IN PREPARATION
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February 5, 1945. The situation in Germany for Germans with "Swedish connections! The decisive battle for the Oder line and Berlin may occur early this week. Kristina and Erika want to go to Sweden. BERLIN, Monday. February 5, 1945 (Expressen) Among those waiting for the opportunity to come to Sweden as soon as possible are Kristina Söderbaum and Erika Patzek-Bernadotte (former wife of Prince Sigvard of Sweden). The legation has good hopes of bringing home the Swedes now sitting and waiting for the opportunity to travel - the last train from Berlin. In German newspapers, the front reports are extremely few. They really only mean that the German Oder line is stabilizing. It is known here that the Russian advance is in full swing on the other side of the Oder. The next phase of the great dilemma is approaching. The decisive battle for the Oder line and Berlin may occur early this week.
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Sweden was not as neutral during World War II as it was claimed for years.
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On the way to Theresienstadt, the column took with it 400 Frenchmen who had been released from Neuengamme by the Germans. The Frenchmen were to be left in Flossenburg, but when they arrived, the camp was found to be in disarray. It was therefore decided to take the Frenchmen to Theresienstadt, where they were soon picked up and taken to Switzerland.
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Swedish present Red Cross description (as seen on the internet in May 2025):
On the way to Theresienstadt, the column took with it 400 Frenchmen who had been released from Neuengamme by the Germans. The Frenchmen were to be left in Flossenburg, but when they arrived, the camp was found to be in disarray. It was therefore decided to take the Frenchmen to Theresienstadt, where they were soon picked up and taken to Switzerland.
Above in Swedish: På vägen till Theresienstadt tog kolonnen med sig 400 fransmän som tyskarna hade släppt från Neuengamme. Fransmännen skulle lämnas i Flossenburg men när de kom fram visade sig lägret vara i upplösning. Man beslöt därför att ta med sig fransmännen till Theresienstadt, där de snare hämtades och fordes till Schweiz.
The truth is that the White buses, in cooperation with the SS, in March 1945, transported 2,000 prisoners of war (French, Russian, Polish) from the Neuengamme concentration camp to certain death during the transport or at the destination. Almost all of them were in poor physical condition. Many were sick and taken out of the ambulatorium in the Neugame concentration camp, which was assigned as the main gathering point for Scandinavian prisoners (Norwegians) who were imprisoned at several different concentration camps.
Himmler and Bernadotte's last meeting took place in the middle of the night between April 23 and 24 in the city of Lubeck. It was during the bombardment of Lübeck, so the talks took place in the cellar of the Swedish consulate there. Himmler was desperate for post-war outs. He realised that the war was over, and therefore, when asked by Bernadotte about further transports from the concentration camps, he answered Bernadotte's question that he might evacuate "anyone he wanted" and "how many of the prisoners he wanted". Himmler's answer was probably a kind of sarcasm as he found Bernadotte's questions ingenious. Himmler was no longer in power. He was actually persona non grata, a banned person among the German military leaders and among the Allies. He was responsible for the Holocaust and the fate of prisoners of war, where Soviet POWs were treated extremely hard and starved to death.
However, Himmler wanted Bernadotte to act as his courier to deliver a message to be passed through the Swedish government to US General Dwight Eisenhower. It was his proposal for a German surrender on the entire Western front, not the Eastern front, Soviets. Realising the war was lost, Himmler attempted to open peace talks with the Allies. Learning of this, Hitler dismissed him from all his posts in late April 1945. The Allies, of course, rejected the offer of Himmler as the war was practically over.
Also, Hitler knew the war was lost and, by April 27, had sent most of his personal staff away. He also permitted senior leaders such as Hermann Göring, Albert Speer, Heinrich Himmler, and Karl Dönitz to flee Berlin, which was fully surrounded by Soviet troops. Dönitz was appointed as Hitler’s successor and built the last Third Reich government in the town of Flensburg on the Danish border. He wanted to keep his government free from the SS-generals and rejected Hitler's offer to join it.
The Allies probably disliked the White bus transports as they wanted to achieve German complete capitulation as quickly as possible. Therefore, there were intensive bombing raids on the railways and roads. British RAF pilots were, however, informed about the White buses in the small corridor that was left in German hands.
Skandinaviska judar
423 nordsiska judar nådde Lübeck den 16 april. Därifrån fördes de vidare till Malmö, dit de
anlände två dagar senare. Det handlade egentligen om de danska medborgare då flesta norska judarna hade efter deporteringen till Auschwitz avrättats eller avlidit på annat sätt.
Total number of concentration camp prisoners transported with White buses (not trains and ships).
The number of prisoners transported in White buses in the direction of Sweden is seldom mentioned. The same concerns the number of non-Scandinavian Jews.
The Swedish White buses' force was divided into three bus platoons (each with 12 buses), one truck platoon (with 12 vehicles), and one supply platoon. The buses had eight stretchers or seats for 30 passengers. That means up to 1080 persons could be transported at the same time. That included an extra driver, doctors, nurses, and Gestapo men.
De utomnordiska judar som kom till Sverige med Vita Bussar, kom med den allra sista transporten från koncentrationslägret Ravensbrück - se listor från 28 april 1945. Hur många judar var med de nämnda transporterna har ingen forskare undersökt. En snabb titt på listorna ger det dock en uppfattning att det rör sig om 1 500-3 500.
Här talar jag om de som registrerades och som kom med bussar under April 1945. Inte med tåg eller Vita båtar. tågtransporter anlände till Padborg 30 april och 2 maj. Vita Båt transporter var juni-juli 1945. Sista Vita Båten anlände 26 juli 1945 till Malmö.
Vad var Vita buss aktionens syfte. Syftet var inte att rädda dödsdömda judar i sig, utan de nordiska medborgarna som fanns i lägren. Men på det sättet kunde de nordiska medborgarna som hade judisk bakgrund räddas. Övriga som kom med kom med enkom i mån av plats och tillfälle.
Vita tågDet första tåget till gränsstationen i Padborg, Danmark kom från koncentrationslägret Ravensbrück, 53 godsvagnar där 80 fångar stuvades in i varje vagn – totalt 3 989 kvinnor. Tåget avgick från Ravensbrück den 25 april och anlände till Lübeck den 29 april och ankom till Danmark den 30 april 1945.
Det andra tåget, med 2 800 kvinnor (3 000) från lägren runt Hamburg kom till Padborg i Danmark den 2 maj 1945.
Beträffande Folke Bernadotte är jag övertygad om att beskyllningen är grundlös. Såväl i Israel som i USA har han hyllats för sina räddningsaktioner, säkert inte utan föregående noggranna undersökningar.
Eva Dickson journalist
Vad jag påpekade var att de nordiska judarna – och många andra utsatta grupper – inte stod lika högt på dagordningen som till exempel nordiska motståndsmän, svensk-tyska hemmafruar med flera, och rent faktiskt togs sist under vita bussarnas räddningsaktion i Nazi-Tyskland. Expeditionen valde särskilt mot slutet själva vilka som skulle få åka med – svåra val som påverkades av en bredare svensk rasism och xenofobi än bara antisemitism.
Bosse Lindquist radioproducent och författare
