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| Five White Boats- M/S Karskär, M/S Rönnskär, S/S Kastelholm, M/S Crownprincess Margareta, and HMS Prins Carl took aboard some 200 patients each, while the Kronprinsessan Ingrid took a little over 400 in their first transport on the 27th and 28th of June. The patients, depending on their condition, were sent to various Swedish hospitals in cities along the Swedish coastline. Here, lying on the mattresses on the floor, probably on board one of the sister boats M/S Karskär or M/S Rönnskär. After each trip, the mattresses will be burnt down. SF’s weekly newsreel on October 20, 1945. |
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Translation of the Top Image: On Midsummer Eve, the Red Cross convoy departs. On Midsummer Eve, the Swedish Red Cross vessels will gather at Trelleborg's roads [anchorage] to fetch the approximately 10,000 sick and convalescent prisoners of war from Lübeck, who have been brought together from various German concentration camps to be transported to Sweden. Out of these vessels, the Svea Company's two newly built ships "Karskär" and "Rönnskär" are making their maiden voyages. Translation of the Lower Image: "From the vessels, all paper sheets and paper mattresses are brought ashore and burned, and all blankets are disinfected. The vessels are likewise disinfected and provided with new bedding equipment. For th[is]..." |
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| SF’s weekly newsreel on October 20, 1945. From Trelleborg, heading Travemünde and Lübeck. |
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| SF’s weekly newsreel on October 20, 1945. From Trelleborg, heading to Travemünde and Lübeck. From S/S Kastelholm. Next White boat is likely to be HMS Prince Carl. |
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| SF’s weekly newsreel on October 20, 1945. Entering Lübeck. |
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| SF’s weekly newsreel on October 20, 1945. Entering Lübeck. |
UNRRA White Boats and Holocaust survivors in Sweden - How Strength is Regained - Newsreel, October 20, 1945.
Just before the pandemic, I started the project for a movie about White Boats to Sweden.
I found that there are numerous films from 1945 that were never shown before. Among others, I sent a request to Filminstitutet and Kungliga Biblioteket to see this archival material together with a friend of mine, a documentary filmmaker. The rules at KB were very strict at that time, and we were not allowed to see the material together, only one by one.
Some of this unique material was used in 1945 in SF’s weekly newsreel on October 20, 1945.
This newsreel is very special. It mainly shows healthy, happy individuals who arrived in Sweden during the summer with the White Boats. The reportage begins by showing happy people in fine clothes who are educating themselves or working in a factory in the Stockholm suburb of Sundbyberg. The reportage is titled "How Their Strength is Regained" and is taken from the SF (Swedish Film Industry) weekly review of October 20, 1945, showing prisoners from German concentration camps who were transported to Sweden in June–July 1945, after the Second World War had ended.
Two minutes in, we shift to the UNRRA operation, which I later called the White Boats to distinguish it from the White Buses. Here you can see unique film clips of the White Boats steering from Trelleborg toward Lübeck, and follow the former concentration camp prisoners from a transit hospital in Lübeck, where they had been transported from the Emergency Hospital near the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The scenes showing the transport from the hospital in Lübeck and the embarkation are unique. Stunning. However, it is not the same group of former prisoners being shown at the beginning of the newsreel, though a Swede in the cinema audience at the time could easily have perceived it that way.
Holocaust survivors from Bergen-Belsen were liberated on April 15th by the British Army and hospitalized in the British Army Emergency Hospital organized next to the site of the concentration camp. In June 1945, they were moved to Lübeck Hospital; there they were registered and prepared for transport by the White Boats to Sweden. The movie crew later visited Kummelnäs on Ormingelandet outside Stockholm, where refugees from Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia were being provided with winter clothing. It seems the film crew had difficulty understanding that they were dealing with two completely different groups of people. People, mostly Holocaust survivors who had spent up to six years in ghettos and concentration camps, could not have achieved such a "recovery" as one might believe when watching this newsreel. For many of them, recovery took years, and in several cases, they never recovered and died within days or weeks of arriving in Sweden. They are buried in several cemeteries around Sweden.It is worth noting that several of the major Swedish national newspapers from late June 1945 exclusively highlighted the cheerful individuals, referring to them in their reports as "the clientele." There was absolutely no connection to the horrific images captured between April 18th and 20th, 1945—such as those published in the May 1945 issues of LIFE Magazine. Publishing such graphic images in Sweden at that time would likely have triggered a severe public backlash, driven primarily by a deep-seated fear of diseases and epidemics. Consequently, these fears would have sparked widespread protests against the entire UNRRA operation.
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| It is worth noting that several of the major Swedish national newspapers from late June 1945 exclusively highlighted the cheerful individuals, referring to them in their reports as "the clientele." There was absolutely no connection to the horrific images captured between April 18th and 20th, 1945—such as those published in the May 1945 issues of LIFE Magazine. Publishing such graphic images in Sweden at that time would likely have triggered a severe public backlash, driven primarily by a deep-seated fear of diseases and epidemics. Consequently, these fears would have sparked widespread protests against the entire UNRRA operation. |
Below is my "chronological" report using photos taken from SF’s weekly newsreel on October 20, 1945.
Transportation from Bergen-Belsen to Lübeck
Transportation by train from the British Army hospital next to the former Bergen-Belsen camp to Lübeck to the detachment called Swedish Transit Hospital, manned by Swedish, German, and British personnel. At this detachment (also called in Swedish - Civilförsvarsstyrelsens Uppsamlingsläger i Lübeck - Board of Civilian Defense detention camp) the former concentration camp prisoners, now called patients, were given, besides the medical ward, new identification cards (DP-2) and multilingual travel documents.
The efficiency of the Swedish transit hospital was to receive approximately 2 000 displaced persons a week from Bergen-Belsen.
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Transportation from the British Army hospital next to the former Bergen-Belsen camp to Lübeck, to the Swedish Transit Hospital, was by ambulance train.
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| Transportation from the British Army hospital next to the former Bergen-Belsen camp to Lübeck was by train and thereafter from the train station, by British Army ambulances to the detachment called Swedish Transit Hospital. At this detachment, the former concentration camp prisoners, now called patients, were given, besides the medical ward, new identification cards (DP-2) and multilingual travel documents. The efficiency of the Swedish transit hospital in Lübeck was to receive approximately 2 000 displaced persons a week from Bergen-Belsen. SF’s weekly newsreel on October 20, 1945. |
Transportation from Swedish transit hospital to the Lübeck harbor
The next step was transportation from the Swedish transit hospital to the Lübeck harbor in the middle of the city. DPs were sent down to the ships by buses and ambulances. The name lists were prepared for each boat. Each transport had its own transport code name, like Red ship, Black ship, etc. The patients were divided into two groups: sittande and liggande. The sittande - sitting patients were the category that could go on board by themselves. Liggande - lying patients were brought on board on the stretchers. Usually, only one doctor was on board, and each ship had few nurses.
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| SF’s weekly newsreel on October 20, 1945. Lübeck port. |
Transportation from Lübeck harbor to Sweden
In total, according to the commandant of the Lübeck detachment, dr. Arnoldsson, the number of patients evacuated from Germany from June 23rd to July 25th, 1945 9 273 sent over the Baltic to Sweden with the White Boats. The majority of them were Jewish, and the main part comprised women.
Five White Boats- M/S Karskär, M/S Rönnskär, S/S Kastelholm, M/S Crown Princess Margareta, and HMS Prins Carl took aboard some 200 patients each, while the M/S Crown Princess (Kronprinsessan Ingrid) took a little over 400 in their first transport on the 27th and 28th of June. The patients, depending on their condition, were sent to various Swedish hospitals in cities along the Swedish coastline.
 | Probably on board cargo ships M/S "Karskär" and "Rönnskär". SF’s weekly newsreel on October 20, 1945. |
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| Probably on board cargo ships M/S "Karskär" and "Rönnskär". SF’s weekly newsreel on October 20, 1945. |
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| Two of White Boat mission vessels, the Svea Company's newly built cargo ships M/S "Karskär" and M/S "Rönnskär" are making their maiden voyages. They had no beds. We can read about this in one of the newspapers: "From the vessels, all paper sheets and paper mattresses are brought ashore and burned, and all blankets are disinfected. The vessels are likewise disinfected and provided with new bedding equipment". SF’s weekly newsreel on October 20, 1945. |
One of my early findings. Besides DP-1 and DP-2 cards, all travelers had round aluminum tags (here appearing red) with their transfer numbers on a string around their neck. Probably on board cargo ships M/S "Karskär" and "Rönnskär". SF’s weekly newsreel on October 20, 1945.
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When the last White Boats left Lübeck harbor on July 25, 1945, they transported, according to this list, 9 525 former inmates of the concentration camps. Most of them came from Bergen-Belsen.
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| This newsreel is very special. In the very first scenes, it mainly shows healthy, happy individuals who arrived in Sweden during the summer with the White Boats. The reportage begins, and it runs for two minutes by showing happy people in fine clothes who are educating themselves or working in a factory in the Stockholm suburb of Sundbyberg. SF’s weekly newsreel on October 20, 1945. |
