As far as we know, the Swedish Church did not issue a Protest against the persecution of the Danish Jews. In fact, events in Denmark took place so rapidly that a Protest would hardly have done any good. The pressure of the Swedish Archbishop (and others) on the Swedish Government to make public their willingness to receive all Danish Jews, was important. It appears that this step, indirectly, saved many lives. Dr. Leni Yahil relates the following:
"The Swedish Foreign Office contacted Richert, the Swedish envoy in Berlin, on the same day, September 29 [1943], and again on the next day, September 30, in order to plan with him the appeal to the German Foreign Office. It was decided that Richert would ask the Germans whether there was a basis to the rumours about an impending deportation of the Jews from Denmark, and that he would stress the fact that such a deportation would cause great indignation in Sweden. Moreover, he was to propose that all Danish Jews be transferred to Sweden and concentrated there in a camp and that the Swedish Government would be responsible that 'they would not be able to undertake any activity that might be harmful to Germany'. <232> It became evident that the Swedes did not intend to take any further action. [Niels] Bohr, Ebbe Munk and their friends, however, were of a different opinion. As we know from entries in Ebbe Munk's diary and from his letters to Christmas Moeller in London, it was the Danish group with the active support of prominent Swedish circles which brought about the publication by the Swedish Government of the appeal to the Germans. On October 2, the day following on the night of the persecution in Denmark, Bohr had an interview with the Foreign Secretary, Guenther. It seems that already on the preceding day the Danes had tried to persuade the Swedes to publish their appeal to the Germans in the hope that such a publication might prevent the deportation. Since this had not been done, Bohr requested the Swedish Foreign Secretary to repeat his appeal to the Germans and to propose to them that the boats on which the Jews were concentrated, be directed to Sweden instead of to Germany. Guenther proposed this to the German Ambassador Thomsen, who called on him at 9 o'clock in the evening on that day. A reply to this proposal was never received. Through Kammerherr von Kruse, the Danish Ambassador in Stockholm, and with the active support of Prof. Stefan Hurvitz, an audience with the King of Sweden was arranged for Bohr, in the afternoon of the same day. During this audience Bohr proposed to the King that the Swedish appeal to Germany be published. The King did not reply, but at the end of the audience the Foreign Secretary was called in. That same evening the Swedish radio broadcasted an announcement about the steps taken by Sweden in Berlin. The announcement stressed that the Swedish Ambassador, on behalf of his Government, had declared that Sweden was willing to receive all the Danish Jews. We know that this announcement encouraged the Jews as well as their Danish helpers to organize the mass escape. In his letter to Christmas Moeller, dated October 12, Munk told that the Swedish Government only agreed to publish the announcement, after the Arch- bishop, professors and other prominent persons had declared that they were prepared to sign an open letter to the Government about the subject." [510]
The King of Sweden was present when, in May, 1944, Archbishop Eidem delivered his opening address to the General Assembly, to which 2,600 parish-delegates and guests from all over the country had come. Archbishop Eidem said:
"… Our Christian conscience must keep constantly on the alert in the face of all that is happening in the world around us. Might is not right. Power is not justice. Torture is not permissible in any circumstances. Innocent people must not be made in any way responsible or punished for the acts of others. Houses and entire communities must not be purposely destroyed in order to intimidate or cripple an enemy. <233> People of a particular racial and national group, such as the unhappy people of the Jews, must not be persecuted and martyred because of their membership in that race or national group. All such actions are not only barbarism but sin… It is indeed no wonder that a frightful harvest of hatred and vengefulness is growing from the sowing of such seeds on our poor earth. As Christians we are called to take up the fight against hatred in every shape and form in this world, which now seems to be a free field for unleashed evil forces; and we must conduct this fight first of all in our own hearts, but each man also in the place where he lives. And we must not grow tired or weary in this fight." [511]
It would be interesting to know how far the King was influenced by this stand of his Archbishop when, shortly afterwards, he appealed to Regent Horthy on behalf of the Hungarian Jews.
It is my impression that the Church of Sweden also undertook steps on behalf of the Jews about which we know nothing, and perhaps never shall. Concerning two steps, we do know at least something. Firstly, the secretary of the Church of Sweden's Committee for Foreign Affairs, Rev. Johansson, communicated to me: "It is true that Archbishop Eidem paid a visit to Hitler himself, but no details are officially known". [512] Secondly, the German Ambassador in Slovakia, Ludin, informed the German Foreign Office in a letter dated January 3, 1945, that the Archbishop of Uppsala had addressed the Slovak Prime Minister (Tiso) with a plea for the transfer of "the unfortunate Jewish brethren" to neutral territories. [513] We have, however, not succeeded in retrieving a copy of Archbishop Eidem's letter. <234>
COUNTRIES AT WAR WITH GERMANY
33 GREAT BRITAIN
a. The First Period
Few voices were publicly raised in England during the years 1940 and 1941. In 1940, the Battle of Britain apparently occupied the national attention so much that people tended to forget everything else. If any statements made by ecclesiastical leaders were issued in 1941 (except the statement of the Church of Schotland, mentioned below), I have failed to find them. The Beckley Social Service Lecture is delivered annually in connection with the Methodist Conference in Great Britain. Its purpose is to review certain major problems in the field of social service from the point of Christian responsibility. In the year 1940 the Rev. W. W. Simpson, now secretary of the Council of Christians and Jews, was invited to deal with the refugee problem and the fight against anti-Semitism. His lecture was published in book-form. [514]