Stockholm, Sweden: Casablanca of the North

Shortly after the United Kingdom declared war on Germany in September 1939, Sweden announced its neutrality, a stance they’d held since the Napoleonic wars. However, with its continued business relationships with Germany, the allowance troop transports through the country, and “less than friendly” policies toward Jews and refugees, scholars disagree as to whether the Sweden was truly neutral.

If you’ve watched the 1942 classic Warner Bros. movie “Casablanca,” you have a sense of what Stockholm, Sweden was like during the war, and more than a few sources refer to the city as “Casablanca of the North.” Every major intelligence service of the war was represented, some with agents, most with double agents. Germans, Americans, Britons, and Russians lived, worked, and played side by side. Official legations employees (both Axis and Allied) mingled with members of the Abwehr, Office of Strategic Services, and Special Operations Executive trying to ferret out information to aid their cause.

An intriguing aspect is the number of women who on the surface were singers, actresses, dancers, journalist, secretaries, and housekeepers, but in reality, were spies. Of the Allied female spies, many served to bring Germany to its knees or to make money while others were backed into it to save relatives left behind in an occupied country. The women observed, infiltrated, and reported their findings using any means necessary to obtain the information.

Another “piece of the pie” is the use of downed British and American airmen.

Crews from Allied planes that crashed in neutral Sweden were required to register, then interned in one of several areas within the city. However, these men had run of the city as long as they adhered to curfew and a host of other rules. A large percentage of them were given jobs with their legation that included administrative tasks and handling the logistics of tracking the hundreds (and eventually thousands) of airmen.

However, given their freedom of movement, more than a few of the crew members were recruited by the OSS and SOE to act as agents (which, of course went against the rules, but who said those in war played fair?). There is a reason Churchill’s SOE was called the Department of Ungentlemanly Warfare, and America’s OSS referred to as the Department of Dirty Tricks.

Rather than involve the airmen in sabotage, they were generally acted as messengers and observers who reported the comings and goings and conversations of the Germans. Liberty Lady is a well-written biographical account of author Pat DiGeorge’s father whose plane crashed in Sweden and ultimately found himself assigned to becoming friends with Swedish “businessman” John Lonnegren who was eventually arrested, then convicted of unlawful intelligence activities and sentenced to two years of hard labor.

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Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about

second chances and women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII and a former trustee for her local public library. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she explores the history of this great state and immerses herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors.

The American World War II Home Front in 29 Objects:

Unlike Europe the American mainland escaped physical devastation during World War II as it was not subjected to full-scale invasions. However, that didn’t mean the United States wasn’t impacted by the war. The ramifications of large economic, cultural, and societal changes forced Americans to reconsider entrenched beliefs and traditions.

Artifacts collected from across the nation tell the stories of the American people whose lives were shaped by this second “war to end all wars,” World War II.

Purchase link: https://books2read.com/u/47pLxR

Photo credits:

Map of Sweden: Encyclopedia Britannica

Georgia Rebel, first American plane to crash in Sweden: National Archives

John Lonnegren: National Archives

Sources:
https://wwv.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206061.pdf
Liberty Lady, Pat DiGeorge, Beaver’s Spur Publishing, 2016
https://journals.openedition.org/diacronie/4709
https://www.sverigesradio.se/artikel/3230619
https://reveal.world/sv/story/german-counter-espionage-bureau-wwii