White Buses
Encyclopedia
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
Red Cross
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human...
and the Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
government in the spring of 1945 to rescue concentration camp
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
inmates in areas under Nazi control and transport them to Sweden, a neutral country. Although the program was initially targeted at saving citizens of Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n countries, it rapidly expanded to include citizens of other countries.
All told, the program removed 15,345 prisoners from mortal peril in concentration camps; of these 7,795 were Scandinavian and 7,550 were non-Scandinavian (Polish, French, etc.).
The term "white buses" originates from the buses having been painted white with red crosses to avoid confusion with military vehicles.
Inspired by this program, the Norwegian White Buses Foundation organises excursions to Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
and the sites of other concentration camps for school classes, accompanied by first-hand witnesses and survivors.
Scandinavian prisoners in Germany
DenmarkDenmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
were invaded
Operation Weserübung
Operation Weserübung was the code name for Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign...
by Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
on April 9, 1940. A number of Norwegians were immediately arrested, two months later the occupying force established the first prisoners' camp at Ulven
Ulven concentration camp
Ulven concentration camp was established by the Nazi administration of occupied Norway in Os, Hordaland in June 1940, and was the first of its kind in Norway...
outside Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
.
Tension intensified between the Nazi authorities and the resistance
Norwegian resistance movement
The Norwegian resistance to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began after Operation Weserübung in 1940 and ended in 1945. It took several forms:...
. Consequently, more Norwegians were arrested and detained, initially in Norwegian prisons and camps and deported to camps in Germany. The first Norwegians arrived at Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
on August 29 1940, but they were released and sent home in December. Regular deportations from Norway began in the spring of 1941.
Arrests in Denmark began with the resignation of the coalition government on August 29, 1943.
The Scandinavian prisoners in Germany were divided into various categories, from the so-called civil interned who lived privately and had certain freedoms, to the Nacht und Nebel
Nacht und Nebel
Nacht und Nebel was a directive of Adolf Hitler on 7 December 1941 signed and implemented by Armed Forces High Command Chief Wilhelm Keitel, resulting in the kidnapping and forced disappearance of many political activists and resistance 'helpers' throughout Nazi Germany's occupied...
(NN) or "Night and Fog" prisoners who were destined to be worked to death. As the number of Scandinavian prisoners increased, various groups organised relief work for them. The Norwegian seamen's priests in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Arne Berge
Arne Berge
Arne Berge was a Norwegian priest. He was seamen's priest in Hamburg during World War II, when he also worked among Scandinavian prisoners in Germany, and helped planning and carrying out the White Buses operation....
and Conrad Vogt-Svendsen
Conrad Vogt-Svendsen
Conrad Vogt-Svendsen was a Norwegian priest. He was assistant seamen's priest in Hamburg during Second World War, helped with the White Buses operation in 1945, and was later main priest for the deafs in Norway....
, visited prisoners, brought them food and brought letters to their families in Norway and Denmark. Vogt-Svendsen also made contact with the civilians interned at Gross Kreutz, the Norwegian families Hjort and Seip
Didrik Arup Seip
Didrik Arup Seip was Professor of North Germanic languages at the University of Oslo.He earned his doctorate in 1916 and was appointed professor the same year, retiring in 1954. Together with Herman Jæger, he edited and published the collected works of Henrik Wergeland in 23 volumes...
. Together with other Scandinavians the group at Gross Kreutz compiled extensive lists of prisoners and their location. The lists were then sent to the Norwegian government-in-exile in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
through the Swedish embassy in Berlin. In Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
the Norwegian diplomat Niels Christian Ditleff
Niels Christian Ditleff
Niels Christian Ditleff was a Norwegian diplomat noted for his humanitarian efforts on behalf of refugees from Nazi Germany. In spite of opposition from his own and allied governments, he initiated and led the White Buses campaign to rescue Scandinavian prisoners held in German concentration camps...
engaged himself heavily with the fate of the Scandinavian prisoners. By the end of 1944 there were around 8,000 Norwegian prisoners in Germany, in addition to some 1,125 Norwegian prisoners of war.
On the Danish side Admiral Carl Hammerich
Carl Hammerich
Carl Hammerich was a Danish naval officer and Admiral. During World War II he participated in the Danish humanitarian aid to Norway, and was involved in the process leading to the White Buses operation. He was married to Borghild Hammerich....
had long worked with secret plans for an expedition code-named the Jyllandskorps to save Danish and Norwegian prisoners from the German camps. Hammerich had good connections with both the Norwegian seaman's priests, the Gross Kreutz group and with Niels Christian Ditleff in Stockholm. By the beginning of 1945 there were around 6,000 Danish prisoners in Germany. During 1944 the Danes made extensive planning efforts, including the registration of prisoners and plans for transporting resources and making available food, shelter and quarantine for the prisoners, if they succeeded in reaching Denmark. Hammerich visited Stockholm in February, April and July 1944 and discussed the plans with Ditleff.
Evacuate or "stay put"?
As the Allied forces approached Germany at the end of 1944, SHAEFSupreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force , was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was in command of SHAEF throughout its existence...
decided what should be done regarding Allied prisoners. Within the Norwegian government Major Johan Koren Christie wrote a memorandum on September 23; the Norwegian prisoners should "stay put", and wait until they were liberated by the advancing Allied forces. The Gross Kreutz group got to know about this policy a month later and reacted swiftly, with Johan Bernhard Hjort writing a report advising against the proposal. His arguments were that the prisoners risked being murdered and that they had to be rescued from Germany before the country was occupied.
He wrote:
"It is therefore strongly suggested that the Norwegian government considers the possibility that the Swedish government could be induced to intervene to help at least the Norwegian and Danish civil prisoners in Germany, including those in prisons, with the aim of transporting them to Sweden, where they if feasible may stay until the war has ended."
The October 1944 report from Hjort was the first time a Swedish operation for the Scandinavian prisoners is mentioned; the proposal was, however, initially unfavourably received. Rescuing the prisoners was seen as a Norwegian responsibility and the Norwegian government was reluctant to give the Swedes any chance to distinguish themselves at the end of the war.
The energetic diplomat Niels Christian Ditleff in Stockholm refused to accept the guidelines from the Norwegian government and continued to implore both Swedes and the Swedish foreign department to have Sweden rescuing Scandinavian prisoners. In September 1944 Ditleff raised the question with Count Folke Bernadotte
Folke Bernadotte
Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg was a Swedish diplomat and nobleman noted for his negotiation of the release of about 31,000 prisoners from German concentration camps during World War II, including 450 Danish Jews from Theresienstadt released on 14 April 1945...
who was immediately positive about the plan. On November 30 Ditleff handed over his memorandum "Reasons for a Swedish operation for rescuing prisoners" to the Swedish foreign office, but still on his own initiative. On December 29 the Norwegian government changed its position and instructed its embassy in Stockholm to discuss the possibility of a Swedish operation targeting the Scandinavian prisoners.
While Ditleff tried to influence the exiled Norwegian government the Danes obtained a German permit to retrieve prisoners. The first ones transported back to Denmark were Danish policemen from Buchenwald, the first transport started on December 5. Until the end of February 1945, the Danes transported 341 prisoners home, most of them ill. These journeys gave the Danes valuable experience that would later benefit the "White Buses".
Swedish help to the prisoners
Sweden was the only Nordic country that remained neutral during the Second World War, but its neutrality fluctuated. Until the German defeat at the Battle of StalingradBattle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...
, Sweden was accommodating towards Germany; after Stalingrad Sweden altered its policy gradually to become closer to the Allies.
The Baltic German
Baltic German
The Baltic Germans were mostly ethnically German inhabitants of the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, which today form the countries of Estonia and Latvia. The Baltic German population never made up more than 10% of the total. They formed the social, commercial, political and cultural élite in...
, Felix Kersten
Felix Kersten
Felix Kersten was before and during World War II the personal masseur of Heinrich Himmler...
, was Reichsführer-SS
Reichsführer-SS
was a special SS rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945. Reichsführer-SS was a title from 1925 to 1933 and, after 1934, the highest rank of the German Schutzstaffel .-Definition:...
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
's personal masseur
Massage
Massage is the manipulation of superficial and deeper layers of muscle and connective tissue to enhance function, aid in the healing process, and promote relaxation and well-being. The word comes from the French massage "friction of kneading", or from Arabic massa meaning "to touch, feel or handle"...
. He lived in Stockholm and acted as an intermediary between the Swedish foreign department and Himmler. Himmler and his trusted subordinate Walter Schellenberg
Walter Schellenberg
Walther Friedrich Schellenberg was a German SS-Brigadeführer who rose through the ranks of the SS to become the head of foreign intelligence following the abolition of the Abwehr in 1944.-Biography:...
had long held the view that Germany would lose the war and were examining the possibility of a separate peace treaty with the Western powers; in this Sweden could be a useful intermediary. With Kersten's assistance the Swedish foreign department was able to free 50 Norwegian students, 50 Danish policemen and 3 Swedes in December 1944. An absolute condition for the release of the prisoners was that it should be hidden from the press; if Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
got to know about it further repatriations would be impossible.
Ditleff sent a new memorandum on February 5, 1945, this time as an official Norwegian request. Sweden was solicited for sending a Red Cross delegation to Berlin to negotiate the position of the Scandinavian prisoners, and if successful to send a Swedish relief expedition. The Swedish foreign minister Christian Günther
Christian Günther
Christian Ernst Günther was Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs in the National Unity Government that was formed as a consequence of the Soviet attack on Finland in November, 1939, and would remain in function until World War II had ended in 1945.Günther, whose father had been Swedish diplomat,...
was in favour and the Swedish government gave permission for Count Folke Bernadotte, second in command of the Swedish Red Cross:
- "to attempt to obtain permission in Germany for the transport to Sweden or Denmark of the interned Norwegian and Danish prisoners."
Folke Bernadotte flew to Berlin on February 16 and met several Nazi leaders such as the foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...
, Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Ernst Kaltenbrunner was an Austrian-born senior official of Nazi Germany during World War II. Between January 1943 and May 1945, he held the offices of Chief of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt , President of Interpol and, as a Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei und Waffen-SS, he was the...
, head of the RSHA
RSHA
The RSHA, or Reichssicherheitshauptamt was an organization subordinate to Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacities as Chef der Deutschen Polizei and Reichsführer-SS...
(Reich Main Security Office), Himmler and Schellenberg. Himmler, one of the most powerful persons in Nazi Germany, was initially negative to the transportation of prisoners to neutral Sweden. The prisoners could be trained as police troops, as Sweden already did with other Norwegians and Danes. Bernadotte had to fall back on his secondary proposal - that the prisoners should be assembled in one camp so the Swedish Red Cross could support them. Bernadotte told Himmler he estimated the number of Scandinavian prisoners to be around 13,000 while Himmler held it could not be more than two or three thousand.
During a second meeting with Schellenberg on February 21, Bernadotte got word from Himmler that he had accepted the proposal to assemble the Scandinavian prisoners in one camp. During the visit to Berlin Bernadotte also had several meetings with the Gross Kreutz group, Didrik Arup Seip
Didrik Arup Seip
Didrik Arup Seip was Professor of North Germanic languages at the University of Oslo.He earned his doctorate in 1916 and was appointed professor the same year, retiring in 1954. Together with Herman Jæger, he edited and published the collected works of Henrik Wergeland in 23 volumes...
, Conrad Vogt-Svendsen, Wanda Hjort
Wanda Hjort Heger
Wanda Maria Heger is a Norwegian social worker noted for her efforts to help Norwegian and other prisoners in Nazi concentration camps during World War II.- Background :...
and Bjørn Heger. Bernadotte's secondary proposal to Himmler, that he accepted, was prepared by Heger.
Establishing the expedition
The foundation of the White Buses expedition were several years of planning and information collection by Danes and Norwegians. This was used by the Swedes without many alterations. The Swedish Red Cross contacted the Swedish Army who supplied the needed transport. In reality this was:- "the Swedish state's expedition – the personnel were almost entirely volunteers from the armed forces, the equipment was supplied from armed forces stockpiles and the expenses were covered by the state's coffers."
Composition of the expedition force
- 308 personnel, among them about 20 doctors and nurses, the rest were volunteers from the supply regiments T1, T3 and T4; they were commanded by Colonel Gottfrid Björck as he was the inspector general for the Swedish supply forces
- 36 ambulance buses
- 19 trucks
- 7 passenger cars
- 7 motorcyles
- rescue and workshop trucks and a field kitchen
- all necessary equipment, including food, fuel and spare parts, as nothing could be had once in Germany
- The vessels Lillie Matthiessen sailing to LübeckLübeckThe Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
with 350 tons of fuel and 6,000 food parcels for the prisoners, later the Magdalena, both from the Salèn shipping line
The force was divided into three bus platoons (each with 12 buses), one truck platoon (with 12 vehicles) and one supply platoon. Total transport capacity for the force was 1,000 persons for longer distances; 1,200 persons for shorter distances where the trucks could also be used. The buses used Motyl (a mixture of 50% gasoline and 50% alcohol) and had eight stretchers or seats for 30 passengers. They used 0.5 litres of fuel per kilometer (5.6 mpg); with full tanks they could cover 100 kilometres (62.1 mi). Each bus carried two drivers.
To avoid publicity in the newspapers the Swedish state information bureau distributed so-called "grey notices" where the editors were instructed to avoid stories about the expedition.
The Danish ambassador in Stockholm had offered a larger force (40 buses, 30 trucks, 18 ambulances and other vehicles). Folke Bernadotte had considered a mixed Swedish-Danish expedition, this offer was turned down on February 23, due to the German requirement that the expedition force had to be Swedish. If not they could launch a full-scale attack on Denmark and Norway.
Departure
The first section of the expedition departed HässleholmHässleholm
Hässleholm is a locality and the seat of Hässleholm Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 17,730 inhabitants in 2005.-Overview:Hässleholm was gradually developed from 1860 in connection with the construction of the main Stockholm to Malmö railway line. There was no settlement on the spot before...
on March 8 and boarded the ferry from Malmö
Malmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
to Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
. Due to security, the Danish resistance movement was informed, but no problems were experienced - on the contrary, the expedition was very well received. On March 12, the first part of the expedition had reached its headquarters, Friedrichsruh
Friedrichsruh
Friedrichsruh is a district in the municipality of Aumühle, Herzogtum Lauenburg district, Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany.- History :After the victory over France and the establishment, in 1871, of the German Empire, Otto von Bismarck received the Sachsenwald as a present from Emperor William I...
castle, situated 30 km southeast of Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. The castle was close to the Danish border and near the Neuengamme concentration camp, where the Scandinavian prisoners were to be assembled. Friedrichsruh castle was owned by Otto von Bismarck
Otto Christian Archibald, Fürst von Bismarck
Otto Christian Archibald, Prince von Bismarck was a German politician and diplomat, and the Prince of Bismarck from 1904 to his death....
, a friend of Folke Bernadotte and married to a Swede. The expedition staff were lodged in the castle and a nearby pub, while the men established a tented camp in the park surrounding the castle.
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank used by both the SA and the SS. It was created in May 1933 to fill the need for an additional field grade officer rank above Sturmbannführer as the SA expanded. It became an SS rank at the same time...
Karl Rennau, while Franz Göring was a liaison officer with the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
. The expedition had around 40 German communication, SS and Gestapo officers. The Germans demanded that every second vehicle should have a German officer onboard. The "White Buses" expedition was totally dependent on cooperation with the Germans as the country under Nazi rule was a police state. Only with liaison personnel from the Gestapo and SS could the expedition move without restrictions.
Bernadotte had promised Schellenberg to have the expedition in Warnemünde
Warnemünde
Warnemünde is a sea resort and northmost district of Rostock in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, situated on the Baltic Sea in the northeast of Germany at the estuary of the river Warnow.- History :...
on March 3, but it was delayed by more than a week. The main reason for this was the difficulty in obtaining guarantees from the Allied forces to ensure that the expedition would not be attacked. At this stage in the war, the Allies had total air superiority and regularly attacked transport on German roads. The "White Buses" expedition would move mainly within areas controlled by the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
. On March 8, the British government informed the Swedish foreign department that it was informed about the expedition but that it could not give any guarantees against attacks; the Swedish expedition was on its own within Germany. Some of the vehicles were hit by Allied aircraft, strafing the roads, killing one Swedish driver and 25 concentration camp prisoners.
Renegotiation
On March 6, 1945, Folke Bernadotte arrived in Berlin by plane from Stockholm and continued his negotiations with the German authorities. Himmler's masseur, Felix Kersten, had already arrived and the Swedish foreign department instructed the Swedish ambassador, Arvid Richert, to support Kersten so he could influence Himmler. Parallel with this, the Danish authorities - especially the Danish ambassador in Berlin, Otto Carl Mohr - tried to secure the release of more Danish prisoners. Swedish and Danish aims were somewhat different. The Swedes negotiated with Himmler and Schellenberg and concentrated on gathering the prisoners in Neuengamme. The Danes negotiated with Kaltenbrunner and tried to secure permission to have the prisoners released, or possibly interned in Denmark.On March 12 the Danes obtained permission for three transports and until March 21 a total of 262 Danish prisoners of various categories were moved back to Denmark using Danish vehicles. From March 21 there were a break in Danish transports and the Swedes took over.
Transports start
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
, (North of Berlin), to Neuengamme. The evacuations started on March 15, over a distance of around 540 kilometers. During seven missions, some 2,200 Danes and Norwegians were transferred to Neuengamme.
Sven Frykmann, who commanded one of the columns, wrote about the prisoners and the drive:
"In general they were in relative good shape compared to other prisoners I have seen and one could not complain regarding their personal hygiene. They related that the food packs they had received from Norway and Denmark had kept their spirits up and recently the treatment had been noticeably better. They were all touching [sic] thankful and happy. I believe that all of us that have had the option of helping these poor people in Germany have experienced such an overwhelming gratitude that it is enough for the rest of our lives"
As the prisoners were being picked up in Sachsenhausen, their names were checked with the group from Gross Kreutz, to make sure no one was left behind.
The other group was responsible for collecting prisoners from southern Germany. This included Dachau to the north of Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Schönberg (some 80 kilometers south of Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
) and Mauthausen
Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
Mauthausen Concentration Camp grew to become a large group of Nazi concentration camps that was built around the villages of Mauthausen and Gusen in Upper Austria, roughly east of the city of Linz.Initially a single camp at Mauthausen, it expanded over time and by the summer of 1940, the...
(12 kilometers/7.5 miles east of Linz
Linz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
). The distances for this mission were greater, as Munich alone was 800 kilometres (497.1 mi) away. Adding to the difficulties was the delay that the transports faced due to a lack of fuel. The first column started out on March 19, including 35 vehicles under Colonel Björck, which returned to Neuengamme on March 24. The journey back was difficult as most of the prisoners were in poor physical condition, as Swedish nurse Margaretha Björcke documented:
"I have never in my twelve years practice as a nurse seen so much misery as I here witnessed. Legs, backs and necks full of wounds of a type that an average Swede would be on sick leave for just one of them. I counted twenty on one prisoner, and he did not complain"
This first transport collected 550 prisoners while 67 very sick prisoners were left behind. A huge problem during the transports was the prisoners' chronic diarrhoea. This situation was subsequently remedied by the Danes supplying portable toilets of a type that had been used during their transports.
Due to the Swedish transports Neuengamme received ever more prisoners and the concentration of Scandinavian prisoners that Himmler had promised did not materialize. Swedish health personnel were not allowed to enter the camp. During the first transports the buses were not allowed to enter the camp and the prisoners had to march to them as the Germans would not let the Swedes in charge of the buses see the camp.
Swedes to Sweden
Early in February a small Swedish Red Cross detachment under Captain Hultgren arrived in Berlin; six men, two buses and a private car. Their mission was to transport Swedish-born women who were married to German men, but due to the imminent breakdown of Germany needed to escape. The evacuation started on March 26; 1,400 women and children of Swedish descent arrived in MalmöMalmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
via Lübeck
Lübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
and Denmark by April 20.
Assisting the SS
Neuengamme concentration camp was overcrowded, and to have space for the Scandinavian prisoners, the SS insisted that prisoners of other nationalities be moved to other camps. The SS commander had no transport of his own and required that the white buses accepted the transports so the newly arrived Scandinavians could only have the Schonungsblock, a barrack building for prisoners not fit to work.Around 2,000 French, Belgian, Dutch, Russian and Polish prisoners were transported to other camps. During the evacuations some 50 to 100 prisoners died, many more died in the worse conditions in the new camps in which they arrived, having been moved to avoid the advancing Allied armies.
Most of the transports of prisoners for the SS took place between March 27 and 29, from Neuengamme to subcamps in Hannover and Salzgitter and to Bergen-Belsen.
The Swedish sub-lieutenant Åke Svenson wrote:
- "We could now see how the Germans treated their prisoners in general, French, Belgians, Dutch, Poles, and Russians. It was terrible. This time the Germans had to allow us into the camp as most of the passengers could not walk the minor distance from the barracks to the road. From these barracks a group of creatures were forced, that hardly anymore seemed to be human beings."
The last transport for the SS was undertaken as late as April 13, with around 450 so-called prominent French prisoners (senators, leading businessmen, etc.) who the Germans stated would be repatriated through Switzerland. The prisoners would be according to plan, delivered to the concentration camp at Flossenburg. From there they should be transported to Switzerland by the Swiss Red Cross. The promise of the transport to Switzerland was a lie and the camp was full, so the prisoners were taken to Theresienstadt where the "white buses" were heading to pick up 400 Danish Jews.
Gathering in Neuengamme
Convoys on March 30 and April 2 from the camps at Torgau, Mühlberg and Oschatz near LeipzigLeipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
collected Danish police and some Norwegians, 1,200 in all. The Danish policemen were taken to Denmark in two columns between April 3 and 5; on April 23 some 1,000 of these were sent to Sweden.
On March 29 the Swedish Red Cross personnel were finally given access to Neuengamme as well as medicine, blankets, personal hygiene articles and food. A Scandinavian block was established and the conditions there became so good that prisoners from other nations became negative to the privileged Scandinavian prisoners.
Folke Bernadotte arrived in Berlin from Stockholm on March 28 for renewed negotiations with Himmler. He was to gain permission to transfer the Scandinavian prisoners from Neuengamme to Sweden, have access to the whole of the camp and if possible, also take Jewish prisoners to Sweden. On March 30 Folke Bernadotte had his first chance to visit the Neuengamme camp.
A Danish prisoner, J. B. Holmgård, wrote:
- "For the first time in the history of Neuengamme the Nazi butchers Pauly and Thuman were not two bragging, arrogant representatives of the master race, with swinging whips. They came pussyfoot[ing] behind Bernadotte, suddenly accommodating, helpful and amenable nearing servile wheedling, the typical wheedling so distinctive for the butchers of the master race, when it emerged for them that their days were counted. Now we were secure of, that we would be able to return home."
At the beginning of April most of the Scandinavian prisoners in Germany were gathered in Neuengamme. The mission dragged out; Colonel Björck returned to Sweden and a new commander for the column was appointed, Major Sven Frykman. Some of the personnel also left, but after a promise of double daily pay around 130 men, half of the force, stayed.
On April 2 a new Swedish column set off for the south of Germany to collect the remaining prisoners from Mauthausen and Dachau. One bus with the Norwegian doctor Bjørn Heger was assigned to search for 30 prisoners which the "Gross Kreutz" group presumed were in the area around Schömberg. The conditions were difficult, the Swede Molin wrote:
- "...on our way to Schömberg the activity in the air was very high and we were overflown many times by Allied fighter planes, that did not attack us. Along the autobahn there were a lot of damaged cars and severely injured people. In some places where chaos reigned we simply could not just drive past with our white bus with Red Cross markings, but had to stop and give first aid. In some cases the damage were enormous."
In the subcamp at Vaihingen 16 of the 30 prisoners were found alive; the rest were dead. Among the survivors (all were severely weak) were Trygve Bratteli
Trygve Bratteli
was a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party and Prime Minister of Norway in 1971–1972 and 1973–1976.-Early life and career:...
and Kristian Ottosen
Kristian Ottosen
Kristian Ottosen was a Norwegian non-fiction writer and public servant.While still a student, he was also active in the Norwegian resistance movement during World War II and was imprisoned as a Nacht und Nebel inmate...
. This column saved a total of 75 prisoners: 16 from Vaihingen, 16 female NN prisoners from Mauthausen, and 43 seriously ill men from Dachau.
The Danes join
On April 5 close to half of the Swedes returned to Sweden and they were replaced by Danes. This was accepted by the Germans and the Swedish foreign department. The Danes mustered 33 buses, 14 ambulances, seven lorries and four private cars. They were led by Frants Hvass from the Danish foreign department. The Danish contingent were coordinated with the Swedish and from April 8 the "white buses" were a mixed Swedish-Danish expedition, with the Swedes in command. The Danish vehicles were also painted white, but displayed the Danish flag, (the DannebrogFlag of Denmark
The national flag of Denmark, Dannebrog is red with a white Scandinavian cross that extends to the edges of the flag; the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side...
), instead of the Red Cross.
Prisoners kept in ordinary jails were a separate category and the "white buses" were only allowed to collect these prisoners in April. On April 9 a mixed Swedish-Danish column under Captain Folke travelled to Berlin to transport 200 prisoners from various jails; knowledge of their location was the result of the work of the Reverend Vogt-Svendsen. A total of 211 prisoners were collected from some 20 establishments, among them Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, Cottbus
Cottbus
Cottbus is a city in Brandenburg, Germany, situated around southeast of Berlin, on the River Spree. As of , its population was .- History :...
, Luckay, Zeithin, Groitsch and Waldheim
Waldheim, Saxony
Waldheim is a town in the district of Mittelsachsen, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the Zschopau River, 9 km southwest of Döbeln, and 28 km north of Chemnitz....
(east of Dresden). On the return trip to Neuengamme on April 11, the column witnessed for the first time a German car painted white with Red Cross markings, similar to the "white buses". On April 15 a column collected 524 prisoners from jails in Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...
.
Theresienstadt
The Danish Jews who had not been able to escape the arrests of 1943 had been deported to TheresienstadtTheresienstadt concentration camp
Theresienstadt concentration camp was a Nazi German ghetto during World War II. It was established by the Gestapo in the fortress and garrison city of Terezín , located in what is now the Czech Republic.-History:The fortress of Terezín was constructed between the years 1780 and 1790 by the orders...
, near the city of Terezín
Terezín
Terezín is the name of a former military fortress and adjacent walled garrison town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic.-Early history:...
in today's Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
. It required patience before the Germans gave permission to proceed and time was short; the Allies were approaching. In the end the German liaison officer, Rennau, managed to get authorization from the Gestapo and on April 12 a column set-out under the command of Captain Folke with 23 Swedish buses, 12 private cars, motorcycles and a number of Danish ambulances with Danish doctors and nurses.
The situation in Germany was now critical and the Swedish drivers were informed that the trip would be very dangerous. At the last minute the Swedish foreign department tried to stop the departure as they had been informed that Soviet forces had blocked the road, but the column departed. On April 15 the column had collected 423 Scandinavian Jews from Theresienstadt and could start on the perilous return journey. On the way back the column passed Dresden, which had just been bombed and had an overnight stop near Potsdam
Potsdam
Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....
, which had been bombed the same night. The transport reached Padborg
Padborg
Padborg is a Danish border town with a population of 4,486 located on the border with Germany. It is the location where both the E45 motorway, a railway and the historic Danish Army Road, hærvejen, cross the border...
without casualties on April 17. The next day, the rescued Jews were transported by ferry to Malmö.
The first air attack against the "white buses" happened on April 18 when the Danish camp at Friedrichsruh was strafed by Allied fighter planes, four drivers and a nurse were slightly wounded, ten vehicles were destroyed. In the coming days several such attacks from the air occurred, several personnel were killed and wounded.
"We're going to Sweden"
Through new negotiations Folke Bernadotte got clearance for evacuating severely ill prisoners, the first transport started from Neuengamme on April 9; 12 Swedish buses and eight Danish ambulances were used. 153 prisoners, most of them confined to bed, were taken to the Danish border and left at PadborgPadborg
Padborg is a Danish border town with a population of 4,486 located on the border with Germany. It is the location where both the E45 motorway, a railway and the historic Danish Army Road, hærvejen, cross the border...
where the Danes had a quarantine station. The prisoners got further rest and treatment before they were transported through Denmark on Danish buses and trains and sent by ferry to Malmö. By April 18 a total of 1216 sick Danish and Norwegian prisoners had been transported to Sweden. Two days later, on April 20, all Scandinavian prisoners in Neuengamme had been evacuated.
In the evening of April 19, the evacuation of Scandinavian prisoners from Neuengamme was discussed in a meeting at Friedrichsruh castle. Bernadotte, Frykmann and Richert from the Swedish side were present, with Rennau for the Germans while Hvass and Holm represented Dennmark. The situation was critical, the existing Swedish and Danish vehicles in Friedrichsruh did not have enough capacity to evacuate the prisoners fast enough. The Danes offered additional vehicles from Jyllandskorpset which was accepted.
A total of 4,255 Danish and Norwegian prisoners were evacuated, by 100 Danish and 20 Swedish buses. After a few days in Denmark the prisoners were sent on by ferry to Malmö.
Evacuation from Ravensbrück
RavensbrückRavensbrück concentration camp
Ravensbrück was a notorious women's concentration camp during World War II, located in northern Germany, 90 km north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück ....
was a concentration camp about 90 kilometres (55.9 mi) north of Berlin, established in 1938 for female inmates. On April 8 some 100 Scandinavian female prisoners (including two French women) were collected from the camp and transported directly to Padborg in Denmark. At this stage Folke Bernadotte had got permission to collect all sick prisoners. On April 22 a column with 15 Danish ambulances under the command of Captain Arnoldson departed from Friedrichsruh to collect the women from Ravensbrück.
Two new columns arrived in Ravensbrück; one departed on April 23 with 786 women, mostly French, who were transported directly to Padborg. The second column collected 360 French women. The last columns arrived in Ravensbrück on April 25. The situation within Germany was rapidly deteriorating, with frequent shooting on the transports as the Allied forces continued advancing. In the camp a total of 706 French, Belgian, Dutch, and Polish women were loaded onto a column with Danish ambulances and lorries from the International Red Cross. On the way to Padborg this transport was attacked by Allied fighter planes, at least 11 were killed and 26 severely injured; the final number of fatalities was estimated at 25.
The last column, led by Sub-lieutenant Svenson, had 934 women in 20 buses; mostly Polish but also French, American and English. The column rested during the night, was unsuccessfully attacked by fighter planes and arrived in Padborg on April 26, 1945. This was the last Swedish transport before Germany capitulated. The Swedes were fortunately able to use a train - 50 goods wagons with 80 female prisoners in each wagon. The train departed Ravensbrück on April 25 and arrived in Lübeck on April 29. After the passengers had been fed, the train moved on to Denmark. A total of 3,989 female prisoners were rescued by this method. Within a few days around 7,000 female prisoners were evacuated from Ravensbrück to Denmark and then on to Sweden.
The last evacuees
On April 28 Captain Ankarcrona led a column from the International Red Cross to the camp at Neu-Brandenburg. The transport passed advancing Soviet forces, collected 200 female prisoners and returned to Lübeck. Franz Göring, a Gestapo officer, organized a train from HamburgHamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
which carried about 2000 women (960 Jews, 790 Poles and 250 French); this train arrived in Padborg on May 2. It is not counted in the Swedish Red Cross overview of rescued prisoners, but it seems appropriate to mention this transport in connection with the "white buses".
On April 30 the two Swedish ships Magdalena and Lillie Matthiessen sailed from Lübeck, the former with 223 female prisoners, the latter with 225. The transport had been organised by the Swedish doctor Hans Arnoldsson with the assistance of Bjørn Heger. They had to leave behind thousands of prisoners on several other ships that were bombed on May 3 by British planes, (the Cap Arcona disaster). The last group of female prisoners travelled from Copenhagen to Malmö by ferry on May 4.
Reception and accounting
The main reception station in Denmark was in the city of Padborg, on the border with Germany; the prisoners received food and medical treatment before they were transported through Denmark to Copenhagen. Transport to Sweden was by ferry to Malmö where the prisoners were received by Länsstyrelsen, (the county administration) and Civilförsvaret, (civil defense). Everyone that arrived was placed in quarantine, due to the risk of spreading infection. In all there were 23 billeting areas, most of them in Malmöhus länSkåne County
Skåne County is the southernmost administrative county or län, of Sweden, basically corresponding to the historical province Scania. It borders the counties of Halland, Kronoberg and Blekinge. The seat of residence for the Skåne Governor is the town of Malmö...
with about 11,000 beds. Ambulanting health centres, mostly manned by Norwegian and Danish doctors and nurses (themselves being refugees), took care of the prisoners. For some of the prisoners it was too late; 110 died after arriving in Sweden, most of them Polish.
According to the Swedish Red Cross a total of 15,345 prisoners were saved, of these 7,795 were Scandinavian and 7,550 from other countries. Around 1,500 German-Swedes were transported to Sweden. A total of 2,000 prisoners were transported from Neuengamme to other camps so that space was available for Scandinavian prisoners. Four hundred French prisoners were transported from Neuengamme or left in Theresienstadt as they could not be delivered to the camp in Flossenburg
Flossenbürg
Flossenbürg is a municipality in the district of Neustadt an der Waldnaab in Bavaria in Germany. The state-approved leisure area is located in the Bavarian Forest and borders the Czech Republic in the east. During World War II, the Flossenbürg concentration camp was located here.- History :The...
.
The "white buses" expedition was a Swedish triumph that earned the country much goodwill, the return transports through Denmark were met by ecstatic crowds. On May 17
Norwegian Constitution Day
Norwegian Constitution Day is the National Day of Norway and is an official national holiday observed on May 17 each year. Among Norwegians, the day is referred to simply as syttende mai or syttande mai , Nasjonaldagen or Grunnlovsdagen , although the latter is less frequent.- Historical...
Count Folke Bernadotte af Wisborg was on the balcony of the Royal castle in Oslo with the Norwegian crown prince.
The British diplomat Peter Tennant
Peter Tennant
Peter Tennant is a prolific writer of horror, fantasy and speculative fiction, and award-winning columnist and reviewer for Black Static magazine...
, who was stationed in Stockholm during the war, wrote:
- "The Swedish humanitarian efforts under and after the war did much to remove the dishonor the country had got during its acrobatic exercises in neutrality policy."
White Buses timeline
| Year | Month/Date | Event |
| 1940 | August | The first Norwegian political prisoners are deported to Germany. |
| 1942 | October | The family of Johan Bernhard Hjort, interned at the castle Gross Kreutz outside Berlin, in Germany, start work to support the prisoners. |
| 1943 | September | The Danish coalition government resigns; deportations of Danish prisoners to Germany begin. |
| 1944 | January | Niels Christian Ditleff Niels Christian Ditleff Niels Christian Ditleff was a Norwegian diplomat noted for his humanitarian efforts on behalf of refugees from Nazi Germany. In spite of opposition from his own and allied governments, he initiated and led the White Buses campaign to rescue Scandinavian prisoners held in German concentration camps... establishes contact with the group at Gross Kreutz. |
| February | Carl Hammerich Carl Hammerich Carl Hammerich was a Danish naval officer and Admiral. During World War II he participated in the Danish humanitarian aid to Norway, and was involved in the process leading to the White Buses operation. He was married to Borghild Hammerich.... visits Sweden and has the first of several meetings with Ditleff, discussing the Scandinavian prisoners. |
|
| September 22 | Ditleff meets Folke Bernadotte and suggests a Swedish expedition to save Scandinavian prisoners. | |
| September 23 | Major Johan Koren Christie Johan Koren Christie (officer) Johan Koren Christie was a Norwegian engineer and air force officer, who reached the rank of major general in the Royal Norwegian Air Force.-Personal life:... writes a PM which states that the prisoners shall "Stay Put". |
|
| October | A report from the Gross Kreutz group written by Johan Bernhard Hjort argues that the Scandinavian prisoners must be moved out of Germany before the war ends. | |
| December | Felix Kersten Felix Kersten Felix Kersten was before and during World War II the personal masseur of Heinrich Himmler... , masseur to SS head Heinrich Himmler, manages to free 103 Scandinavian prisoners. |
|
| December 29 | The Norwegian government-in-exile in London changes its view and requests that the embassy in Stockholm research a possible Swedish expedition to rescue prisoners in Germany. | |
| 1945 | February 5 | Ditleff sends an official Norwegian PM to the Swedish foreign department, requesting a Swedish expedition to rescue the Scandinavian prisoners. |
| February 16 | Count Folke Bernadotte of Wisborg Folke Bernadotte Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg was a Swedish diplomat and nobleman noted for his negotiation of the release of about 31,000 prisoners from German concentration camps during World War II, including 450 Danish Jews from Theresienstadt released on 14 April 1945... travels to Berlin Berlin Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union... by plane, meets Himmler and discusses the release of political prisoners. |
|
| March 12 | The "white buses" arrive at Friedrichsruh Friedrichsruh Friedrichsruh is a district in the municipality of Aumühle, Herzogtum Lauenburg district, Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany.- History :After the victory over France and the establishment, in 1871, of the German Empire, Otto von Bismarck received the Sachsenwald as a present from Emperor William I... , the base for the expedition in Germany. |
|
| March 15 | The first transport from Sachsenhausen to Neuengamme; 2,200 Norwegian and Danes are collected. | |
| March 19 | The first transport collecting prisoners in the south of Germany; 559 prisoners are transported to Neuengamme. Five surviving Norwegian Jews in Buchenwald are left behind. | |
| March 26 | The first transport of Swedish women married to Germans are carried to Sweden. | |
| March 27 | Transport of French, Belgian, Dutch, Polish, and Russian prisoners from Neuengamme to make space for additional Scandinavian prisoners. | |
| March 29 | The Swedish Red Cross gets access to the Neuengamme concentration camp. | |
| March 30 | Transport from the area around Leipzig Leipzig Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing... ; some 1,200 prisoners are collected, 1,000 of them are Danish police and transported on to Denmark. |
|
| April 2 | A new Swedish column to the south of Germany, the camps at Mauthausen, Dachau and Vaihingen are visited; 75 prisoners are collected at Neuengamme. | |
| April 5 | About half of the Swedish contingent return to Sweden; they are replaced by Danes. | |
| April 8 | The first transport from Ravensbrück; 100 female prisoners are transported directly to Padborg Padborg Padborg is a Danish border town with a population of 4,486 located on the border with Germany. It is the location where both the E45 motorway, a railway and the historic Danish Army Road, hærvejen, cross the border... in Denmark. |
|
| April 9 | A Swedish/Danish column travels to Berlin to collect political prisoners from jails; 211 prisoners are transported to Neuengamme. The evacuation of sick prisoners to Denmark starts. | |
| April 15 | A total of 524 political prisoners from jails in Mecklenburg are collected; 423 Jews are transported from Theresienstadt to Denmark and Sweden. | |
| April 8 | The first air attack against the "white buses" occurs at the Danish camp at Friedrichsruh, four Danish drivers and one nurse are slightly wounded. | |
| April 20 | The evacuation of all Scandinavian prisoners from Neuengamme to Sweden through Denmark starts. | |
| April | Transport of sick prisoners from Ravensbrück; 786 and 360 female prisoners in two columns are taken to Padborg. | |
| April 2 | One column with 934 female and one train with 3,989 female prisoners; the last "white buses" transport leaves from Ravensbrück. | |
| April 30 | The Magdalena with 223 prisoners and Lillie Matthiessen with 225 female prisoners depart from Lübeck. | |
| May 2 | 2,000 female prisoners (960 Jews, 790 Poles, and 250 French) arrive in Padborg by train. | |
| May 3 | Cap Arcona, a German passenger vessel filled with prisoners from Neuengamme is attacked by the RAF; almost all the 7,500 aboard the vessel die. | |
| May 4 | The last transport leaves with rescued political prisoners transported by ferry from occupied Copenhagen in Denmark to Malmö in Sweden. |
Later debate
After the end of the Second World War the expedition of the "white buses" was widely approved, as a result of the number of prisoners saved. But during the years since questions have been raised regarding the priority given to Scandinavian prisoners in the book Blind Fläck (Blind Spot) by the historian Ingrid Lomfors. The debate has been in both Swedish and Norwegian newspapers. In a letter in the Norwegian newspaper AftenpostenAftenposten
Aftenposten is Norway's largest newspaper. It retook this position in 2010, taking it from the tabloid Verdens Gang which had been the largest newspaper for several decades. It is based in Oslo. The morning edition, which is distributed across all of Norway, had a circulation of 250,179 in 2007...
on October 14, 2005 several political ex-prisoners wrote very critically of Lomfors and ended with:
- "On behalf of the Swedish government Folke Bernadotte and the crew on the 'white buses' performed the largest Swedish humanitarian action during the Second World War. The Swedish government should as soon as possible erect a monument in tribute to the expedition. Ingrid Lomfors should ask forgiveness from the Swedish Red Cross and the crew of the 'white buses' who risked their lives in the operation."
Bernt H. Lund, a former political prisoner in Sachsenhausen, was positive about the exposure of the moral dilemma that the prisoners experienced. In an article in the newspaper Aftenposten (August 20 2005), he wrote extensively about the privileged status of many Scandinavian prisoners, about the shame of being treated better, and ends the article with:
- "But it feels right to have this out in broad daylight. A huge thank you to Ingrid Lomfors who in a proper way has removed a blind spot not only for our Swedish liberators, but also for us who assisted them in a difficult situation!"
Some of the former prisoners and many of their descendants are still living in the south of Sweden; greater numbers are present in the city of Malmö
Malmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
where many of them first landed on arriving in Sweden.
External links
- The Danish Red Cross report about the "White Buses" (in Danish)
- A Swedish Red Cross report about the "White Buses" (in Swedish)
- The Norwegian Hvite Busser Association (in Norwegian)
- M. Friedman: The road to freedom. An essay by survivor of the holocaust. From "The memory project", United States Holocaust Memorial Museum