Skorzeny, Mossad & Sweden

Otto Skorzeny in Nuremberg in late 1945. Photo: NARA

Waffen-SS special operations commander Otto Skorzeny, at one point known as the most dangerous man in Europe, became one of the Israeli Mossad’s "most valuable assets". That is the assertion in the most amazing WWII story to be published in a serious newspaper in a long, long time.

The article "The Strange Case of a Nazi Who Became an Israeli Hitman" was published yesterday in Haaretz and reads almost like a Hollywood script. The newspaper and writers behind the article force one to take the story seriously in spite of how unlikely it sounds. But, what should the next steps be? Because, considering just who Skorzeny was, more commentary is necessary, and then some documents. Who to call? Well, aside from German historians I would recommend the Swedish author and journalist Niclas Sennerteg. He has recently written a most impressive book about Third Reich officers and scientists in the service of postwar Egypt: Hakkorset & halvmånen, in English it would be "The Swastika & The Crescent". My first take is that what Sennerteg has written about the disappearance of the German rocket scientist Heinz Krug and also about Skorzeny make parts of the new story not that hard to accept, but I would especially like to see more about Skorzeny himself shooting Krug.

My interest in Skorzeny goes back many years. Right here and now I will reveal that in a coming book of mine (out next year, I reckon) there will be a chapter about a Swede who opposed Skorzeny´s unit during the Battle of the Bulge.

First Star Wars Scenes Ever Were Filmed 40 Years Ago

The Star Wars Lars´ homestead interior is now also being restored by Tunisian fans.

on March 22, 1976 the actual filming for the first ever "Star Wars" movie began, in the Tunisian desert. In moviemaking language: principal photography started. As a fan mostly of the first movie, later known as Episode IV, I will of course be watching the first recorded scenes again, exactly 40 years since they were filmed. The filming happened to start at Luke Skywalker´s home, the Lars´ homestead.

Yes, the same set that a group of fans restored in 2012 and that I blogged about then. Since that project was realized a group of Tunisian fans decided to also restore the interior of the homestead, located inside the Sidi Driss Hotel in Matmata, Tunisia (do not miss the above clip made by the fans themselves).

From the book The Making of Star Wars by J.W. Rinzler one can learn about day 1 that the first scenes to be filmed included Mark Hamill as Luke, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Kenny Baker in the R2-D2 shell, Phil Brown as Owen Lars (uncle Owen) and twelve Tunisians, local children, as Jawas. "I got very badly cut up" Daniels remembers about day 1, and for more memories from it you really should ge Rinzler´s great (also in size) book.

As I am writing these words I feel a great urge to go back to my roots, my early motives. Because, silly as it may sound, that first Star Wars movie affected my thinking about life in several ways. Had the good fortune to be able to see it when it came out here in Sweden in late 1977.

Right now, Episode VIII is being filmed and if you are wondering how I feel about it, well - I am not that strongly interested. Certainly, I will go see it with my family. But there is no true passion in my interest - as Episode VII in my opinion was only a small improvement compared to the previous three movies (i.e. Episodes I-III). Sure, Ep. VII has some terrific scenes and as a Swede it was pretty fun to note that it opened with a Swedish actor, Max von Sydow, and ended with a Swedish American, Mark Hamill. But, all in all, I can´t help thinking of how the immense resources available to the moviemakers could have been used with a better script, one with better dialogue. Princess Leia had such wonderful lines in Ep I-III and sadly nothing came even close to them in Ep. VII. And it is not like there was a lack of dialogue out there that could have been used. Take for example Boba Fett in book 1 of the series The Bounty Hunter Wars: The Mandalorian Armor (1998) by K.W. Jeter. To quote Jeter/Fett: "They have their standards ... and I have mine".

Boba Fett is on to something.

P.S.
Speaking about Tunisia, soon after seeing Star Wars (Ep. IV) I discovered another theme that I still feel passionate about: WWII special forces in North Africa. As a result, I am currently translating a book about the first of them.

He Found Swedish Wartime Missing Links

With Carl Finstrom, instrumental in bringing to light Swedish WWII history, in 2010.

At the time of writing, a colonel of special significance for modern Swedish history is being interred at the Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington. He had a very Swedish name: Carl Gustav Finstrom (originally Finström) and his parents were from Sweden and Norway. But Carl, as he mostly was known, was a US citizen and officer. But most of all he was a gentleman.

Carl was one of the most talented persons I have met. He was born in 1936 and graduated from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois with a bachelor's of science degree in chemistry minoring in geology. He earned several postgraduate degrees. As an officer in the US Army he experienced many different assignments, finally as a military attache in London and Stockholm. After having retired he could use more of his time to conduct research in the sphere of history (not just military) and not least in Nordic WWII history.

To me and my co-author Lennart Westberg, Carl will always be in our memories as a cheerful friend and fellow WWII researcher. Without Carl it is most doubtful if there would exist an English version of Swedes at War 1914-1945. Therefore it was a good moment in the midst of my sadness when I learnt from Carl´s wonderful wife, Joanne, that Carl in spite of his illness was able to read our sequel to that book shortly before he died.

Carl provided lots of documentation from US archives, proving the extent of Sweden´s covert and even today not fully known support for Allied WWII operations. His research work is part of two of my books and one can also see traces of Carl´s work inside two of the still standing Sepals bases here in Swedish Lapland. Thank you, Carl, for all your support and for making us glad so many times.

Deutschland 83 & Reality

One of the best sources about GDR (DDR) elite units and a cuff title for "Dzerzhinsky".

There is a lot of praise out there for the German television series "Deutschland 83" about a 24-year-old native of East Germany (GDR/DDR) who in 1983 is sent to the West as a spy for the Stasi, the East German KGB. The series has been exported to several countries and is now being shown in my native Sweden.

Evidently, a lot of people find the series very entertaining, see e.g. the Wikipedia page about it. Yes, the series does bring back a lot of 80s atmosphere - it has the "perfect" look and soundtrack. However, yours truly just can´t help thinking that here a major opportunity was missed to do better than just entertain, because I find it to be mainly amusement. It contains so many deviations from what happened in 1983 that I don´t know where to start pointing out unrealistic or simply wrong details. In short, I would say that what has been accomplished is a German series too inspired by "The Americans", the US show about undercover KGB spies, and pure fiction like "Mission Impossible".

Of course, a "Deutschland 83" more based on reality would have risked not being as commercially successful. But, I imagine that with another script and/or director we could have seen something like the excellent Stasi drama "The Lives of Others".

Anyway, if "Deutschland 83" has sparked your interest in the Stasi (officially Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, MfS) and its elite soldiers - then I have a source for you. Alas in German, but if you are really interested then you probably understand German. The source is Die Garde des Erich Mielke (The Guard of Erich Mielke) by Hagen Koch & Peter Joachim Lapp. It mainly tells the story - with many photographs - of the Stasi´s Guards Regiment "Feliks E. Dzierzynski", named after the founder of the Soviet Cheka/KGB, Felix Dzerzhinsky. But also shows how this large regiment (actually more of a brigade) was connected to East German SOF units like the ultra-secret AGM/S.

BTW, one of the under-reported news stories in 2014 was how the prestige formation of the Russian VV-troops (Internal Troops) got back its name and is thus since September 2014 again officially known as the Dzherzhinsky Division.

I warmly welcome tips from readers re books about East German elite units in other languages than German.

Lapland 1944 Movie "Wildeye"

Teaser for "Wildeye".

I can´t recall having seen a single Finnish movie about the Lapland War of 1944 between Finland and Germany - although one famous war movie was partially made in Finnish Lapland, see my previous post about the 1993 version of "Stalingrad". But last fall such a movie premiered in Finland, entitled "Wildeye" in English.

As it has been filmed in areas where I have hiked several times I am very anxious to see this film. However, due to the lack of "film contact" between Finland and my native Sweden I guess I will have to wait for the DVD to see this one. The only other movie I can recall that deals with the Lapland War of 1944 is the 2002 Russian film "The Cuckoo".

My last post here in 2015 was about how the Lapland War is being described in new ways in Finland, e.g. in the Rovaniemi exhibition "We were friends".

More Swedish Citizens Have Died For Jihad Than For Hitler

Our new book "Swedes at War 1945-2015" is the first history of the post-WWII volunteers from Sweden in foreign units.

At the end of 2015 I am pondering the fact that since our book Swedes at War 1945-2015 was published this fall yet more Swedish citizens have died for jihad and the latest statistics from Sweden´s security agency Säkerhetspolisen mean that more Swedish citizens have now died for jihad than for Hitler.

As Lennart Westberg and I wrote in our previous and also translated book, 28 Swedes died in the service of Hitler´s Waffen-SS and Wehrmacht (26 in the W-SS + 2 in the Wehrmacht). In late 2015 it became known that about 40 Swedish citizens have died in various groups fighting for jihad in either Syria or Iraq. However, if one looks back at the very first Swedes who died for jihad in different states (not just in Syria and Iraq), as we do in our new book, the total figure today is no doubt above 40. Because already in 1993 Mikael Glinka from Stockholm died for the sake of jihad in Bosnia. In the 1990s there were also Swedish citizens who died in combat in e.g. Chechnya.

So, as 2015 moves fully into history, I wonder why my state and society has been so slow to pick up the implications of jihad. Well, not only jihad, but challenges to our security in general. How was it possible that we scrapped most of our security thinking and military and civil defence capability? To end this last blog post of the year with something positive I could of course add that the current Swedish government in late 2015 decided to bring back Swedish "total defence" planning in some way. But the very late hour and lack of extra funding also weigh heavily.

P.S.
If you are wondering how many Swedish citizens died against Hitler - well, there is no exact figure but it is clear that many more died against than for. In the various Allied convoys (to Liverpool, Murmansk etc) some 900 Swedish seamen died. In addition there were Swedish citizens in US, British, French, Norwegian etc army, navy & air units and approx a hundred were killed in action. For more about the Swedes on the Allied side I again refer to our previous book Swedes at War 1914-1945, also available in English.

The Wehrmacht and SS in Finnish Lapland

A German WWII sign post in Lapland has been recreated.

The exhibition "Wir Waren Freunde" i.e. "we were friends" in Arktikum in Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland tells the story of the German military in Lapland during WWII in a new way. See it before it closes on Jan 10, 2016.

While not a large exhibition and with few objects it is still worth seeing, particularly if you already have a special interest in the Germans in the Arctic. It provides a great deal of new information, also in English, about the German military in and around Rovaniemi, making clear how much the German presence meant for the local economy. The local authorities even called the labour market in Lapland during the war years 1941-44 "the time of Babel". However, as the exhibition correctly points out, not only Finns worked in the machinery that kept the German military in Lapland functioning but also other Nordics as well as Dutchmen, Hungarians, Belgians, Russians and Ukrainians.

Tourist entrepreneurs in Finnish Lapland adapted their stuff to German military customers - two historical articfacts in the exhibition.

Of all the photos on display in the exhibition I had only seen one or two before and there is a great deal about the many local German installations and love affairs including many letters. There is also a special focus on the regional German military newspaper, the Lappland-Kurier.

The Germans in the Arctic actually had several newspapers, regional ones and for certain units. Lappland-Kurier must have been the largest of them. Here also a Finnish issue of the largest propaganda magazine the Germans made, Signal.

The exhibition booklet contains a lot of the amazing photos from the exhibition, and there is a booklet version in English/German.

There is another section in Arktikum that one should not miss, which is a permenent display. It was many years since I last saw it and I think it may have been improved as I do not remember it being as impressive as it is. It consists of two very large dioramas (scale 1:100?), one showing Rovaniemi before the war and one after the massive destruction in 1944. My photos here (below) both show the diorama of the just destroyed city. Click on them to see them in slightly larger size.