SVT’s “Sweden and the War” now feels extra interesting about it
I sat Like the magic for the television series “Sweden and the War”. With the colored films from Swedish daily life and the testimonies of old people who were very young at the time, a bridge is now being made from that. People get so close “get an idea of what it was like to live if you didn’t know Hitler would be defeated. The series makes for eighty years feel like nothing, as it was almost yesterday.
When people and their individual fate evoke strong emotions, the broad history writing gives all the more to think about. The fact that neutral Sweden gave Nazi Germany what they wanted for a long time is known -permitter traffic, the Engelbrecht division and the export of iron ore that we learn at school. I think in “Sweden and the War” you talk about the remission policy in a less overwhelming tone than you are used to, that it was clear that it was actually a political election that was the collective government. While Fredrik Persson Lahusen On these pages, so you are careful to emphasize everyone who resisted, went to Finland voluntarily or helped Norwegian and Jewish refugees (for which we have closed the borders), that “an underlying moral constructive story” creates about Sweden and the war.
Might feel “Sweden and the War” extra interesting at the moment because we live so clearly in a time when history is written and our country again plays a role. I am thinking of the destruction of Israel from Gaza and the Swedish attitude.
Officially it was very simple to alone: after Hama’s terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, Israel had the undivided support of Sweden. We claimed Israel’s right to defend themselves and were of the opinion that they acted proportionally. If Israel committed war crimes, Sweden could not say, it is up to the international courts to decide – afterwards. UNRWA, the UN organization that the best -adjusted Gaza’s civilian, was forbidden by Israel, who regretted Sweden and then canceled all cooperation with the company. That the own expert authority side thought it was literally to resume one Don’t hear.
It was the attitude of the government, the one who enters the history books like the Swedish. Perhaps it will be illustrated with a photo of Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (M) When she shakes her hand with her colleague Gideon Saar During his official visit to Israel in March 2025. By that time, the war was going on for almost 18 months and around 50,000 people died in Gaza.
But the newest The weeks has been a shift in the rhetoric of the government. On May 11, when Israel openly said they are planning to take over his Gaza and forced the population, protest The Swedish government. May 23 the government came up with requirements About sanctions against extreme ministers and that compliance with the association agreement between the EU and Israel must be revised.
It can also be noted that when the Minister of Development Directors Benjamin Dousa (M) Ask in DN answers If UNRWA says that Sweden wants the EU to increase the pressure on Israel, but that it is unfortunately slow: “Ireland is dedicated, Spain has been dedicated, Sweden has been committed, but there are quite a few countries that stop”. Ireland and Spain are the two countries in the EU as the earliest and most clearly criticized the warfare of Israel, without Swedish support. You might think that the minister also started to think about writing history.
One day – let’s hope very quickly – there will be a “after” war in Gaza. Then comes a first version of the story of the Swedish attitude; What the government said and did, what the opposition drove and thought, how the media wrote and portrayed. There will also be ordinary Swedes who were not at all behind the attitude of the government, who are deeply committed to the cause of the Palestinians – protested, wrote on calls and demonstrated. You can think about what and what will be emphasized the most. The underlying morally constructive story will be.
Footnote: “Sweden and the War”, five episodes, can be found on SVT Play.
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