Language:
English
Year of publication:
2001
Titel der Quelle:
Remembering for the Future; the Holocaust in an Age of Genocide
Angaben zur Quelle:
I (2001) 630-644
Keywords:
Hedin, Sven Anders,
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
World War, 1939-1945 Collaborationists
Abstract:
Hedin, a member of the Royal Academy of Science and the Swedish Academy, was the author of many widely-read books, and a traveler who had met world leaders. His infatuation with German society and culture began in 1889, when he went to study in Berlin. Like many Swedes, he feared Russian communism, and he also felt that only the Nazis could fight communism and preserve the purity of the Germanic peoples. He supported the Nazis from the 1920s; he corresponded and met with many Nazi leaders, including Hitler. In his "Germany and World Peace" (1937) he justified Nazi antisemitic policies, claiming that the Jews were responsible for the German defeat in World War I and for the general deterioration of Germany during the Weimar Republic. In 1938 he mildly objected to persecution of the Jews, but blamed the Jews for their treatment, since they had betrayed Germany. After being told that the Nazis were not pleased, he no longer criticized Nazi policy, but he did not help any Jews during the war although many requested his help. After the war, Hedin continued to praise the Nazis and was sorry they had lost the war.
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