BGHS

Sonja Wehmeier

The description of National Socialism in Sweden 1933 - 1945. Swedish coverage, German propaganda and the effects on public opinion in Sweden

Many Swedes travelled to Germany between 1933 and 1939 to report on the new regime. Even during the Second World War Swedish journalists, as citizens of a neutral state, stayed in Germany and wrote about their experiences. The coverage thereby was not always objective: the National Socialists tried hard to influence the foreigners' opinions, the Swedes did not get access to all areas and most of them already had a stereotyped picture of Germany in mind which partly qualified their assessment of the dictatorship. In my thesis I am going to analyse Swedish reports on the "Third Reich" and I want to show which subjects were discussed and how the reports influenced the public opinion in Sweden.