Astrid Lindgren

2022 - 5 - 3

Post cover
Image courtesy of "The Irish Times"

Russian posters smear famous Swedes as Nazi supporters (The Irish Times)

Images of Bergman, author Astrid Lindgren and Ikea founder used in Moscow campaign.

A final poster quote, from Bergman’s memoir, describes his enthusiasm for the fascist movement as a 16-year-old on a school exchange to Nazi Germany. As a birthday present, his pro-Nazi host family gave him as a picture of Hitler, which was hung over his bed. Attending Nazi rallies with them, Bergman wrote how he “shouted like everyone else, held out my arm like everyone else, howled like everyone else, and loved it like everyone else”. After the war, he dismissed images from Nazi death camps at first as “propaganda lies”. On the poster, alongside a photograph of the Ikea founder, Kamprad is quoted as saying: “I was a Nazi! I admired Hitler!” That was a line from a 2011 book in which Kamprad, who died in 2018, described his enthusiastic wartime membership of Sweden’s Nazi youth movement as the “greatest mistake of my life”. He was a supporter of Swedish fascist leader Per Engdahl, even after the second World War, and considered him “a great human being” at the time.

Russia smears Pippi Longstocking author as Nazi in propaganda ... (The Local Sweden)

Russia has launched a poster campaign in Moscow featuring ostensibly pro-Nazi quotes from the Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren, the film-maker Ingmar Bergman, ...

“But it is important to say already right now that Sweden could become the target of an influence campaign by foreign powers,” she said. This has been one of the justifications for the war in Ukraine as well.” “It’s important that all Swedes, and not least those of you in journalism, recognise that there is a risk that foreign powers will try to influence the Swedish debate climate.” “This is probably directed towards its own population. “Accusing western countries of Nazism is a part of the justification for their own war,” he said. “They’re more of a provocation to Sweden than something for the Russian people,” he said.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Daily Mail"

Russia labels SWEDEN 'Nazis' as they join NATO after Kremlin ... (Daily Mail)

The hybrid warfare strategy comes as Sweden prepares for NATO accession, abandoning decades of neutrality in light of Moscow's aggression towards Ukraine.

'When the truth finally conquered my resistance, I was overcome with despair, and my self contempt, already a severe burden, accelerated beyond the borders of endurance,' he wrote. We have seen that they have done it against western countries before as well,' he said. Lindgren wrote the line in her World War Two diaries. Is it hard for you to go to work? Is it hard for you to go to work? Selective quotes appear next to each picture purporting to paint the figure as a Nazi.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Reaction"

Kremlin smears prominent Swedes as Nazis in propaganda push (Reaction)

The attack from Moscow comes as the Swedish government prepares to make an application to become part of NATO.

The quotations on the posters have either been edited or are deliberately misleading. In April, Russian hostility towards the Nordic countries saw Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, warn that Russia would move nuclear weapons towards the Baltic if Sweden and Finland joined the Alliance. The posters display pictures of Swedish celebrities, including IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad, who died in 2018.

Explore the last week