1 Linköping Studies in Arts and Science No. 494 Exporting visions and saving children – the Swedish Save the children Fund Ann Nehlin Department of Child Studies Linköpings university, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden ISBN 978-91-7393-548-7 ISSN 0282-9800 2 Linköping Studies in Arts and Science. No 494 At the Faculty of Arts and Science at Linköping‘s University, research and doc- toral studies are carried out within broad problem areas. Research is organized in interdisciplinary research environments and doctoral studies mainly in graduate schools. Jointly, they publish the series Linköping Studies in Arts and Science. This thesis comes from the Department of Child Studies at the Tema Institute. Distributed by: The Department of Child Studies Linköping University 581 83 Linköping, Sweden Ann Nehlin Exporting visions and saving children – The Swedish Save the Children Fund Edition 1:1 ISBN 978-91-7393-548-7 ISSN 0282-9800 ©Ann Nehlin The Department of Child Studies, 2009 Print: LIU-Tryck, Linköping 2009 3 For Lina Felicity Amy Pickford 4 5 Acknowledgements What a journey! I made it! I wrote this book. This has been, to say the least a challenge with a few obstacles and some detours. Many years ago when I started to look at the experiences of Finnish war children, I realized that my own private experiences carried a lot of resemblance to war children. I have been in a position where I had to leave everything behind to find safety that was a long time ago .. a result of that has been not really unpacking my bags anywhere …just in case. This book does not contain the war children‘s personal experiences but there are certainly moving stories that ought to be told. At Tema Barn I did unpack my bag and I stayed - and I finished this book. This would of course not have been possible without help. My first and foremost thank you goes to my supervisors Bengt Sandin and Karin Zetterkvist-Nelson. You have both guided me through the task of turning this material into a book with enormous patience and a great sense of humor. Thank you! I also want to thank Gunilla Halldén and Karin Aronsson who together with Bengt gave me the chance to do this. Gunilla was also one of the members in the ―special reading group‖ at my ―final seminar‖ who together with Jakob Cromdal and Pia Chris- tensen gave some important and valuable advice on how to finalize this book. Equally important was of course the points and opinions of my opponent at this seminar, Per Bolin-Hort, thank you. A collective thank you to all members of Tema Barn, for opinions and advice that have been given at my seminars over the years. Thank you Christina Lärkner, Eva Danielsson and Ian Dickson for mak- ing practical life at Tema Barn easier. In the private sphere there are many people to thank. My dear, loving and supporting friends Nina Strand, Sylvie Curtis, Maria Kannerberg and Georga Öhammar for always being positive, encouraging and believing in me when I didn‘t. Thank you for giggles, cocktail-drinking, jazz-evenings, and philosophi- cal discussions about love, life and how to raise children. Nina has been my ―study-buddy‖ and has supported and encouraged me with ―go girl, you can do it‖. We have shared frustration and tears but also laughter and warm friendship. Thank you for being there. Thank you my dear, dear friend Sylvie Curtis, with- out your support and encouragement this would not have happened. We meet at 6 ante-natal classes in London and have been very close and dear friends since then. Sylvie inspired me to start studying and she has also been a comforting and encouraging voice during dark times. Maria is an expert in seeing life from the bright side despite obstacles and she has a wonderful contagious laughter, so glade your are back in my life. Thank you Georga for being a good and suppor- tive friend. Thank you Katarina Bildman, I would not be where I am today without your support. You made me realize I have many things going for me and worth hang- ing on to when life has felt chaotic. Thank you Nayane Ferreira De Sousa for letting me and my daughter Lina get an insight to what a different kind of child- hood can be like. That has been very educational and we value your friendship a lot. Thank you my mum, Kerstin Snickars for support, love and comfort whenever needed. Thank you to my stepfather Olle Snickars for always being so kind and helpful with a billion different things. Thank you to my sister Marie for being there in times of trouble. Thank you to my brothers Alf and Pelle for being great guys to have around. Thank you My and Tim, my niece and nephew for always teasing your poor old aunt. I do of course want to mention my sister-in-laws Ka- rin and Sandra and the youngest members of the clan…Elias, Albin and Hugo… Last, but most definitely not least, to a very special young lady, my beautiful, wonderful, and loving daughter, Lina Pickford. During my time at Tema Barn you have grown into this amazing young woman whom I admire so much. Your kind heart, wisdom, and caring soul never stop to amaze me. Without your sup- port, love and fantastic sense of humor this would not have been possible. Thank you for reminding me of what is important. I know this has been hard for you but I hope that one day you will make sense of it and perhaps you will understand why I had to do it. ―Älskar dig mest på jorden, hela världen, så mycket‖. This book is for you. I will end this by quoting Lina as a three-year-old when the goodie-bag was emp- tied. ―Oh dear, finished now!‖ Bagarmossen August 2009 7 Contents CHAPTER I Introduction ................................................................................................... 11 Background ................................................................................................... 12 The situation in Sweden 1938-1956 .......................................................... 17 Previous research ....................................................................................... 21 Perspectives, questions and outline ........................................................... 30 Demarcation of the study, method and sources ............................................ 36 Demarcation of the study .......................................................................... 36 Method and sources ................................................................................... 36 CHAPTER II THE SWEDISH RED CROSS, RÄDDA BARNEN AND THE SWEDISH GOVERNMENT – COLLABORATION OR CONFLICTING INTERESTS?..................... 39 Introduction ................................................................................................... 39 Swedish neutrality – an advantageous strategy or a political impossibility? ........................................................................... 40 The Swedish Red Cross and the organization of Swedish international relief ..................................................................................... 41 Government interference in relief work - a threat or an opening of new possibilities? .................................................................... 44 The Swedish Government‘s participation in international relief work ..... 47 Rädda Barnen and Swedish international relief work ............................... 50 The International council for child relief .................................................. 51 Concluding discussion ............................................................................... 56 8 CHAPTER III A NEW NATIONAL ARENA FOR ACTORS AND ORGANIZATIONS – THE SWEDISH COMMITTEE FOR INTERNATIONAL RELIEF .............................. 58 Introduction ................................................................................................... 58 Alva Myrdal‘s views on Swedish participation on the international arena ................................................................................................................... 59 Relief to children in France ....................................................................... 60 Alva Myrdal's "principle viewpoints" ....................................................... 62 The conflict between Alva Myrdal and the Swedish Red Cross ............... 65 Rädda Barnen's contribution to the debate within the Swedish Committee for International Relief ........................................................... 69 Rädda Barnen at the forefront of Swedish international relief? ................ 73 Swedish European Relief and the United Nations Appeal for Children - the UNAC campaign ................................................................ 74 Concluding discussion ............................................................................... 77 CHAPTER IV A NEW ACTOR ON THE INTERNATIONAL ARENA FOR CHILD RELIEF - UNICEF . 79 Introduction ................................................................................................... 79 A welcome collaboration or an unwanted associate? The reception of UNICEF ......................................................................... 80 UNICEF‘s quest for money in Sweden ..................................................... 81 The negotiations in Paris –UNICEF‘s continued quest for money from Swedish authorities ............................................................... 83 IUCW‘s response to UNICEF ................................................................... 92 The reception of UNICEF in Sweden ....................................................... 93 The establishment of UNICEF in Sweden – a turning point or a source of new conflicts?