Sweden's Foreign Minister: "Israel is losing its moral values"

The Jerusalem Post ^ | 2 February 2003 | Herb Keinon

[Arpege92]

Sweden should right its wrongs for selling steel to Hitler during World War II before judging others. You could never compare Sweden to Israel....Israel defends itself and Sweden made a huge profit at the expense of humans.

[Ichabod Walrus]

And as I tried to point out before, they didn't do enough during the war to merit more than a footnote in history books, at least in relative terms.

The list of countries, however, which were allies of Hitler that have largely escaped censure is very long. These countries, such as Croatia, not only actively participated in Hitler's campaigns, but actually created genocides of their own, with a barbarity that shocked even their patrons.

Then there are those countries (and institutions) which not only provided safe haven to Nazi garbage, but gave them employment, often in "trades" which would exploit the dubious talents they acquired while part of the Axis. These countries activities' after WWII make Sweden's wartime role look insignificant deed.

[anguish]

Good balanced non-knee-jerk post.

It's not hard to find dark spots in Swedish history, not even for a Swede like myself, but what most people lack is the patience to view actions in their context. While trade with Nazi Germany was a bad thing, one should look at it in the geopolitical and not least military context of the time. As an example - being completely surrounded by axis powers after the invasion of Denmark and Norway didn't make it easier to resist trade.

The same goes for post-war relations with the Baltic states - Russia (Soviet) has always been the no. 1 Swedish enemy - and while sometimes misplaced, Baltic support has always been seen as a way to create a buffert to our arch enemy.

[Gael]

My recollection is that Sweden was threatened with invasion if it refused to permit transit rights to nazi troops, a threat roughly similar to that made by the nazis against Belgrade in ‘41. Perhaps the Swedes could have defied the nazis and accepted the consequences the way the Serbs did, but I submit they would have been foolish to do so. We’ve seen how the Serbs’ wartime sacrifices were repaid by their former allies over the past decade – that’s why the sons and grandsons of nazis now reign in Krajina, Bosnia and Kosovo, the same as their forebears did in 1943.

The people who committed those more recent sins have no standing to condemn Sweden’s decision to stay out of the war.