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93-630: Swedish diplomat Folke Bernadotte and others negotiated the White Buses operation with German officials, especially Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler . Although estimates of those rescued vary, the Swedish Red Cross estimated that about 300 Swedish volunteers, mostly military personnel, removed 15,345 prisoners from concentration camps in March and April 1945. 7,795 were Norwegian and Danish prisoners and 7,550 were other nationalities. After

186-606: A cavalry officer at the Royal Military Academy . He took the officer's exam in 1915, was commissioned a lieutenant in 1918, and subsequently was promoted to the rank of major . Bernadotte represented Sweden in 1933 at the Chicago Century of Progress Exposition , and later served as Swedish commissioner general at the New York World's Fair in 1939–40. Bernadotte had long been involved with

279-547: A "condemnation of terror, thanks for the rescue of the Jews and regret that Bernadotte was murdered in a terrorist way", adding that "We hope this ceremony will help in healing the wound." Ralph Bunche , Bernadotte's American deputy, succeeded him as U.N. mediator. Bunche was successful in bringing about the signing of the 1949 Armistice Agreements , for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize . In 1998, Bernadotte

372-738: A Swedish operation for rescuing prisoners" to the Swedish foreign office , but still on his own initiative. On 29 December, the Norwegian government changed its position and instructed its embassy in Stockholm to discuss the possibility of a Swedish operation aimed at rescuing Scandinavian prisoners. While Ditleff tried to influence the exiled Norwegian government, the Danes obtained a German permit to retrieve prisoners. The first ones transported back to Denmark were Danish policemen from Buchenwald , with

465-636: A ceasefire, signed on the Greek island of Rhodes . See 1949 Armistice Agreements . Bernadotte was assassinated on Friday 17 September 1948 by members of the group Lehi , a Zionist paramilitary militant organization, commonly known in the West as the Stern Gang. Immediately after Bernadotte was pronounced dead, his body was moved to the YMCA , after which it was taken to Haifa and flown back to Sweden. Bernadotte

558-620: A daughter with actress Lillie Ericson-Udde  [ sv ] (1892–1981): Gro%C3%9F Kreutz Groß Kreutz is a municipality in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg , Germany . The settlement gave its name to the Groß Kreutz Group of exiled Norwegians who were active in humanitarian work in the later stages of WWII , and were based at an estate in the area. Group initiatives included

651-462: A name they copied from a war-time Bulgarian resistance group. Lehi was forcibly disarmed and many members were arrested, but nobody was charged with the killings. The Israel Police , along with the military police and security services, investigated the assassination, but failed to identify any of the participants in the assassination, and the case was eventually closed without any of the participants having been identified. It has been suggested that

744-536: A report advising against the proposal. His arguments were that the prisoners risked being murdered and that they had to be rescued before Germany was occupied. He wrote: It is therefore strongly suggested that the Norwegian government considers the possibility that the Swedish government could be induced to intervene to help at least the Norwegian and Danish civil prisoners in Germany, including those in prisons, with

837-409: A role in facilitating Bernadotte's access to Himmler, but whom Bernadotte resisted crediting after the war. The resulting feud between Bernadotte and Kersten came to public attention through British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper . In 1953, Trevor-Roper published an article based on an interview and documents originating with Kersten. The article stated that Bernadotte's role in the rescue operations

930-456: A terrorist organization. They were found guilty but immediately released and pardoned. Yellin-Mor had meanwhile been elected to the first Knesset . Betty Knut-Lazarus, a Lehi militant, and the granddaughter of composer Alexander Scriabin , was also imprisoned for being allegedly involved in the killing, before being subsequently released. Years later, Cohen's role was uncovered by David Ben-Gurion 's biographer Michael Bar Zohar , while Cohen

1023-500: A tow truck, a field kitchen, and full supplies for the entire trip, including food and gasoline, none of which was permitted to be obtained in Germany. A count of 21,000 people rescued included 8,000 Danes and Norwegians, 5,911 Poles, 2,629 French, 1,615 Jews, and 1,124 Germans. After Germany's surrender, the White Buses mission continued in May and June and about 10,000 additional liberated prisoners were thus evacuated. Bernadotte recounted

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1116-785: The Arab–Israeli conflict of 1947–1948. He was assassinated in Jerusalem in 1948 by the paramilitary Zionist group Lehi while pursuing his official duties. Upon his death, Ralph Bunche took up his work at the UN, successfully mediating the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and Egypt . Folke Bernadotte was born in Stockholm into the House of Bernadotte , the Swedish royal family. His father, Prince Oscar Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (formerly Prince Oscar of Sweden, Duke of Gotland ),

1209-407: The Nobel Peace Prize for thwarting a Nazi plan to deport the entire Dutch population, based primarily on Kersten's own claims to this effect. A later investigation by Dutch historian Louis de Jong concluded that no such plan had existed, however, and that Kersten's documents were partly fabricated. Following these revelations and others, Trevor-Roper told journalist Barbara Amiel in 1995 that he

1302-567: The Royal Air Force . On 8 March, the British government informed the Swedish foreign department that it was informed about the expedition but that it could not give any guarantees against attacks, and that the Swedish expedition was on its own within Germany. Some of the vehicles were hit by Allied aircraft strafing the roads, killing one Swedish driver and 25 concentration camp prisoners. The mission became known for its buses, which, with

1395-507: The Swedish Army who supplied the needed transport. In reality, this was the Swedish state's expedition – the personnel were almost entirely volunteers from the armed forces, the equipment was supplied from armed forces stockpiles and the expenses were covered by the state's coffers. The force was divided into three bus platoons (each with 12 buses), one truck platoon (with 12 vehicles), and one supply platoon. Total transport capacity for

1488-643: The Swedish Boy Scouts (Sveriges Scoutförbund) , and took over as director of the organization in 1937. At the outbreak of World War II , Bernadotte worked to integrate the scouts into Sweden's defense plan, training them in anti-aircraft work and as medical assistants . Bernadotte was appointed Vice Chairman of the Swedish Red Cross in 1943. During the autumns of 1943 and 1944, he organized prisoner exchanges which brought home 11,000 prisoners from Germany via Sweden. While Vice-President of

1581-450: The autobahn there were a lot of damaged cars and severely injured people. In some places where chaos reigned we simply could not just drive past with our white bus with Red Cross markings, but had to stop and give first aid. In some cases the damage was enormous. Folke Bernadotte Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (2 January 1895 – 17 September 1948) was a Swedish nobleman and diplomat . In World War II , he negotiated

1674-460: The German capitulation on 8 May 1945, another 10,000 people were rescued in May and June 1945 by "White Boats." The operation was a humanitarian success and saved the lives of many who would have died of deprivation or execution in the concentration camps. The operation has been criticized for being too one-sided a rescue operation for Scandinavians, for not helping prisoners of other nationalities to

1767-646: The Germans stated would be repatriated through Switzerland. According to the plan, the prisoners would be delivered to the concentration camp at Flossenburg . From there they should be transported to Switzerland by the Swiss Red Cross. The promise of the transport to Switzerland was a lie and that camp was full, so the prisoners were taken to Theresienstadt where the "white buses" were heading to pick up 400 Danish Jews. Convoys on 30 March and 2 April collected Danish police and some Norwegians, 1,200 in all, from

1860-564: The Germans treated their prisoners in general, French, Belgians, Dutch, Poles, and Russians. It was terrible. This time the Germans had to allow us into the camp as most of the passengers could not walk the minor distance from the barracks to the road. From these barracks a group of creatures were forced, that hardly anymore seemed to be human beings. The last transport for the SS was undertaken as late as 13 April, with around 450 so-called prominent French prisoners (senators, leading businessmen, etc.) who

1953-620: The Nazi authorities and the resistance , increasing numbers of Norwegians were arrested and detained in Norwegian prisons and camps; and later deported to camps in Germany. The first groups of Norwegian prisoners arrived in Sachsenhausen camp in early 1940. Arrests in Denmark began with the resignation of the coalition government in the summer of 1943. The Norwegian and Danish prisoners in Germany were divided into various categories, from

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2046-616: The Norwegian seaman's priests, the Gross Kreutz group and with Niels Christian Ditleff in Stockholm . By the beginning of 1945 there were around 6,000 Danish prisoners in Germany. During 1944 the Danes made extensive planning efforts, including the registration of prisoners and plans for transporting resources and making available food, shelter and quarantine for the prisoners, if they succeeded in reaching Denmark. Hammerich visited Stockholm in February, April and July 1944 and discussed

2139-509: The Swedish Red Cross in 1945, Bernadotte attempted to negotiate an armistice between Germany and the Allies . He also led several rescue missions in Germany for the Red Cross. In April 1945, Heinrich Himmler asked Bernadotte to convey a peace proposal to Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Harry S. Truman without the knowledge of Adolf Hitler . The main point of the proposal

2232-464: The Swedish Red Cross staff to significant danger, both due to political difficulties and by taking them through areas under Allied bombing. The mission became known for its buses, painted entirely white except for the Red Cross emblem on the side, so that they would not be mistaken for military targets. In total it included 308 personnel (about 20 medics and the rest volunteer soldiers), 36 hospital buses, 19 trucks, seven passenger cars, seven motorcycles,

2325-458: The Swedish foreign department was able to free 50 Norwegian students, 50 Danish policemen and 3 Swedes in December 1944. An absolute condition for the release of the prisoners was that it should be hidden from the press; if Hitler got to know about it further repatriations would be impossible. Ditleff sent a new memorandum on 5 February 1945, this time as an official Norwegian request. Sweden

2418-454: The White Buses mission in his book The End. My Humanitarian Negotiations in Germany in 1945 and Their Political Consequences , published on June 15, 1945 in Swedish. Following the war, some controversies arose regarding Bernadotte's leadership of the White Buses expedition, some personal and some as to the mission itself. One aspect involved a long-standing feud between Bernadotte and Himmler's personal masseur , Felix Kersten , who had played

2511-546: The aim of transporting them to Sweden, where they if feasible may stay until the war has ended. This October 1944 report from Hjort was the first time a Swedish operation for the Scandinavian prisoners is mentioned. At first the proposal was unfavourably received. Rescue of the prisoners was seen as a Norwegian responsibility and the Norwegian government was reluctant to give the Swedes any chance to distinguish themselves at

2604-682: The aspirations of the Jews, the political difficulties and differences of opinion of the Arab leaders, the strategic interests of Great Britain, the financial commitment of the United States and the Soviet Union, the outcome of the war, and finally the authority and prestige of the United Nations." After Bernadotte's assassination, his assistant American mediator Ralph Bunche was appointed to replace him. Bunche eventually negotiated

2697-485: The beginning of April, most of the Scandinavian prisoners in Germany had been gathered in Neuengamme. The mission dragged out; Colonel Björck returned to Sweden and a new commander for the column was appointed, Major Sven Frykman. Some of the personnel also left, but after a promise of double daily pay, around 130 men, half of the force, stayed. On 2 April a new Swedish column set off for the south of Germany to collect

2790-740: The camp as the Germans would not let the Swedes see the camp. Instead the prisoners had to march to the buses. Early in February a small Swedish Red Cross detachment under Captain Hultgren arrived in Berlin: six men, two buses and a private car. Their mission was to transport Swedish-born women who were married to German men, and who needed to escape before the collapse of Germany, which was imminent. The evacuation started on 26 March, and 1,400 women and children of Swedish descent arrived in Malmö by 20 April, via Lübeck and Denmark. Neuengamme concentration camp

2883-487: The camps at Torgau , Mühlberg and Oschatz near Leipzig . The Danish policemen were taken to Denmark in two columns between 3 and 5 April; on 23 April around 1,000 of these were sent to Sweden. On 29 March the Swedish Red Cross personnel were finally given access to Neuengamme as well as medicine, blankets, personal hygiene articles and food. A Scandinavian block was established and the conditions there became so good that prisoners from other nations became negative about

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2976-519: The civilians interned at Gross Kreutz , the Norwegian families Hjort and Seip . Together with other Scandinavians, the group at Gross Kreutz compiled extensive lists of prisoners and their location. The lists were then sent to the Norwegian government-in-exile in London through the Swedish embassy in Berlin . In Stockholm the Norwegian diplomat Niels Christian Ditleff engaged himself heavily with

3069-446: The columns, wrote about the prisoners and the drive: In general they were in relative good shape compared to other prisoners I have seen and one could not complain regarding their personal hygiene. They related that the food packs they had received from Norway and Denmark had kept their spirits up and recently the treatment had been noticeably better. They were all touching [sic] thankful and happy. I believe that all of us that have had

3162-533: The doctor arrived, I asked if anything could be done, but he replied that it was too late. General Åge Lundström , who was in the UN vehicle A four-man team, consisting of Yehoshua Cohen , Yitzhak Ben-Moshe (Markovitz), Avraham Steinberg, and Meshulam Makover, ambushed Bernadotte's motorcade in Jerusalem's Katamon neighborhood. The team left a Lehi base in a Jeep and set up a makeshift roadblock at Ben Zion Guini Square, off Hapalmach Street, and waited in

3255-662: The emerging State of Israel. Most immediately, a truce was in force, and Lehi feared that the Israeli leadership would agree to Bernadotte's peace proposals, which it considered disastrous. The group was unaware the Israeli government had already decided to reject Bernadotte's plan and to take the military option. The killing was approved by the three-man 'center' of Lehi: Yitzhak Yezernitsky (the future Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Shamir ), Nathan Friedmann (also called Natan Yellin-Mor ) and Yisrael Eldad (also known as Scheib). A fourth leader, Emmanuel Strassberg (Hanegbi)

3348-460: The end of the war. Norwegian diplomat Niels Christian Ditleff in Stockholm refused to accept the guidelines from the Norwegian government and continued to implore both Swedes and the Swedish foreign department for Sweden to rescue Scandinavian prisoners. In September 1944, Ditleff raised the question with Count Folke Bernadotte of the Swedish Red Cross , who immediately supported the plan. On 30 November, Ditleff delivered his memorandum "Reasons for

3441-408: The exception of the Red Cross emblem on their sides, were painted entirely white so that they would not be mistaken for military vehicles. In total it included 308 personnel (about 20 medics and the rest volunteer soldiers), 36 hospital buses, 19 trucks, seven passenger cars, seven motorcycles, a tow truck, a field kitchen, and full supplies for the entire trip, including food and gasoline, none of which

3534-405: The expedition force had to be Swedish. The first section of the expedition departed Hässleholm on 8 March and boarded the ferry from Malmö to Copenhagen . The Danish resistance movement was informed and supported the idea of the expedition. On 12 March, the first part of the expedition had reached its headquarters, Friedrichsruh castle, situated 30 km southeast of Hamburg . The castle

3627-524: The expedition in Warnemünde on 3 March, but it was delayed by more than a week. The main reason for this was the difficulty in obtaining guarantees from the Allied forces to ensure that the expedition would not be attacked. At this stage in the war, the Allies had total air superiority and regularly attacked transport on German roads. The "White Buses" expedition would move mainly within areas controlled by

3720-514: The fate of the Scandinavian prisoners. By the end of 1944, there were around 8,000 Norwegian prisoners in Germany, in addition to around 1,125 Norwegian prisoners of war. On the Danish side, Admiral Carl Hammerich had long worked with secret plans for an expedition code-named the Jyllandskorps to save Danish and Norwegian prisoners from the German camps. Hammerich had good connections with

3813-462: The final months of the war, Bernadotte acted as the negotiator for a rescue operation transporting interned Norwegians , Danes and other western European inmates from German concentration camps to hospitals in Sweden. In the spring of 1945, Bernadotte was in Germany when he met Heinrich Himmler, who was briefly appointed commander of an entire German army following the assassination attempt on Hitler

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3906-478: The first time in the history of Neuengamme the Nazi butchers Pauly and Thuman were not two bragging, arrogant representatives of the master race, with swinging whips. They came pussyfoot[ing] behind Bernadotte, suddenly accommodating, helpful and amenable nearing servile wheedling, the typical wheedling so distinctive for the butchers of the master race, when it emerged for them that their days were numbered. Now we were secure of, that we would be able to return home. By

3999-466: The first transport started on 5 December. By the end of February 1945, the Danes had transported 341 prisoners home, most of them ill. These journeys gave the Danes valuable experience that later benefitted the "White Buses". Felix Kersten , the personal doctor of Nazi Germany's Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler , set the table for the release of internees in German concentration camps. Kersten, resident in Sweden, had previously negotiated with Himmler for

4092-429: The force was 1,000 personnel for longer distances or 1,200 personnel for shorter distances where the trucks could also be used. The buses used Motyl (a mixture of 50% gasoline and 50% ethanol ) and had eight stretchers or seats for 30 passengers. They used 0.5 litres of fuel per kilometre (5.6 imperial mpg ); with full tanks they could cover 100 kilometres (62 mi). Each bus carried two drivers. To avoid publicity in

4185-670: The inadequacy of the Israeli investigation, and campaigned unsuccessfully to delay Israel's admission to the United Nations. In 1950, Sweden recognized Israel, but relations remained frosty despite Israeli attempts to mollify Sweden, such as through the planting of a Bernadotte Forest by the Jewish National Fund in Israel. At a ceremony in Tel Aviv in May 1995, attended by the Swedish deputy prime minister, Israeli Foreign Minister and Labor Party member Shimon Peres issued

4278-752: The interned Norwegian and Danish prisoners. Bernadotte flew to Berlin on 16 February and met several Nazi leaders such as the foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop , Ernst Kaltenbrunner , head of the RSHA (Reich Main Security Office), Himmler and Schellenberg. Himmler, who was one of the most powerful people in Nazi Germany, was initially negative to the transportation of prisoners to neutral Sweden. The prisoners could be trained as police troops, as Sweden already did with other Norwegians and Danes. Bernadotte had to fall back on his secondary proposal – that

4371-609: The jeep. When Bernadotte's motorcade approached, Cohen, Ben-Moshe, and Steinberg got out and approached it, while Makover, the driver, remained in the jeep. Captain Moshe Hillman, the motorcade's Israeli liaison officer, who was sitting in the leading UN vehicle, called out in Hebrew to let them through, but was ignored. Cohen came up to Bernadotte's sedan and fired through an open window, pumping 6 shots into Bernadotte's chest, throat and arms and 18 into Colonel André Serot who

4464-606: The murders, by means of Security Council Resolution 57 , the United Nations Security Council condemned the killing of Bernadotte as "a cowardly act which appears to have been committed by a criminal group of terrorists in Jerusalem while the United Nations representative was fulfilling his peace-seeking mission in the Holy Land." The Swedish government believed that Bernadotte had been assassinated by Israeli government agents. They publicly attacked

4557-421: The newspapers the Swedish state information bureau distributed so-called "grey notices" where the editors were instructed to avoid stories about the expedition. The Danish ambassador in Stockholm had offered a larger force (40 buses, 30 trucks, 18 ambulances and other vehicles). Bernadotte had considered a mixed Swedish-Danish expedition, this offer was turned down on 23 February, due to the German requirement that

4650-468: The north of Munich , Schönberg (some 80 kilometres south of Stuttgart ) and Mauthausen (12 kilometres/7.5 miles east of Linz ). The distances for this mission were greater, as Munich alone was 800 kilometres (500 mi) away. Adding to the difficulties was the delay that the transports faced due to a lack of fuel. The first column started out on 19 March, including 35 vehicles under Colonel Björck, which returned to Neuengamme on 24 March. The journey back

4743-588: The operation as Adolf Hitler was opposed to prisoner releases. Parallel with Bernadotte's attempts, Danish authorities – especially the Danish ambassador in Berlin, Otto Carl Mohr – tried to secure the release of more Danish prisoners. Swedish and Danish aims differed slightly. The Swedes negotiated with Himmler and Schellenberg and concentrated on gathering the prisoners in Neuengamme . The Danes negotiated with Kaltenbrunner and tried to secure permission to have

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4836-410: The option of helping these poor people in Germany have experienced such an overwhelming gratitude that it is enough for the rest of our lives. As the prisoners were being picked up in Sachsenhausen , their names were checked with the group from Gross Kreutz , to make sure no one was left behind. The other group was responsible for collecting prisoners from southern Germany . This included Dachau to

4929-544: The plan on 10 February, designating diplomat Folke Bernadotte to initiate talks with Nazi Germany to "attempt to obtain the release of Norwegian and Danish internees in Germany and their transportation to Sweden or Denmark." As Germany faced imminent defeat by the Allied forces, the Swedes feared that the Germans might liquidate all prisoners in their concentration camps. From 17 to 21 February, Bernadotte met with senior Nazi officials including Himmler. Bernadotte alluded to

5022-464: The plans with Ditleff. As the Allied forces approached Germany at the end of 1944, SHAEF decided what to do with Allied prisoners. Within the Norwegian government, Major Johan Koren Christie wrote a memorandum on 23 September; the Norwegian prisoners should "stay put", and wait until they were liberated by the advancing Allied forces. The Gross Kreutz group learned of this policy a month later and reacted swiftly, with Johan Bernhard Hjort writing

5115-454: The possibility that neutral Sweden might not remain neutral, implying that Sweden might enter the war on the Allied side if relations between the two countries did not improve. That argument had weight, as Sweden was the major supplier of iron ore to Germany. With defeat nearly certain for Germany, Himmler was attempting to ingratiate himself with the Allies and neutral states such as Sweden. Himmler and other German officials agreed in principle to

5208-559: The priority given to Scandinavian prisoners. Political scientist Sune Persson judged these doubts to be contradicted by the documentary evidence. He concluded, "The accusations against Count Bernadotte ... to the effect that he refused to save Jews from the concentration camps are obvious lies" and listed many prominent eyewitnesses who testified on Bernadotte's behalf, including the World Jewish Congress representative in Stockholm in 1945. On 20 May 1948, Folke Bernadotte

5301-571: The prisoners released, or possibly interned in Denmark. On 12 March the Danes obtained permission for three transports and until 21 March a total of 262 Danish prisoners of various categories were moved back to Denmark using Danish vehicles. From 21 March there was a break in Danish transports and the Swedes took over. Sweden was the only Nordic country that remained neutral during the Second World War . The Baltic German Felix Kersten

5394-440: The prisoners should be assembled in one camp so the Swedish Red Cross could support them. Bernadotte told Himmler he estimated the number of Scandinavian prisoners to be around 13,000 while Himmler held it could not be more than two or three thousand. During a second meeting with Schellenberg on 21 February, Bernadotte got word from Himmler that he had accepted the proposal to assemble the Scandinavian prisoners in one camp. During

5487-443: The privileged Scandinavian prisoners. Bernadotte arrived in Berlin from Stockholm on 28 March for renewed negotiations with Himmler. He was to gain permission to transfer the Scandinavian prisoners from Neuengamme to Sweden, have access to the whole of the camp and if possible, also take Jewish prisoners to Sweden. On 30 March Bernadotte had his first chance to visit the Neuengamme camp. A Danish prisoner, J. B. Holmgård, wrote: For

5580-523: The reasons for the failure of the investigation were poor coordination between these bodies, which resulted in information that may have assisted the police not being turned over to them, and the lack of proficiency among police officers and investigators in the early days of the Israel Police. The murder case was identified as 148/48 in Israeli police records. Yellin-Mor and another Lehi member, Mattityahu Shmulevitz, were charged with belonging to

5673-497: The release of about 450 Danish Jews and 30,550 non-Jewish prisoners of many nations from the Nazi German Theresienstadt concentration camp . They were released on 14 April 1945. In 1945 he received a German surrender offer from Heinrich Himmler , though the offer was ultimately rejected by the allies. After the war, Bernadotte was unanimously chosen to be the United Nations Security Council mediator in

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5766-445: The release of several internees in concentration camps and had discussed the ways and means of ensuring the safety of Danish and Norwegians internees with both Norwegian diplomat Ditleff and Himmler. On 5 February 1945, Ditleff proposed officially that Sweden undertake a rescue mission for people interned in German concentration camps and send a delegation to Germany to negotiate the rescue mission. The Swedish Foreign Ministry approved

5859-447: The remaining prisoners from Mauthausen and Dachau . One bus with the Norwegian doctor Bjørn Heger was assigned to search for 30 prisoners which the "Gross Kreutz" group presumed were in the area around Schömberg . The conditions were difficult, Axel Molin (one of the busdrivers) wrote: ...on our way to Schömberg the activity in the air was very high and we were overflown many times by Allied fighter planes, that did not attack us. Along

5952-466: The rescue operation which foresaw that all Norwegian and Danish prisoners of the Germans would be gathered together in one camp for their safety and meeting their humanitarian needs. Himmler estimated the Danish and Norwegian prisoners numbered 2,000 to 3,000; Bernadotte had evidence they numbered 13,000. The Germans said that all resources for the operation must come from Sweden and the Swedish Red Cross. Himmler also demanded that there be no publicity about

6045-536: The same extent, and for cooperating with the German Gestapo . The number of Jews among those rescued cannot be determined as the former prisoners were registered by nationality and not ethnic group or religion. Denmark and Norway were invaded by Germany on 9 April 1940. A number of Norwegians were immediately arrested, and two months later the occupying force established the first prisoners' camp at Ulven outside Bergen . As tensions intensified between

6138-655: The so-called civil interned who lived privately and had certain freedoms, to the Nacht und Nebel (NN) or "Night and Fog" prisoners who were made to disappear without a trace. As the number of Scandinavian prisoners increased, various groups organised relief work for them. The Norwegian seamen's priests in Hamburg , Arne Berge and Conrad Vogt-Svendsen , visited prisoners, brought them food and brought letters to their families in Norway and Denmark. Vogt-Svendsen also made contact with

6231-602: The subsequent 1948 Arab–Israeli War and laid the groundwork for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East . The specific proposals showed the influence of the previously responsible British government , and to a lesser extent the U.S. government . Bernadotte wrote that: "in putting forward any proposal for the solution of the Palestine problem, one must bear in mind

6324-485: The transports of prisoners for the SS took place between 27 and 29 March, from Neuengamme to subcamps in Hannover and Salzgitter and to Bergen-Belsen . During the evacuations some 50 to 100 prisoners died, and many more died in the worse conditions in the new camps to which they were transported, having been moved to avoid the advancing Allied armies. The Swedish sub-lieutenant Åke Svenson wrote: We could now see how

6417-420: The transports was the prisoners' chronic diarrhoea. This situation was subsequently remedied by the Danes supplying portable toilets of a type that had been used during their transports. Due to the Swedish transports Neuengamme received ever more prisoners, and the concentration of Scandinavian prisoners that Himmler had promised did not materialize. Swedish health personnel and the buses were not allowed to enter

6510-522: The visit to Berlin Bernadotte also had several meetings with the Gross Kreutz group, Didrik Arup Seip , Conrad Vogt-Svendsen , Wanda Hjort and Bjørn Heger. Bernadotte's secondary proposal to Himmler, which he accepted, was prepared by Heger. The foundation of the White Buses expedition was several years of planning and information collection by Danes and Norwegians. This was used by the Swedes without many alterations. The Swedish Red Cross contacted

6603-517: The year before. Bernadotte had originally been assigned to retrieve Norwegian and Danish POWs in Germany. He returned on 1 May 1945, the day after Hitler's death. Following an interview, the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet wrote that Bernadotte succeeded in rescuing 15,000 people from German concentration camps, including about 8,000 Danes and Norwegians and 7,000 women of French, Polish, Czech, British, American, Argentinian, and Chinese nationalities. The missions took around two months, and exposed

6696-480: Was Himmler's personal masseur . He lived in Stockholm and acted as an intermediary between the Swedish foreign department and Himmler. Walter Schellenberg , a trusted subordinate of Himmler, had long held the view that Germany would lose the war and encouraged Himmler to explore the possibility of a separate peace treaty with the Western powers; in this Sweden could be a useful intermediary. With Kersten's assistance

6789-595: Was a liaison officer with the Gestapo . The expedition had around 40 German communication, SS and Gestapo officers. The Germans demanded that every second vehicle should have a German officer on board. The "White Buses" expedition was totally dependent on cooperation with the Germans as the country under Nazi rule was a police state. Only with liaison personnel from the Gestapo and SS could the expedition move without restrictions. Bernadotte had promised Schellenberg to have

6882-696: Was also suspected by the Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion of being part of the group that ordered the assassination. The assassination was planned by Lehi's Jerusalem operations chief, Yehoshua Zettler .   In the Katamon quarter, we were held up by a Jewish Army type jeep placed in a road block and filled with men in Jewish Army uniforms. At the same moment, I saw an armed man coming from this jeep. I took little notice of this because I merely thought it

6975-400: Was another checkpoint. However, he put a Tommy gun through the open window on my side of the car, and fired point blank at Count Bernadotte and Colonel Serot . I also heard shots fired from other points, and there was considerable confusion. [...]   Colonel Serot fell in the seat in back of me, and I saw at once that he was dead. Count Bernadotte bent forward, and I thought at the time he

7068-547: Was appointed "United Nations Mediator in Palestine", in accordance with UN-resolution 186 of 14 May 1948. It was the first official mediation in the UN's history. This was necessitated by the immediate violence that followed the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine and the subsequent unilateral Israeli Declaration of Independence . In this capacity, he succeeded in achieving an initial truce during

7161-410: Was burned in the face by the gun flashes. Ben-Moshe and Steinberg then rushed back and mounted the jeep, which quickly accelerated down a side road, while Cohen ran away from the scene across a roadside field. Following the shooting, Bernadotte's car sped to Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital , despite damage to the radiator; the lead vehicle followed as its tires came apart. At the hospital, Bernadotte

7254-502: Was difficult as most of the prisoners were in poor physical condition, as Swedish nurse Margaretha Björcke documented: I have never in my twelve years practice as a nurse seen so much misery as I here witnessed. Legs, backs and necks full of wounds of a type that an average Swede would be on sick leave for just one of them. I counted twenty on one prisoner, and he did not complain. This first transport collected 550 prisoners while 67 very sick prisoners were left behind. A huge problem during

7347-598: Was granted a state funeral, Abba Eban attended on behalf of Israel. Bernadotte was survived by a widow and two sons, a 12-year-old and a 17-year-old. He was buried in Prince Oscar Bernadotte 's family tomb at the Northern Cemetery in Stockholm. Journalist Baruch Nadel planned the murder. The Stern Gang saw Bernadotte as a puppet of the British and the Arabs and therefore a serious threat to

7440-517: Was near the Neuengamme concentration camp , where the Scandinavian prisoners were to be assembled. Friedrichsruh castle was owned by Otto von Bismarck , a friend of Bernadotte and married to a Swede. The expedition staff were lodged in the castle and a nearby pub, while the men established a tented camp in the park surrounding the castle. The expedition had German liaison officers; the most prominent of them being Himmler's communications officer, SS - Obersturmbannführer Karl Rennau, while Franz Göring

7533-474: Was no longer certain about the allegations, and that Bernadotte may merely have been following his orders to rescue Danish and Norwegian prisoners. Several other historians have also questioned Kersten's account, concluding that the accusations were based on a forgery or a distortion devised by Kersten. Some controversy regarding the White Buses trip has also arisen in Scandinavia, particularly regarding

7626-545: Was overcrowded, and to have space for the Scandinavian prisoners, the SS insisted that prisoners of other nationalities be moved to other camps. The SS commander had no transport of his own and required that the white buses accept the transports, so the newly arrived Scandinavians could solely occupy the Schonungsblock , a barrack building for prisoners not fit to work. Around 2,000 French, Belgian, Dutch, Russian and Polish prisoners were transported to other camps. Most of

7719-622: Was permitted to be obtained in Germany. A count of 21,000 people rescued included 8,000 Danes and Norwegians, 5,911 Poles, 2,629 French, 1,615 Jews, and 1,124 Germans. The expedition in Friedrichsruh was divided into two groups, the first being assigned the responsibility of transporting prisoners from Sachsenhausen , north of Berlin, to Neuengamme. The evacuations started on 15 March, over a distance of around 540 kilometres. During seven missions, around 2,200 Danes and Norwegians were transferred to Neuengamme. Sven Frykman, who commanded one of

7812-850: Was posthumously awarded one of the first three Dag Hammarskjöld Medals , given to UN peacekeepers who are killed in the line of duty. The university library at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota , US is named after him. In 1928 in Pleasantville, New York , Folke Bernadotte married Estelle Romaine Manville (1904–1984), whose family had founded part of the Johns-Manville Corporation. They had four sons, two of whom died in childhood. Seven grandchildren were all born after Folke Bernadotte's death. His widow Estelle Bernadotte remarried in 1973. In September 2008, it became official that before his marriage Bernadotte had

7905-485: Was pronounced dead. All four members of the hit team made it to the religious community of Shaarei Pina , where they hid with local Haredi sympathizers. After a few days in hiding, they fled to Tel Aviv in the back of a furniture truck. Lehi leaders initially denied responsibility for the attack. Only later did Lehi take responsibility for the killings in the name of Hazit Hamoledet (the Homeland Front),

7998-426: Was seated to his left, killing both. Serot had swapped places in the motorcade to join Bernadotte and thank him personally for having saved his wife's life in a German concentration camp. Ben-Moshe and Steinberg shot at the tires of the UN vehicles, while Cohen finished the magazine by firing at the radiator. The driver of the sedan, Colonel Begley, got out and tried to grapple with Cohen as he fired his last shots, but

8091-491: Was solicited for sending a Red Cross delegation to Berlin to negotiate the position of the Scandinavian prisoners, and if successful to send a Swedish relief expedition. The Swedish foreign minister Christian Günther was in favour and the Swedish government gave permission for Bernadotte, second in command of the Swedish Red Cross: to attempt to obtain permission in Germany for the transport to Sweden or Denmark of

8184-695: Was that Germany would surrender only to the Western Allies (the United Kingdom and the United States), but would be allowed to continue resisting the Soviet Union . According to Bernadotte, he told Himmler that the proposal had no chance of acceptance, but nevertheless he passed it on to the Swedish government and the Western Allies. It had no lasting effect. Upon the initiative of the Norwegian diplomat Niels Christian Ditleff in

8277-451: Was that of "transport officer, no more". Kersten was quoted as saying that, according to Himmler, Bernadotte was opposed to the rescue of Jews and understood "the necessity of our fight against World Jewry". Shortly following the publication of his article, Trevor-Roper began to retreat from these charges. At the time of his article, Kersten had just been nominated by the Dutch government for

8370-547: Was the second son of King Oscar II of Sweden ; his mother, Ebba Munck af Fulkila , had been a lady in waiting to Victoria of Baden , the wife of Crown Prince Gustaf . Oscar had married Ebba without the consent of the King, and so was forced to renounce his Swedish titles; in 1892, he was granted the titles of Prince Bernadotte and Count of Wisborg by his uncle, Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg . Bernadotte attended school in Stockholm, after which he entered training to become

8463-513: Was trying to get cover. I asked him: 'Are you wounded?' He nodded, and fell back. [...]   When we arrived [at the Hadassah hospital] I carried the Count inside and laid him on the bed [...] I took off the Count's jacket and tore away his shirt and undervest. I saw that he was wounded around the heart and that there was also a considerable quantity of blood on his clothes about it.   When

8556-491: Was used in the assassination (an MP 40 , serial number 2581) was lost, and was only found again in 2018 during an inventory check in the Heritage House of the Israel Police  [ he ] , when an unidentified box was found to contain an MP 40 machine pistol and the curator, Shlomi Shitrit, decided to identify the history of the weapon. Prior to finding it, it was believed to have been destroyed. The day after

8649-410: Was working as Ben-Gurion's personal bodyguard. The first public admission of Lehi's role in the killing was made on the anniversary of the assassination in 1977. The statute of limitations for the murder had expired in 1971. In 1988, two years after Cohen's death, Zettler and Makover publicly confessed their role in the assassination and confirmed that Cohen had killed Bernadotte. The weapon which

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