To Yad Vashem,
Chairman Dani Dayan,
Members of Yad Vashem Directorate
info@yadvashem.org.il
Open letter
Herewith, I would like to ask Yad Vashem to reconsider having the "Swedish White Bus from Volvo car company" at the exhibition in Jerusalem. I want also Yad Vashem also reconsider the status of this artifact as the "rescue of Jews during the Holocaust". Thus, especially when a real artifact, the cattle wagon, with its well-known and documented history and regarded as the symbol of the death of 6 000 000 Jews is exhibited at the same spot.
The empty cattle wagon
The empty cattle wagon is a recognized symbol of all Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust. The German state railway company Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) played a key role in Nazi Germany's warfare and in the practical implementation of the Holocaust. Cattle wagons were used to deport Jews to Ghettos and later to Death and Concentration Camps. It is estimated that the DR and other train companies in Europe carried out 8 000 000 (8 million) such transports (to the ghettos, between the concentration camps, and to the extermination camps). Transports that DR was paid for by the SS. Transport of empty wagons from death camps was also paid for by the SS to the DR. My grandparents and over 375 000 Jews were deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka death camp. Each train with 60 cattle wagons was sent daily from Warsaw and carried an average of 6 000 - 7 500 condemned to death, sometimes actually more. Trains arrived at the death camps from countless European countries. Therefore, the symbol of the Holocaust, a railway cattle wagon can be found in several museums throughout the world. An original cattle car of that type can also be found in Jerusalem at Yad Vashem and the spot it is placed at is called The Memorial to the Deportees. For the main part of Jewish visitors, this memorial is one of the most important artifacts at the museum.
The White Swedish Bus
There is another artifact at Yad Vashem "The White Swedish Bus". According to the short description by Yad Vashem, "it stands as a tangible testimony to the rescue story of the Red Cross during the Holocaust".
One can also read that "Tens of thousands of prisoners – mostly women, and among them, many thousands of Jews – were brought from Germany to Sweden".
Unfortunately, I don't find the same kind of clear, unquestioned symbolism as there is a case in the cattle wagon or in the Danish fishing boat (another Scandinavian artifact). The word questioned symbolism is here in its proper place. The Swedish aid effort contains many question marks, so the historiography, which has already been revised several times, should be rewritten by Yad Vashem where the researchers must use primary sources. It is known that there were no "Tens of thousands of prisoners" and there were no "thousands of Jews" that were transported to Sweden. It is also known that White buses also transported during the entire mission German citizens (many of them with Swedish roots). How many Nazis fled to Sweden using White buses is not known. Not only German women and children (with Swedish roots) were rescued to Sweden. Valuables, dogs, and parrots were also transported.
Herewith, I would like to ask Yad Vashem to reconsider having the "Swedish White Bus from Volvo car company" at the exhibition in Jerusalem. I want also Yad Vashem also reconsider the status of this artifact as the "rescue of Jews during the Holocaust". Thus, especially when a real artifact, the cattle wagon, with its well-known and documented history and regarded as the symbol of the death of 6 000 000 Jews is exhibited at the same spot.
The empty cattle wagon
The empty cattle wagon is a recognized symbol of all Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust. The German state railway company Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) played a key role in Nazi Germany's warfare and in the practical implementation of the Holocaust. Cattle wagons were used to deport Jews to Ghettos and later to Death and Concentration Camps. It is estimated that the DR and other train companies in Europe carried out 8 000 000 (8 million) such transports (to the ghettos, between the concentration camps, and to the extermination camps). Transports that DR was paid for by the SS. Transport of empty wagons from death camps was also paid for by the SS to the DR. My grandparents and over 375 000 Jews were deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka death camp. Each train with 60 cattle wagons was sent daily from Warsaw and carried an average of 6 000 - 7 500 condemned to death, sometimes actually more. Trains arrived at the death camps from countless European countries. Therefore, the symbol of the Holocaust, a railway cattle wagon can be found in several museums throughout the world. An original cattle car of that type can also be found in Jerusalem at Yad Vashem and the spot it is placed at is called The Memorial to the Deportees. For the main part of Jewish visitors, this memorial is one of the most important artifacts at the museum.
The White Swedish Bus
There is another artifact at Yad Vashem "The White Swedish Bus". According to the short description by Yad Vashem, "it stands as a tangible testimony to the rescue story of the Red Cross during the Holocaust".
One can also read that "Tens of thousands of prisoners – mostly women, and among them, many thousands of Jews – were brought from Germany to Sweden".
Unfortunately, I don't find the same kind of clear, unquestioned symbolism as there is a case in the cattle wagon or in the Danish fishing boat (another Scandinavian artifact). The word questioned symbolism is here in its proper place. The Swedish aid effort contains many question marks, so the historiography, which has already been revised several times, should be rewritten by Yad Vashem where the researchers must use primary sources. It is known that there were no "Tens of thousands of prisoners" and there were no "thousands of Jews" that were transported to Sweden. It is also known that White buses also transported during the entire mission German citizens (many of them with Swedish roots). How many Nazis fled to Sweden using White buses is not known. Not only German women and children (with Swedish roots) were rescued to Sweden. Valuables, dogs, and parrots were also transported.
The Swedish Red Cross and the White Buses were exploited by the Nazis in various ways. In part, it was a matter of other prisoner transports between the concentration camps where many died to make way for the Swedish rescue operation. These transport were operated by SS and the number of prisoners transported by SS using White buses was probably much higher than the total number of Jewish prisoners transported from Ravensbrück to Sweden (a few hundred). Several of the sick 2 000 French, Polish, and Belgian prisoners were transported by White buses to worse conditions in other concentration camps to make room for Scandinavian prisoners. Prisoners that died during these transports were just thrown out of the bus as reported by Swedish historian, Lomfors. Another fact that is often omitted, also in Yad Vashem is that this mission of transporting Scandinavians to Sweden at the end of WWII was to start with the Norwegian initiative, and the biggest number of transported prisoners were transported by Danish White buses.
It is known that Sweden wanted at the end of WWII to appear as a humanitarian nation and get rid of some labels as a semi-neutral cooperation nation with the Nazis. So the statement that the White bus "stands as a tangible testimony to the rescue story of the Red Cross during the Holocaust" is not correct.
The biggest problem, however, is to have these two artifacts in the same place and give one of them the status of "Rescue of the Jews" while the second one, "Memorial of Deportees" symbolizes the death of 6 000 000 Jews.
The presence of the White bus in the area of Yad Vashem area gives not only false information about this mission itself but it diminishes the value of The Memorial to the Deportees.
The Danish fishing boat is, as mentioned above, an artifact representing a true "rescue of Jews during the Holocaust".
The truth about "Swedish White Buses" and the Jews was partially reported in the Swedish Radio program "Take the Jews last" produced by Bosse Lindquist in the Spring of 1998. It resulted in the Swedish Red Cross rewriting the legendary story that was part of the Swedish "End of the war strategy". In 2005 Ingrid Lomfors described in her book SS and Gestapo controlled transport using White buses.
Roman Romuald Wasserman Wroblewski, Ph. D.
Chairman
SHMA - Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association
It is known that Sweden wanted at the end of WWII to appear as a humanitarian nation and get rid of some labels as a semi-neutral cooperation nation with the Nazis. So the statement that the White bus "stands as a tangible testimony to the rescue story of the Red Cross during the Holocaust" is not correct.
The biggest problem, however, is to have these two artifacts in the same place and give one of them the status of "Rescue of the Jews" while the second one, "Memorial of Deportees" symbolizes the death of 6 000 000 Jews.
The presence of the White bus in the area of Yad Vashem area gives not only false information about this mission itself but it diminishes the value of The Memorial to the Deportees.
The Danish fishing boat is, as mentioned above, an artifact representing a true "rescue of Jews during the Holocaust".
The truth about "Swedish White Buses" and the Jews was partially reported in the Swedish Radio program "Take the Jews last" produced by Bosse Lindquist in the Spring of 1998. It resulted in the Swedish Red Cross rewriting the legendary story that was part of the Swedish "End of the war strategy". In 2005 Ingrid Lomfors described in her book SS and Gestapo controlled transport using White buses.
When in Israel in February this year, I had a talk with the Swedish ambassador and informed him about the matter described above.
With best regards,
With best regards,
Roman Romuald Wasserman Wroblewski, Ph. D.
Chairman
SHMA - Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association
Stockholm, Sweden
Please read as well on my blog "How White and how Swedish were White buses?":
https://jimbaotoday.blogspot.com/2023/01/how-white-are-white-buses.html
https://jimbaotoday.blogspot.com/2023/01/yad-vashem-and-white-bus-mission.html
Please read as well on my blog "How White and how Swedish were White buses?":
https://jimbaotoday.blogspot.com/2023/01/how-white-are-white-buses.html
https://jimbaotoday.blogspot.com/2023/01/yad-vashem-and-white-bus-mission.html
