Sweden, the Swastika and Stalin: The Swedish Experience in the Second World War (Societies at War)

I needed something in English for a college paper on Sweden's role in WWII. This book almost literally saved my life. I can't imagine the work Mr. Gilmour put into this book--the research must have taken ages. But here is a book that covers Sweden during that war torn era, from the politics to daily life and everything in between. If you are interested in Sweden, or if you need something to educate yourself on Sweden's history, I HIGHLY recommend this book. It's easy to read, easy to follow, engaging, and informative with exhaustive sourcing cited.

Independent scholar Gilmour here offers a mostly narrative survey of Sweden in World War II. It is divided into two parts: the first six chapters provide a chronolgy of political events; while the remaining chapters cover such topics as propaganda, race, or life on the home front. Sweden's response to the second rise of Germany was strongly influenced by its experience in World War I. Sweden, who depended on foreign trade through both World Wars suffered severe food shortages in the last year of the forst war caused, in part, by a tendentious and overbearing manner (P.8) towards the allies. This would color Allied interaction with the Swedes in WWII. As Germany rearmed in the 1930's, Swedish policy became a more low-key but more firmly neutral. This "small state realism" understood that Sweden was surrounded by the Nazi's on three sides and, just on the other side of Finland, a German client state, was the USSR, a traditional foe. As the war progressed and, as Norway's unfortunate experience under the Reich became more widely known, Tte populace increasingly sided with the allies, thus compounding the difficutly of maintaining offical neutrality.It is based pimarily on Swedish language secondary sources. Despite the title, there are no Russian sources and Stalin figures in the narrative only as a not-so-distant enemy that the Swedes fear as least as much as the Nazis. There are also no German language sources, few U.K. sources and a smidgen of U.S. sources. America is noted as the principal petroleum supplier for Sweden and for a "hectoring" Foreign Ministry (ie., the U.S. Department of State) and the attack on Pearl Harbor is reported as taking place on Dec. 6, 1941! Gilmour exhibits a bit of the traditional U.K. academic's condescension towards all things American.The last chapter is clearly the most interesting. Here, Gilmour reviews Post-WWII scholarship and attitudes towards Sweden in the war. Starting about the 1960's, scholars and analysts began questioning whether Sweden did all it could during the calamity. Perhaps some of this criticism was in reaction to the not inconsequential amount of sanctimonious pronouncements of the "morally superior," peaceloving Swedes during the Cold War. The critics pointed out that Sweden did not suffer devastated cities nor mass casualties as so many other European countries did. Critics also viewed the Swedes as world-class hypocrites for pursuing neutrality while trading much needed war material to the Nazi's such as iron ore, finished metal products, items like essential ball and roller bearings and allowing Nazi troops to transit Swedish "neutral" soil. The Swedes countered with the story of Raoul Wallenberg and Count Folke Bernadotte's, notable humanitarian efforts. Furthermore they were between a rock and a hard place. As Gilmour quotes then British Ambassador to Sweden, Sir Victor Mallet, "Swedish neutrality was of far greater value to us than a Swedish act of suicide in 1940, would have been."Maps at the front of the volume are very helpful and a dozen or so photos are interesting. Even with the Amazon discount, the hardback version's price, like so many U.K. produced academic monographs, is criminally overpriced. The book would have benefited from a more forthright discussion of the Swedish industrial collaboration with the Nazis, although, Gilmour does devoted a few pages to it. A more extended coverage of Nazi-Swedish interaction would give a better understanding of why so many question Swedish activity. For example, Raoul Wallenberg's uncles and their Enskilda bank, a major Swedish financial institution, funded many Nazi business schemes, provided false ownership face to the allies and even were part owners of the ball bearing works Schweinfurt! Ultimately, it is a rather dry survey filling in a gap of english language understanding of WWII. Scholars and the general reading public with find this a unique introduction to the subject with a highly recommended last chapter that redeems the book.

I found this book well worth reading. The author writes in a clear and well-organised manner and covers in sufficient depth the different aspects of the (thorny topic) of Sweden's role as a neutral in World War 2. The way in why he divides the book into clear and well-planned chapters is very helpful in enabling the reader to gain an overview. Clearly the topic is one which has provoked strong emotions in the decades since the war (as the author acknowledges in his final chapter)and it is easy to make crass judgements about the "guilt" or "innocence" of the behaviour of the leading Swedish politicians. However the author remains fair, objective and very sensitive in the way he deals with the matter. He is slow to judge and tries always to see the events from the standpoint of the contemporary players and NOT in the often misleading light of hindsight. As one who is interested in Scandinavian history I found it hard to put the book down and the insights I have gained continue to resonate in my mind now I have finished it. It made me feel much more aware of (and sympathetic to) the pressures faced by the Swedish government of the time, even though there are issues where I can see that they could have acted differently. I strongly recommend it to you if you are interested in 20th Century European history.

This is a very knowledgeable and well written overview of Sweden’s experience during World War II. I was particularly impressed by the discussion in the last chapter about where the Swedish policy was right or wrong, discussion that continues in Sweden. There are a few annoying errors, but overall this is an excellent book for someone interested in this topic and with no access to Swedish sources.

A very, very well researched and written book. As a Swede, and former army officer in the Reserve, I had long discussions with my father about the behaviour and decisions by Swedish politicians and industry leaders during WWII – in my view it often showed a cowardly behaviour. It's so good to read what a non-Swede writes, free from the need of having to be apologetic or defensive! Mr Gilmour simply brings the facts, and you can then decide for yourself if the Swedes behave cowardly or not during the war, or simply did the right thing in regard to the populations safety and welfare.

Extremely interesting presentation of modern Swedish history. This area of history is generally not well known in either Sweden of the rest of the western world.