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Sweden pursued a policy which by many is hailed as brilliant and immensely effective and by others as treacherous, cowardly and honourless. Basically, It consisted of pursuing an appeasement policy towars hitler (by allowing nazi troop transports through sweden, by supplying him with steel and iron ore, by extraditing dissenters, by interning communists) until he started to have preoccupations elsewhere than scandinavia in about '43 when we unashamedly switched sides and started supplying the Allies with iron ore instead. All while remaining formally neutral, of course.
While the moral disadavantages of this are obvious, the tactical advantages were huge. Sweden was peaceful, well-fed and stable during the entire war. No nazi threats, neither internal nor external, ever managed to touch the Swedish (all-party, though Social Democrat led) government. No reprecussions hit Sweden after the war, and more importantly, it was one of the few western european industrial economies not ruined and in need of no aid. This is where the basis of the post-war Swedish economic boom that lasted for decades lies. By many back in Sweden, the government's dogged determination not to relent while assaulted from all sides is seen as heroic, not treacherous. PM Per Albin Hansson is in many ways the political role model followed since, and is credited with creating the swedish "People's Home", the industry-government co-operative welfare model that made Sweden famous.
While the moral disadavantages of this are obvious, the tactical advantages were huge. Sweden was peaceful, well-fed and stable during the entire war. No nazi threats, neither internal nor external, ever managed to touch the Swedish (all-party, though Social Democrat led) government. No reprecussions hit Sweden after the war, and more importantly, it was one of the few western european industrial economies not ruined and in need of no aid. This is where the basis of the post-war Swedish economic boom that lasted for decades lies. By many back in Sweden, the government's dogged determination not to relent while assaulted from all sides is seen as heroic, not treacherous. PM Per Albin Hansson is in many ways the political role model followed since, and is credited with creating the swedish "People's Home", the industry-government co-operative welfare model that made Sweden famous.
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) not more than German...
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