Per Albin Hansson - World War II

World War II

Following the 1939 German-Soviet invasion of Poland, Hansson declared strict neutrality and called for the formation of a broad coalition government involving all major parties under his leadership, which was realized in December except only the pro-Stalinist Communist Party and its short-lived pro-Nazi splinter faction, the Socialist Party, much to the delight of the remainder parties. Alone in Europe save for Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Ireland and the Vatican, Sweden maintained neutrality throughout all World War II, but like the mentioned countries, cooperated and traded with both sides. Winston Churchill claimed that Sweden during World War II ignored the greater moral issues and played both sides for profit, a criticism mimicked in criticism towards Sweden's policy towards the German occupation of Denmark and Norway upheld partly by transportation reinforcement through Swedish territory, sanctioned by Hansson's cabinet.

The German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Operation Barbarossa sparkled an ultimatum by the government of Nazi Germany to Hansson's cabinet, demanding some military concessions, including German troop transports on Swedish railways in order to support Germany's ally Finland. Political deliberations surrounding this ultimatum have been dubbed the "midsummer crisis", which ultimately, allegedly following King Gustav V's decision to resign should the concessions not be made, fell out in favor of the Axis. The 83-year old king formally (although having not directly intervened in the government's policies since 1914) had the powers to appoint his own cabinet, and his open intervention in the issue was seen as a threat to the stability of the government and, given the ongoing war, to the sovereignty of the nation.

Recent research by Carl-Gustaf Scott argues however that there never was a "crisis" and that "the crisis was created in historical hindsight in order to protect the political legacy of the Social Democratic Party and its leader Per Albin Hansson."

To get the steel required by the German Ruhr industry, Germany was, in 1939-1940, dependent on shipments of Swedish iron ore, since access to the supplies from the mines in France, the traditional supplier, were cut off until the invasion of France. In 1939-1940 the Allies tried various ways to stop the shipments of Swedish ore, for example by mining Norwegian territorial waters. Also, payments from the Allies reached in an agreement to stop the sale of steel to Nazi Germany, which was broken, and the Germans were charged extortionate 'smugglers rates' for the steel.

A downed stray V2 rocket was also sold to the Allies in 1942, passing details of advanced Nazi rocket engineering over. In effect, the main political priority was to avoid direct war engagement of Sweden during World War II. Following Germany's setbacks around 1942-43, Sweden was no longer seriously threatened by invasion from the Third Reich and subsequently rolled back most of its concessions.