Dag Hammarskjöld’s place in history

eder Mikaelsson was knighted In Old Europe as well as the developing By John Bechtel in 1610 for providing five fully- Americas, to distinguish themselves Parmed men to fight for King from such commoners, members of the Freelance Writer Sigismund III Vasa, who was also the nobility and their families took great PHOTO: COMMONS.WIKIMEDIA.ORG PHOTO: King of Poland at the same time. To be pains to shield themselves from the Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, Sweden’s more precise, not one to take chances sun, their pale complexions and dark Prime Minister from 1914-1917. on outcomes, Peder fought on both veins marking them as “blue bloods” or PHOTO: RICARDO FEINSTEIN PHOTO: sides of the conflict later called the War aristocrats. Nobles were not to perform Dag considered Uppsala Castle Uppsala Castle, Dag’s childhood home during the time his father Hjalmar was Against Sigismund (a war to remove a manual labor. That is what serfs (or his childhood home while his father Governor of Uppsala County. king from office). servants) were for. was Governor of Uppsala County. [Readers may recognize the Wikipedia lists 45 noteworthy Hjalmar was appointed ambassador If it seems odd that one of There have been thirteen Chairmen Sigismund name from an SP feature members of the Hammarskjöld noble to Copenhagen. From 1914 to 1917, at the nominating committees was of the Nobel Foundation’s board since article in the Fall of 2018 entitled “THE family since then, and no less than the peak of WWI, he served as Prime Norwegian, for a mainly its inception in 1900. The fourth DELUGE’ (1655-1660)—When Sweden twelve of them were soldiers or officers, Minister of Sweden. The following year, Swedish organization, was Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, overwhelmed Poland.” You can read and eleven more have been involved 1918, he was selected to be a lifetime bear in mind that Prime Minister of Sweden that article here: https://tinyurl.com/ in Swedish government, including one member of the prestigious Swedish it took almost five from 1914-1917, and y7aljdyk.] Prime Minister. Other occupations Academy (more about that below). years for the Nobel Dag’s father. The Peder Mikaelsson was granted a were judge, architect, lawyer, physician, Foundation, the following year, 1918, couple manors and given the name of He was the Chairman of the Nobel banker, and engineer. In the modern Foundation from 1929 to 1947. investment and Hjalmar was elected Hammarskiöld (with several variations industrial age, members of the nobility administrative arm to the Swedish in spelling since then). You might think are frequently found among the The Hammarskjölds of the Nobel legacy, Academy, one of only of this in a modern context as being diplomatic services, graduates of the to be established on 18 people selected for gifted with some substantial acreage best schools, and distinguished by their and the Nobel Foundation June 29, 1900. At that life at this post, with the and two small rural villages as well as refined manners and impeccable social Alfred Nobel was born in 1833, and time, Norway was still responsibility of choosing the legal right to the occupants’ labor. skills. They are generally expected to seek became a chemist and inventor and a part of Sweden. Five laureates for the Nobel Prize It was a start. There were always more high office or prominent positions where armaments manufacturer, eventually years later, in 1905, the union in Literature. The Hammarskjöld wars to expand one’s real estate. their family connections will prove most holding 355 patents, including the of Norway and Sweden was dissolved, family functioned at the highest levels As in most parts of Europe, nobles useful. In some cases, restrictions are most valuable, for dynamite. In 1896, and the awarding of the Nobel prizes of Swedish society initially were ordinary soldiers who placed on whom they are permitted to he died of a stroke, but in his last were skilled enough, or lucky enough, was split between the two countries, There have been eight Executive marry, at the very least, someone from a will he made provision for 94% of to return alive from combat in service with Norway responsible for the Nobel Directors of the Nobel Foundation comparable level of society. all of his assets to be used to award to a chieftain. There were no standing Peace Prize, and Swedish organizations since its inception. Each of these was armies, and the kings rarely had cash five prizes each year in the fields of responsible for all the others. chosen by the board members at the chemistry, physics, literature, medicine/ with which to pay their soldiers. Hjalmar Hammarskjöld The Nobel Foundation does not time, from among themselves. One physiology, and peace. A sixth one participate in any way with the Compensation for service was land or Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, Dag’s father, member was Chairman of the board, was born in 1862, became a serious was added later, for economics. Four selection of the laureates, but it handles treasure seized from others, the losers and another was Executive Director. student and scholar, and, by 1891, was different organizations would nominate almost everything else. It has a Board in the skirmishes or wars. During the As with the post of Chairman, the medieval era, soldiers quickly realized a professor at Uppsala University, the laureates; three Swedish organizations of Directors of five persons. One Executive Directors were drawn from that an estate was more valuable if it oldest and most prestigious in Sweden. and one Norwegian, as follows: of those five serves as Chairman of came with laborers, those who would He acquired a reputation as an expert • Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska the Board, appointed by the King in among aristo polloi of Swedish society. perform the manual labor on the farms. in international law, and by 1904, Institute (Swedish): Physiology or Council (the King’s cabinet). The other From 1946-1948, Sven Hammarskiöld Farm laborers worked outside under became a member of the Permanent Medicine four board members are chosen by the served as Executive Director at the the hot sun and became deeply tanned. Court of Arbitration at The Hague. The • Swedish Academy: Literature trustees of the awarding organizations same time that Hjalmar Hammarskjöld PHOTO: COMMONS.WIKIMEDIA.ORG PHOTO: In the agricultural American South, for next year, in 1905, Norway achieved its • Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences: listed above. The board’s first duty is was Chairman of the Board. Dag Hammarskjöld in front of the Unit- instance, such lower-caste workers were independence from Sweden, and his son Chemistry, Physics to select an Executive Director from Even though special legal rights ed Nations building in NYC, 1953. pejoratively referred to as “red necks.” Dag was born. • Norwegian Nobel Committee: Peace among themselves. (Continued on page 00)

O WINTER 2019-2020 | SCANDINAVIAN PRESS SCANDINAVIAN PRESS | WINTER 2019-2020 O (Continued from page 00) and the U.S. State Department concluded that Dag Hammarskjöld for the nobility ended in 2003, there “may be as good as we can get.” endured a social nobility by birth to ______affluent families and the advantages When Dag got the first phone call that such wealth makes possible, such informing him of his selection on April 1, as attending the best schools both at 1953, he thought it was an April Fools’ home and abroad, and the network Day prank. He set about organizing of future contacts while there that his staff of 4,000, and emphasizing his often opened exceptional doors of “common touch” by eliminating his career opportunity and prospective private elevator, shaking hands with honors. The Hammarskjölds were a everyone, and eating in the cafeteria. family blessed with such good fortune. Five years later he began a second term, Hjalmar’s son Dag was his youngest having been unanimously reelected. of four children. Educated at Uppsala ______University, Dag worked at a variety of Like , Dag Hammarskjöld government posts, until, in 1951, he was not destined to complete his led the Swedish delegation to the U.N. second term. Two years into it, he was General Assembly, and the following thrust into the Belgian Congo crisis, year became the chair of that delegation. EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG PHOTO: the front lines of what we might now Six years after Hjalmar Hammarskjöld Overlooking the East River, the building dominates New York call the decolonization of Africa. Dag retired as Chairman of the Nobel City’s skyscape. It has served as the official headquarters of the United Nations since its completion in 1952. had already flown into the Congo Foundation, his son Dag, at 47 years four times in attempts to defuse the of age, was appointed as the second and found refuge, first in France, and crisis, and the Soviet Union had Secretary-General of the United then in Norway on Lie’s invitation in denounced his decision to send a U.N. Nations, in the spring of 1953. He was 1935. Under political pressure from the peacekeeping force there, demanding the youngest in that position in the Soviet Union, Trotsky was expelled from Dag’s resignation. The world was locked history of the United Nations, before or Norway the next year, and he found in a battle of two superpowers, who since. Six months later, on October 12, his last refuge in Mexico, where he was fought their battles by proxy, often Africa, 1960 1953, Hjalmar died, and the next year murdered by a Soviet agent in 1940. in remote places, usually where vital Dag was elected to replace his father In 1950, Lie was voted into a second resources were at stake. Like the Congo, TIMEMAPS.COM PHOTO: as chair of the prestigious Swedish term at the U.N. by a vote of 46-5, over for example. Academy. Young, bright, already on the strenuous objections of Joseph an accelerated career track, and full Stalin. About that time also, in the U.S., Under the Ndola Slave Tree Colonial Africa of enthusiasm to make the world a was being tried as a spy for The Democratic Republic of the Pre WW I better place, life must have seemed near the Soviet Union during the years when Congo is the second-largest country in perfect for Hammarskjöld. the U.N. was being established. Hiss PHOTO: RIN.RU PHOTO: Africa (after Algeria), and it is the 11th Eight years later, Dag himself On February 1, 1945, Norway’s Trygve went to Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary. largest in the world, and with almost was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Lie was the first elected Secretary- When it became known that 80 million people, it has more French- Unfortunately, he wasn’t alive to accept it. General of the U.N. He resigned in 1952. Abraham Feller, who had been General speaking people than France. Over Counsel to the Legal Department of the the years, this country has had many April Fools’ Day 1953 occupied Norway during World War II, Secretariat in 1945, was a close friend names, including Zaire. In most cases The United Nations was founded in and Trygve Lie had served as Foreign of Alger Hiss, Feller jumped to his we will refer to it as simply Congo. 1945, at the end of World War II, by Minister for the Norwegian government death from a window of his New York One-third of the country lies north of 51 countries ostensibly committed in exile in London. An early avowed City apartment in November 1952. the equator and two thirds south of to promoting peaceful relationships socialist, Lie’s political career began Trygve Lie resigned from his post as it. Its central basin is huge, hot, and between nations. In 74 years of when Lenin, whom he met on a visit to Secretary-General that same month. tropically humid. existence, it has had only eight Moscow, was the uncontested leader of When Lie resigned in November As you can see from the maps, D.R. Secretaries-General, each of whom the Bolshevik movement. 1952, the superpowers wanted a neutral Congo has changed size and shapes was the face of the organization to the When Lenin died in 1924, the Secretary-General. Joseph Stalin died and names over the years, but it has world community. internal Soviet power struggle between on March 5, 1953, and the next month always geographically dominated The U.N.’s first session was convened Joseph Stalin (politician) and Leon the U.N. settled on non-controversial central Africa. In the center of its in San Francisco, not , Trotsky (commander of the Red Army Dag Hammarskjöld, who biographer border with Zambia you will find the in 1945, with Alger Hiss as the Acting and the Cheka, the first Soviet secret Emery Kelèn described as “a brilliant town of Ndola, founded in 1904, with (temporary) Secretary-General. police organization) heated up. Stalin economist, an unobtrusive technician, the opening of a copper mine nearby. The first elected Secretary-General won that struggle, and by 1929, Trotsky and an aristo-bureaucrat.” The Soviet Standing near the center of this town

was Trygve Lie from Norway. The Nazis was expelled from the Soviet Union representative called him “harmless” (Continued on page 00) GIZMODO.COM PHOTO:

O WINTER 2019-2020 | SCANDINAVIAN PRESS SCANDINAVIAN PRESS | WINTER 2019-2020 O (Continued from page 00) PHOTO: COMMONS.WIKIMEDIA.ORG PHOTO: Ndola Slave Tree is the Ndola Slave Tree, for it was under the shade of this tree that tribal slave traders such as the Chipembere, Mwalabu, and Chiwala sold slaves to the PHOTO: COMMONS.WIKIMEDIA.ORG PHOTO: Mambundu from Angola. These traders Sketch of the memorable meeting in 1871, between Henry Morton Stanley and Dr. crisscrossed central and southern Africa, David Livingstone in a remote village in what is now Tanzania. transporting their slaves to the “Swahili

coast” consisting of the littoral regions Elikia M’bokolo, wrote in Le Monde COMMONS.WIKIMEDIA.ORG PHOTO:

PHOTO: GEOLOGY.COM PHOTO: of what is today Kenya, Tanzania, and diplomatique in 1998: “The African 1872, Stanley and Kalulu, a young Zambia map highlighting the city of Ndola, on the border with the Congo, northern Mozambique on the east coast continent was bled of its human African slave given to him in Tanzania. home of the now-fallen Slave Tree, where slave traders sold slaves to the of Africa. resources via all possible routes. Kalulu was freed and became Mambundu from Angola. Across the Sahara, through the Red Stanley’s adopted child. In his short Sea, from the Indian Ocean ports life, Kalulu visited Europe and America. and across the Atlantic. At least ten Sadly, he drowned at age 12. centuries of slavery for the benefit of the Muslim countries (from the ninth and he named his new country the to the nineteenth).” He continues: Congo Free State. Approval of the “Four million slaves exported via the Congo as his private property with his Red Sea, another four million through private army, was based on nothing the Swahili ports of the Indian Ocean, more than his firm declaration that perhaps as many as nine million along his “charitable” Congo Free State was the trans-Saharan caravan route, and committed to improving the lives of the eleven to twenty million (depending on native inhabitants. Nothing could have the author) across the Atlantic Ocean.” been further from the truth. Fourteen Slavery was a very old story in the European countries and the U.S. signed Congo Basin. But some of the worst off on Leopold II as personal sovereign of a million square miles of the Congo. PHOTO: FACE2FACEAFRICA.COM PHOTO: happened just before it all ended. Tippu Tip, Swahili-Zanzibari slave King Leopold II made a fortune, trader, who led many trading The legacy of Leopold II GETTY IMAGES PHOTO: first from ivory and rubber, which he expeditions into Central Africa by European exploration of the Congo King Leopold II of Belgium made a harvested by reducing the locals to constructing profitable trading posts was first carried out by American personal fortune as sovereign of a slaves. that reached deep into the region. By Henry Morton Stanley, sponsored million square miles of the Congo. Between 1885 and 1908, millions of the locals died from disease and 1895, he had acquired seven ‘shambas’ by King Leopold II of Belgium. This disappeared in the region years before. exploitation, marked by murder, torture, [plantations] and 10,000 slaves. Stanley was an adventurer and soldier, Their famous meet-up gave rise to the and atrocities like amputating the hands He met and helped several famous probably the only man ever to serve expression “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” of men, women, and children who failed western explorers of the African in the Confederate army, the Union Leopold II sought out Stanley and continent, including David Livingstone army, and the Union navy. Later, as hired him to claim as much of central to meet their production quotas. and Henry Morton Stanley. He claimed a journalist, he was financed by the Africa as possible for Leopold in a Partly inspired by Heart of Darkness, the Eastern Congo for himself and for New York Herald newspaper to map secret agreement. the book authored by Joseph Conrad, a

PHOTO: MAPSLAND PHOTO: the Sultan of Zanzibar; and was later the Congo Basin. He also searched for Leopold II’s claim to the vast Congo former steamboat captain on the Congo, The Democratic Republic of the Congo map shows the provinces. Today there made governor of the Stanley Falls David Livingstone, a physician and region was approved by his peers an international scandal erupted, and in are twenty-five provinces‚ including Kinshasa, the capital city of the country. District in the Congo Free State. Congregationalist missionary, who had at the Berlin Conference in 1885, (Continued on page 00)

O WINTER 2019-2020 | SCANDINAVIAN PRESS SCANDINAVIAN PRESS | WINTER 2019-2020 O (Continued from page 00) both upset because they were not In January of this year, a new of attacks and kidnappings, including consulted beforehand. Lumumba was documentary entitled Cold Case against staff from NGOs. There have 1908, the government took over the assassinated. Suddenly Hammarskjöld Hammarskjöld was released at the been a number of reported attacks administration of the Congo and and the Congo found themselves Sundance Film Festival by Danish on Ebola responders working in renamed it Belgian Congo. It remained embroiled in a quagmire involving the journalist Mads Brugger. That affected areas.” The rest of the article a Belgian colony until 1960. interests of Belgium, France, South notwithstanding, at the moment, it discourages all but the most necessary Leopold II died the year after Africa, the Soviet Union, Britain, the appears the 60 years of piecemeal travel to this country. Belgium took over his private African U.S., and their intelligence services. and haphazard investigation of Dag When Dag Hammarskjöld traveled, country in 1908, but during his On December 17, 1961, Dag Hammarskjöld’s death, the biggest he carried the oath of his office with 44-year reign he built many public Hammarskjöld chartered a DC-6 mystery in U.N. history, was designed to him. It was in one of his books at the works and gardens for Belgium, and named the Albertina for a secret give the appearance of rigorous intent, Ndola crash site. He was a dedicated he acquired five chateaux for himself, meeting in Ndola to negotiate a cease- but subsequently treated as more of a statesman. We have to wonder, 17,000 acres of forest, as well as country fire privately with Moise Tshombe, the bureaucratic housekeeping matter. how would Dag Hammarskjöld feel estates on the French Riviera. In leader of the separatists in Katanga. The surveying this part of the world addition to keeping his fortune, the plane crashed in a forest near Ndola, Two monuments now? From over a thousand years of government paid 42.5 million francs slave traders to today’s unstable and killing Dag and 14 others, including There is a significant monument to Dag of the outstanding debt on his building dangerous D.R. Congo, are we closer or U.N. staffers and all the crew. A fireball Hammarskjöld at the crash site and projects at home in Belgium, as well as farther than ever from his dream? PHOTO: UN PHOTO: was reported in Ndola, but rescue a small museum. There is a caretaker another 50 million to him. Dag Hammarskjöld, left, was the guest of honor at an official reception in personnel, for some reason, took all and an entrance fee. Every year, on the The records were burned, and the Leopoldville (now Kinshasa), Congo, on September 13, 1961, with Cyrille Adoula, night to get to the crash site. anniversary of the crash, the president Royal Museum for Central Africa the head of the country, right, and his deputy, Antoine Gizenga (with glasses). of Zambia and all the members of that opened just outside of Brussels in Five days later, the secretary-general, and others were dead in a mysterious Denouement the U.N. mission in Zambia attend a the 1990s, makes no mention of the plane crash in the region. memorial service. atrocities committed in the Congo. Not Rumors of foul play surfaced Not far from there, a large pod immediately. a single apology was ever offered, and independent nation-states be able to The new government of the Congo mahogany or mupapa tree stood. It was Since that night, just before Leopold II has gone down in history win the confidence of their people had a mutiny in its army, Katanga was called The Slave Tree. The tree fell over Christmas, 1961, there have been 60 as the great Belgian “Builder King.” and build a stable, viable society with seceding, Belgian troops were on the in 2007, probably due to termites and a years of inquiries and investigations. He plundered the Congo without ever trusted institutions? ground to protect the Belgian mining strangler fig that kills its host. Inside a One of the first, by an early U.N. panel, setting foot there. The Belgian Congo obtained its companies, and Patrice Lumumba, small fence, there is still a plaque that stated there was “persuasive evidence Fifty years later destiny awaited Dag independence in 1960, and it became the first elected prime minister of reads: “This plate has been placed on that the aircraft was subjected to some Hammarskjöld in the Congo. known as the Republic of Congo- the new Congo, ran to the U.N. for this mupapa tree to commemorate the form of attack or threat.” In 2011, Dr. Leopoldville (named after guess who?) help. The U.N. sent a noncombatant passing of the days when, under its Susan Williams, a historian and senior The Congo of until 1966, to distinguish it from its peacekeeping force with Hammarskjöld shade, the last of the Swahili traders, research fellow at London University, smaller neighbor Republic of Congo- personally in charge of operations who warred upon and enslaved the Dag Hammarskjöld published the book Who Killed Dag Brazzaville (named after French explorer to support the central government people of the surrounding country, used Dag Hammarskjöld turned out to Hammarskjöld?, that released new de Brazza). By the 1960s, copper was against the mostly mercenary separatist to celebrate their victories and share be something of a surprise. Far from information and raised more questions. king, and the Katanga elites wanted to forces, and violence quickly erupted out their spoils.” being a milquetoast bureaucrat, he Her book eventually led to the most secede from Congo and keep control of between the U.N. forces and the Someone lost the gate key, and it’s had become a flaming idealist. He TRIPADVISOR.COM PHOTO: the mineral wealth to themselves. separatists. The U.S. and Britain were recent investigation due to end this year, hard to read the plaque from outside attempted to help black Africans perhaps finally closing the book on how the enclosure. Memorial to Dag Hammarskjöld near reclaim their countries from their Dag Hammarskjöld died. Ndola, Zambia, Africa. foreign masters. And if in the process Former Secretary-General Ban-ki D.R. Congo today of accomplishing this, blacks killed Moon pushed to reopen the case, and Sixty years after his death, the John Bechtel is a professional their fellow blacks, it was a lesser evil the U.N. appointed a Tanzanian judge, following is the 2019 British travel freelance writer for than blacks being manipulated or Mohamed Chande Othman, to review advisory for anyone thinking about the food, wine, enslaved by white foreign powers. the crash in 2017. The current Secretary- traveling to this country, rich in all and tourism In the heat of the Cold War, African General of the U.N., António Guterres kinds of mineral resources and now, industries; nations were nothing more than proxy extended Judge Othman’s engagement even oil: ghostwriting battlegrounds for the U.S. and the for another 15 months, at Sweden’s “The security situation in non-fiction Soviet Union. Hammarskjöld wanted insistence, but it is only the judge and eastern D.R.C. remains unstable. The books; and to quickly root out the last vestiges of an assistant, both working part-time in continued presence of armed groups, web content colonialism, leaving black Africans to multiple countries, and a third of the military operations against them, strategist for define their future, hoping for the best. project’s budget goes to translating his intercommunal violence and an influx businesses. Most slavery had ended in the early reports to the U.N.’s official languages. of refugees from neighboring countries

20th century, and even the Arabic slave AFRIPOST PHOTO: The U.N. and most of the affected all contribute to a deterioration in the Follow him on his website: trade to the Middle East was ending as The wreckage of Hammarskjöld’s plane near Ndola, Zambia. Eyewitnesses claim countries have all been slow or reluctant political, security and humanitarian www.johnbechtelwriter.com late as the 1960s. But would the new, they saw a second plane fire at the U.N. chief’s plane (theguardian.com). to declassify relevant documents. situation. There are continued reports

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