Posted on 02/26/2011 3:21:50 AM PST by WesternCulture
Unfortunately I have not time to get deeply involved in this discussion concerning my old hometown. However, there are a few statements and misconceptions regarding the history of Folke Bernadotte and the White Buses I would like to comment.
1) Western Culture’s relatives who took part in the rescue operation certainly would have risked their lives. The buses had to traverse several areas in Germany that were exposed to Allied bombing raids. According to a story (in German unfortunately: Demokratische_Geschichte_Band_02_Essay11-1.pdf) about the White Buses several Swedes were killed during the bombing raids.
2) After the rescue Count Bernadotte received several hundreds of letters from grateful rescuees and people grateful for his actions. These letters are retained in the State Archives (Riksarkivet). That Western Culture’s relatives never got any personal thanks (during the actual rescue operation , one presumes) may possibly be explained by the story related in the same document quoted above.
Basically the rescuers were totally naïve about what the prisoners had endured, and the prisoners - especially the Jewish ones - were terrified of the ambulances, since they knew what use closed vehicles had been put to in other camps.
3) To call Count Bernadotte “the best friend the Jews ever had” is stretching things quite a bit. Firstly, the rescue action was not mainly concerned with Jewish prisoners, but with Scandinavian detainees - Jewish or Gentile. Later on more non-Scandinavians, especially women, were rescued.
Folke Bernadotte’s own political position has been widely discussed by historians. At best considered “very conservative”, at worst openly sympathetic to the Nazi cause.
His friendship and later defence in the war crime trials of Walter Schellenberg, Second-in-command of the Gestapo, head of the SD and the Abwehr, and successor of Wilhelm Canaris as the head of the Combined Secret Services, hardly served to show him in a good light. Very difficult to square a close friendship with an SS- and Gestapo-officer, with friendship of the Jewish people. (Of course, that does not justify the assassination of Count Bernadotte, but that really should go without saying.)
Well, I live in Los Angeles and I have read enough about Malmo to know not to go there if I ever should visit; same for the outlying communities around Paris — like, for instance, St. Denis, which we ventured into one evening about 5 pm. to see the French Kings’ cathedral there. Yegad. Might be nice at noon.
Yah, and some of us of Viking blood have made it to the Far Land of California. We are still berzerkers at heart, tho.
Kurt would be most unhappy.
If WC follows his (or her) usual form, he’ll have run now that he has been confronted with the illogic of his positions.
You don’t live in Gothenburg, but in the same State as I. W.C. was the first name in the reply and you were c.c.!!!
“I’m not an expert of neither Malmö or NYC, but just like most of us wouldn’t take a stroll through Central Park after dark, we wouldn’t do so in Kungsparken, Malmö or any other city with a population of over 100 000 or so.”
Hogwash!
We were married in Malmo (Sjomansgaarden) in 1983 and until 2000 we made many trips to Scandinavia on business and stayed in our apartment on Mariedalsvagen!!
I had a brother and other family members in Copenhagen that we often visited taking the last hydrofoil/catamaran back to Malmo and could very safely walking through the parks long after midnight. During our last trip in 2000 we were warned not to do that because of the muzzie youth gangster’s preying on regular citizens!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a1PM6YB8wg
You really have to be careful with your postings!
Denmark and Norway are the REAL Vikings, while Sweden had an "open" door policy during the WWII!!
I went to school with a Jewish boy/friend in Copenhagen and since 1943 I never saw him again. But I remember vividly when I personally saw the Red Cross buses coming up from Germany rolling through the streets of Copenhagen down to the railway ferry taking them over to Malmo!!!
So please explain how YOUR relatives risked their lives, hmmm. And who was it that really risked their lives shipping over the Danish Jews in small fishing boats???
That's Abram's country = later Abraham, Isac, Jacob aka (Israel)!!!
When did I ever say I lived in Göteborg or anywhere else in Sweden?
That was another poster who said they lived there.
I live in Dade City FL, north of Tampa...anybody can XX my profile phone number and find out exactly where I am.
I am one of the LEAST secretive, anonymous, or misleading people on this forum.
“You really have to be careful with your postings!”
- Teach me all you can.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.