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From Neutrality to Membership: Sweden and the United Nations, 1941–1946

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2016

NORBERT GÖTZ
NORBERT GÖTZ*
Affiliation:
Institute of Contemporary History, Södertörn University, S-141 89 Huddinge / Stockholm; [email protected]
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Abstract

Sweden's relationship with the United Nations fluctuated considerably between 1941 and 1946. This article examines how the Nordic country's own security interests were sometimes viewed as compatible and sometimes at odds with membership of the United Nations. The discussions surrounding Sweden's accession to the United Nations and actions of its first delegates to the international organisation are explored at length. So too is the discrepancy between Sweden's reputation for neutrality and its enthusiastic support for the United Nations, on the one hand, and its internal debates and policy decisions during the 1940s, on the other. Finally, the article explores the ways in which Sweden used the United Nations as an arena in which to manifest both its indifference to security alignment and its exceptionalism in world affairs.

German abstract

Schwedens Beziehung zu den Vereinten Nationen unterlag im Zeitraum 1941 bis 1946 starken Schwankungen. Der vorliegende Aufsatz zeigt auf, wie die Sicherheitsinteressen dieses nordischen Landes als mit einer VN-Mitgliedschaft vereinbar, zu anderen Zeitpunkten hingegen als unvereinbar betrachtet wurden. Die Diskussionen im Zusammenhang mit Schwedens Beitritt zu den VN werden ausführlich unteruscht, wie auch das Vorgehen der ersten schwedischen VN-Delegation. Deutlich wird die Diskrepanz zwischen dem schwedischen Ruf eines Horts der Neutralität und enthusiastischer VN-Orientierung einerseits und den internen schwedischen Debatten und politischen Entscheidungen der 1940er Jahre andererseits. Schweden benutzte die Vereinten Nationen als Arena in der das Land seine bündnispolitische Indifferenz und seine Sonderrolle in der Weltpolitik demonstrieren konnte.

Type
Articles
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , February 2016 , pp. 75 - 95
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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References

1 Enckell to Jakobson, 29 Jan. 1965, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Archives, Helsinki, Ralph Enckell Collection, vol. 1.

2 Riksdagens protokoll [RP], Första kammaren [FK] (1945) 32, 21 (Harald Åkerberg).

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5 With respect to Sweden the only significant contribution is a semi-official work edited by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Sweden and the United Nations (New York: Manhattan, 1956). However, there are a few publications with a wider approach, such as Erlandsson, Susanna's illuminating doctoral dissertation Window of Opportunity: Dutch and Swedish Security Ideas and Strategies 1942–1948 (Uppsala: University, 2015)Google Scholar; see also her article ‘Samarbete eller undergång: Synen på säkerhet i Sverige och Nederländerna efter andra världskriget’, in Peter Ericsson et al., eds., Allt på ett bräde: Stat, ekonomi och bondeoffer (Uppsala: University, 2013), 405–18. Other contributions to Swedish foreign policy in the period of interest here are Silva, Charles and Jonter, Thomas, eds., Sverige inför en ny världsordning, 1945–50: Formativa år för svensk utrikespolitik? (Stockholm: Swedish Institute of International Affairs, 1995)Google Scholar; Ottosson, Sten, Den (o)moraliska neutraliteten: Tre politikers och tre tidningars moraliska värdering av svensk utrikespolitik 1945–1952 (Stockholm: Santérus, 2000)Google Scholar.

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12 Myrdal to Cabinet Minister Gustav Möller, Sept. 1941, National Library, Stockholm [NLS], MS, L55 [Kerstin Hesselgren], vol. 34.

13 Myrdal, Varning, 300–1, here 296–7, 303–8.

14 RP, FK (1940) Urtima 3, 6.

15 RP, FK, Motioner (1940) Urtima 5.

16 RP, FK (1940) Urtima 3, 18, 22.

17 See the report, NLS, MS, L55, vol. 43.

18 See the statutes of the new association, 26 Sept. 1940, NLS, MS, L55, vol. 43.

19 ‘Sammanfattning: En federativ världsorganisation’, in Riktlinjer för en världsfederation: Ett inlägg i diskussionen om världens framtid (Stockholm: Natur och kultur, 1945), 259–72, here 260–2; Allan Degerman, ‘Krigsmål och fredsplaner’, ibid. 11–42, here 41; Brita Skottsberg, ‘Världsfederationens organisering’, ibid. 43–60, at 51–4; Nils Thedin, ‘Ett socialt världsparlament’, ibid. 203–29, here 211–4.

20 See the documentation Svensk utrikespolitik under andra världskriget: Statsrådstal, riksdagsdebatter och kommunikéer (Stockholm: Kooperative förbundet, 1946).

21 ‘Tal av försvarsminister Sköld [11 July 1943]’, in Svensk utrikespolitik under andra världskriget, 520–2, here 522 (first quotation); ‘Tal av försvarsminister Sköld [23 March 1943]’, ibid. 506–9, here 508 (second quotation).

22 First quotation: RP, FK (1944) Urtima 28: 38 (Rickard Sandler); second quotation: Moscow News in Söderblom to foreign ministry, 16 Oct. 1944, National Archives, Stockholm [NAS], Foreign Ministry Archives, Filing system of 1920 [FM], HP24/1166.

23 Elis Håstad, ‘Sweden's Attitude Toward the United Nations’, in Carnegie Endowment, Sweden and the United Nations, 9–163, here 23.

24 Swedish Institute of International Affairs, ed., Peace and Security After the Second World War: A Swedish Contribution to the Subject (Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksell, 1945). On funding, see Tingsten, Herbert, Mitt liv: Mellan trettio och femtio (Stockholm: Norstedt, 1962), 339Google Scholar. On distribution, see Malmaeus to Wistrand, 14 May 1945, NAS, FM, HP24/1168.

25 Herbert Tingsten, ‘Introduction’, in Swedish Institute of International Affairs, Peace and Security, 9–33, here 23–4, 26.

26 Tingsten, Mitt liv, 339.

27 NAS, FM, HP24/1167.

28 Sir Orme Sargent, as quoted in English in a cable by Erik Boheman to foreign ministry, 28 Feb. 1945, NAS, FM, HP24/1167.

29 Memo, 24 May 1945, National Archives, Copenhagen [NAC], FM 1946–72, 119.B.2.a.

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34 Fragment ‘Några framtidsproblem’, circa 1943, NLS, MS, L108 [Östen Undén], vol. 19.

35 Manuscript ‘II Alliansfrihet’, approx. 1943, NLS, MS, L108 [Östen Undén], vol. 19.

36 ‘Neutraliteten släppes när ett nytt NF bildats: Prof. Undén talar vid studiekonferensen i Insjön’, Social-Demokraten, 24 Aug. 1943.

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41 Östen Undén, ‘Solidaritet eller neutralitet?’, Vi, 8 Sept. 1945.

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44 Memo, 11 Aug. 1945, NAS, FM, HP24/1169; see Undén, Östen, Anteckningar, vol. 1: 1918–1952 (Stockholm: Kungl. Samfundet, 2002), 97Google Scholar.

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47 ‘Proposals for the Establishment of a General International Organization’. Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers [FRUS] 1944, vol. 1: General. Washington: Department of State, 1966. 890–900, here 891 (Chapter III).

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51 FRUS 1945 I: 1458.

52 Eriksson to foreign ministry, 23 Oct. 1945, NAS, FM, HP48/1781.

53 Preparatory Commission of the United Nations, Report of the Committee 1, 20 Dec. 1945, Section 3, Rules 104 and 106, NAS, FM, HP48/1775 (provisions correspond to slightly reworded current rules 134 and 136).

54 ‘Security Council’, International Organization 1 (1947): 74–98, here 91.

55 Tamm to foreign ministry, 2 Mar. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1775.

56 RP, FK (1945) 32: 44 (Per Albin Hansson).

57 Grafström to Westrup, 4 Dec. 1945, NAS, FM, HP48/1781.

58 Memo by von Post, 30 Nov. 1945 [4 Dec. 1945], NAS, FM, HP48/1781; Weidel to Grafström, 7 Jan. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1781; memo by Prytz, 4 Jan. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1781; von Celsing to Lundborg, 26 Mar. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1781, vol. 1775.

59 Grafström to Prytz, 6 Jan. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1781; see Undén's memo on the meeting, 5 Jan. [9 Jan.] 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1781, HP20/981.

60 Cables by foreign ministry to legations in Washington, London, Paris, Moscow, 3 June 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1782.

61 Undén to Prytz, 29 Jan. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1782. On special treatment, see, for example, Grafström to Prytz, 6 Jan. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1781. On reservations toward common action of neutrals, see, for example, von Celsing to Lundborg, 26 Mar. 1946; NAS, FM, HP48/1775.

62 ‘Sweden and U.N.O.’, ANEP-ANETA Bulletin (21–4 Jan. 1946), NAS, FM, HP48/1775; see Prytz to foreign ministry on conversation of Norwegian Foreign Minister Lie with Gromykow, 21 Jan. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1781; Prytz to foreign ministry on conversation with Christopher Warner, head of Nordic section in Foreign Office, 30 Jan. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1782.

63 Prytz to foreign ministry on conversation with Warner, 30 Jan. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1782.

64 Memo by Undén on conversation with Soviet minister, Tjernysjev, 7 Feb. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1782.

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68 ‘Extracts from Documents Concerning Sweden's application for Membership of the United Nations’ [Nov. 1946], NAS, FM, HP48/1783. ‘Nödvändiga’/ ‘erforderliga’ was translated as ‘essential to success’, ‘förbund’ as ‘new League’.

69 RP, AK (1946) 29: 11 (Gösta Bagge). For a more extensive analysis of the debate, see

Erlandsson, Window of Opportunity, ch. 4.

70 RP, FK (1946) 28: 30; RP, AK (1946) 29: 21 (sole dissenter was conservative Georg Fahlman).

71 RP, FK (1946) 28: 18 (Fredrik Ström), 22 (Ture Nerman).

72 RP, AK (1946) 29: 9–10.

73 Håstad, ‘Sweden's Attitude’, 40.

74 Letters of 19 June 1946, cables of 20 and 27 June 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1782; see Undén, Anteckningar I, 150.

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76 Aminoff to foreign ministry, 28 June 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1782.

77 Eriksson to foreign ministry, 1 Aug. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1782.

78 Cables of 28 July and 2 Aug. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1782.

79 Cable of 3 Aug. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1782; Aminoff, 7 Aug. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1782.

80 Undén to Lie, 13 July 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1782.

81 Memo, 24 July 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1782.

82 Bergenstråhle to foreign ministry, 29 July 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1782.

83 Foreign ministry to legation at Moscow, 23 July 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1782.

84 Memo by Undén, 5 Aug. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1782.

85 Cables of 6 Aug. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1782.

86 Various documents, NAS, FM, HP48/1782.

87 Undén, Anteckningar I, 154; see Undén's proposition, 9 Aug. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1783.

88 Cable of 9 Aug. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1783.

89 ‘Security Council’, 91.

90 Eriksson to foreign ministry, 20 and 22 Aug. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1783.

91 Hägglöf to foreign ministry, 20 Aug. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1783.

92 ‘Report of the Committee on the Admission of New Members’ (= S/133), Security Council, Official Records 1, 2 (1946), Suppl. 4, 32.

93 ‘Security Council’, 90–1, 93.

94 Bonde to Lundborg, 2 Sept. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1783.

95 Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs 1955, 200; ‘Special Report by the Security Council to the General Assembly on the Admission of New Members’ (= S/177).

96 For example, Harald Wigforss, ‘Sverige och Förenta Nationerna’, Utrikespolitik 1 (1946), 129–38, here 129.

97 Grafström, Anteckningar, 772.

98 Lie to Undén, 30 Sept. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1783.

99 Credentials of 18 Oct. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1783.

100 Cable by Eriksson, 24 Oct. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1783.

101 General Assembly, Plenary Meetings 1 (1946) 2: 943.

102 ‘Norden i FN’, Arbetet, 20 Nov. 1946.

103 General Assembly, Plenary Meetings 1 (1946) 2: 937.

104 ‘Norden i FN’, Arbetet, 20 Nov. 1946.

105 General Assembly, Plenary Meetings 1 (1946) 2: 936.

106 Beck-Friis to Grafström, 12 Dec. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1783.

107 Delegation meeting minutes, 7 Nov. 1946, National Archives, Oslo [NAO], Foreign Ministry [FM] 1940–49, vol. 10910.

108 Draft manuscript, NAC, FM 1946–72, 119. H.2.b.1946.

109 Delegation meeting minutes, 8 Nov. 1946, NAO, FM 1940–49, vol. 10910.

110 Anderson, Gidske, Halvard Lange: Portrett av en nordmann (Oslo: Gyldendal, 1981), 223Google Scholar.

111 Förenta nationernas generalförsamlings första ordinarie mötets andra del, New York 1946, m.m. (Stockholm: Fritzes, 1947), 8.

112 Lundborg to Nylander, 22 Aug. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1786.

113 Eriksson to Westman, 7 Nov. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1786.

114 Westman to Eriksson, 12 Nov. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1786.

115 Grafström to Thorsing, 6 Nov. 1946, NAS, FM, HP48/1783.

116 Bratt to Lundborg, 3 Feb. 1947, NAS, FM, HP48/1853.

117 ‘U.N. Delegation Head Arrives From Sweden’, Herald Tribune, 17 Nov. 1946.

118 ‘New Members Vow Faith in Charter’, The New York Times, 20 Nov. 1946.

119 General Assembly, Plenary Meetings 1, 2 (1946): 969.

120 ‘Sveriges reception i F.N. väcker måttligt intresse I New York: Använde Undén franska för att visa oberoendet av väst och öst?’ Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning, 21 Nov. 1946. However, the Francophile attitude of Undén might also have played a part: he preferred to read UN documents in French. See foreign ministry to UN mission, 21 Sept. 1949, NAS, FM, HP48/1778.

121 Delegation meeting minutes, 25 Oct. 1946, NAO, FM 1940–49, vol. 10910.

122 ‘Förbrödringsmiddag för Nordens FN-män’, Stockholms-Tidningen, 27 Nov. 1946; A. S–th.,‘Exc. Undén talar’, Upsala Nya Tidning, 2 Dec. 1946.

123 Rolf Lamborn, ‘Sveriges debut i FN’, Stockholms-Tidningen, 22 Dec. 1946.

124 See, for example, Prime Minister Göran Persson, ‘Statsministerns information till riksdagen den 21 september 2005 om FN:s högnivåmöte den 14–16 september’, http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/05/03/59/53fdebf8.pdf (last visited 1 Jan. 2015).

125 See O’Brien, Conor Cruise, To Katanga and Back: A UN Case History (London: Hutchinson, 1962), 14Google Scholar.