the winter war is plain wrong. Somewhere between 8000-8900 volunteered. Still Sweden gave more to Finland in aid and volunteers than any other nation on the planet these crucial month in dec 1939 to march 1940.
Yes there were 8260 Swedish volunteer fighters during Winter war and only 1694 fighters during the longer Continuation war, according to sources presented in Finnish Wikipedia.
There is an old saying telling that "Finland is Sweden's army"...
@@kaihomieli8226 Finland has been Sweden for a very long time, much longer than it was Russian and even as Finnish
@@bengtgronlund9447 Yes Finns did the fighting and Swedes collected the taxes... Finns spoke Finnish and lived in eastern part and northern part of the combo state and never identified themselves as Swedes.
The portrayal that "the Finns did the fighting and the Swedes collected the taxes" is an exaggerated simplification that does not accurately reflect historical reality. The Finns were an integral part of the Swedish realm and participated in both military and civil duties, just like the Swedes. There was a significant mix of languages and cultures, and identity was more complex than a simple division between Finns and Swedes.So here is some facts: Political and Administrative Unity:
Finland was an integral part of the Swedish realm from the Middle Ages until 1809. There was no separate Finnish state during this period; Finland was part of the Swedish realm with the same laws and administration.
Language and Culture:
It is correct that the majority of the population in Finland spoke Finnish. However, Swedish was widely spoken, especially in cities and by the ruling elite. Many Finns identified themselves as Swedes culturally and politically.
Military Service:
Finnish soldiers participated in the Swedish army and were often known for their courage and skill. However, it is not accurate to say that only Finns did the military work while the Swedes only collected taxes. Both groups participated in both military and civil administration.
Identity:
The concept of national identity was not as strongly defined during this period as it is today. Many inhabitants of Finland saw themselves as subjects of the Swedish king rather than having a separate Finnish or Swedish identity. The rise of nationalism came later, primarily in the 19th century.
Geography:
Finns did not only live in the eastern and northern parts of the realm. They lived in the entire area that today constitutes Finland, including the western and southern parts, which today have a significant Swedish-speaking population.
To luck of 100 000:s that fled from Scandinavian countries ,and Europe, also jews, Sweden avoided being ockupied, and became valuable to build up post-war Sweden. in 60ies one of the richest countries in the world. But later allowing uneducated muslims, luck-seekers to enter the country, and that was beginning of downfall....
Sweden delivered iron ore to Germany as long as Sweden got coal in exchange.. Sweden was never on Hitler's side, and we even sent Raoul Wallenberg to save lots of Jews!
By staying natural they saved alot of Jewish lives and don't know how many other peoples lives they saved.you.cant blame.them.from not.wanting their country.reducsed to rubble.
Det var Sverige som ville att tyskarna satte ett J i judarnas pass....så vi kunde avvisa dom redan vid gränsen. Vet inte hur många judar som dog av denna grymma handling.
Instead of 'never invade' in your title try 'never have invaded' (British English) or 'never invaded' (American English). This is just a small error, but it's easily corrected.
As a Norwegian that lives in Sweden today and has great respect for the country. Im not impressed by the choices they made at the time. Sure they helped Norwegians and Danes over the border, and other stuff for the allies. But they also let Germans pass through like a highway on the ground. Without Sweden they would have had to take the water or airway to reach Norway at all after the invasion.
The older generation in Norway often feel betrayed by Sweden.
Some would argue that Sweden had some questionable morals about racial hygiene as well. With the institution in Uppsala and their work and study.
Pretty fu*k up stuff when you get in to it..
Nonetheless, Sweden did good things as well. I and i live and love this country very much today!
Great video👍🏻
I’m half Swedish, half Norwegian, and I can relate to what you say. My grandparents on mother’s side (Norwegian, Kristiansand) often told me tales from the war. And it was clear that Sweden had lost a grate deal of credibility in the eyes of most of that generation and rightly so, at lest from a Norwegian standpoint. Growing up I’ve come to look at it as a dilemma with only bad choices in a time of chaos and uncertainty. I believe Sweden did the right choice but ONLY for Sweden and it leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth.
I can understand the feeling on a personal level, however, war is war and it's never pretty. Sweden did actually fend off German requests to use its railroads to Norway for quite a while, only when the fighting had ceased in Norway were they no longer able to deny the request. The most honorable thing to do is probably to declare war on evil but I definitely get that it's not that easy of a choice in reality, when countless lives are at stake, both citizens of the country and losing a safe-ish place for refugees.
I think Sweden acted as most countries would under similar circumstances, and that's not to say it's the best way to act. The fact is that Norway, Denmark and Sweden all declared themselves neutral. Norway also having trade treaties with Germany. Norway and Denmark simply didn't have leverage enough to prevent invasion. In addition, what Britain demanded of the nordic countries would often put them in an awful situation that would no doubt result in a lot of destruction and little hope of getting help since, Sweden in particular, at that time was completely surrounded by the Nazis and Soviets. Britain even had plans of invading Norway and, when reaching Sweden, blowing up the iron mines in hopes of starting a new front in the war in Sweden.
In short, war is ugly, and it's always a lot easier to condemn actions in retrospect.
The fact is if Sweden had acted against Nazi Germany it would have ended up very bad for Sweden. Sometimes you must do what is best for its country and people even if its against your moral wishes and considerations.
You could have defended your own country; not even a proper mobilisation even though Swedes warned you, and you didn't rearm anywhere near what Sweden and Finland did.
The truth about this is still considered too crazy for publication. Which Swedish family through their holdingcompany called investor owned the majority of American IG farben and several companys of crucial importance for the nazi wareffort? And which swedish family worked with the upcoming nazigovernment since long before 1936? And which swedish family had direct influence if not direct control of the swedish government? Did not a swedish family really decide? Was not Hitler afraid of opposing this family?
Is nobody going to mention the fact the soldiers on the thumbnail are actually swiss? The helmets are such a dead giveaway....
I do not know were u learnd this but im sweed and we didnt join the War becuse it would be catastrofik
There was plans for Sweden to join the war aka operation save norway and operation save denmark but germany surrenderd before sweden was set to join. Sweden also trained some Danish and Norwegian troops and resistance members during the war.
We also have to remember that swedens population was smaller back then at aprox 6.3 million, germany had like 80million or smt.
The aryans lived in Sweden and Hitler did not want to kill them!
What about Norway or Denmark?
@@motorhead4446 The norwegians and danish people were treated pretty good compared to other countries they had occupied
In so many analyzes its presented like the alliances where the same during all WWII. Considering Soviet/Russia actually was a part of the Axis from 1938 to 1941 it made the nordic countries pushed into a corner...So actually both Finland and Sweden started WWI fighting the Axis in trying to whitstand the Russian attack on Finland.
For the first time in 500 years, the Nordic military is once again united. Let’s build the Nordic union and never be afraid of invading neighbors again.
They were actually secret allies...
No they just only did what they could do given the circumstances. Sweden is not the only country, with small population in Europe, that did everything to survive the war and not condemning large portion of its male population to death or captivity.
We all know the story of Bulgaria siding with the Germans but not giving away its Jews and soldiers for the Russian front.
So yeh they did what they could and there is no shame in that!
Do not for a second think that confronting the nazis would have been a good thing. Bringing a swifter end to WW2? Not likely. A diiferent outcome maybe. Sweden being overrun by the germans and later by the soviets? Probably, and not only would it had meant certain death to many swedes but by doing so Sweden would have turned their back on another even closer brother nation, Finland. Not giving them the aid they needed would have been a disaster increasing the chances of Stalin reaching Helsinki. Or perhaps declaring war with both Hitler and Stalin would have been the "moral" thing to do? Well there was not many options for a small nation stuck between nazis and the red army than to officially stay neutral. Then segretly be a training ground for operation Sepals, safe haven for refugees from neighboring countries and for all the american aircrews that turned for Sweden when the hope of reaching England was to small. Talking about a nations "unworthiness" from outside its encirclement is just ignorant and saying it today is even more so.
Difficult to question Sweden’s part in the war. How many Swedes were killed by the Soviets or Germans? How many Allied citizens were killed by the Swedes? How many Jewish people were protected by the Swedes? True enough that the Swedes collaborated with Germany, but what was the true “cost” of that collaboration against the Allies? The Swedes protected their borders, their infrastructure and their citizens. Was that really a bad thing they did? If Sweden had defied Germany, how much help would they actually have contributed to the Allied cause? How great a loss would it have been to Sweden?
Easy, they didn't have to invade; Sweeden sold Germany iron ore and allowed transshipment of Nickel ore from the Petsamo area mines in Finland.
Iron and Nickel= Tank armor.