Östermalm
Östermalm is another district in Stockholm where much of the activity occurred for the Americans who worked at the American Legation and the OSS.
The American and German Legations in WWII Stockholm as marked by Hedvig Johnson, OSS secretary at The American Legation
The center of my parent’s day to day activities in Stockholm was The American Legation located at Strandvägen 7A. Today there is a hotel at that address, and I am sure that the offices of the Legation are no longer recognizable. Other offices of The American Legation were found on Strandvägen or streets nearby.
My mother marked the German Legation as being very close to The American Legation, as shown in the postcard photo. This I am trying to confirm, as another address I found for the German Legation is Karlavägen 59 as shown on the map.
Today Östermalm is probably the most exclusive district in Stockholm with upscale shopping and luxury apartments. One of the attractions for Stockholm nightlife is around Stureplan which I described when I wrote about a couple of World War II Nazi hangouts in that locale.
This part of town is also where the Church of Gustav Adolfs is to be found. This is the church where my parents were married in 1945.
Karlaplan, from a World War II era postcard
Five major streets come together to a massive roundabout at Karlaplan, a public park plaza created during the 1890′s and named in honor of all the Swedish kings named Karl. In the 1930′s a fountain and a circle of trees was added. You can see what it was like in 1919, pre-fountain, in this Wikipedia photo. Still the same magnificent architecture, hotels, and apartments.
Today it is one of the most exclusive places to live in Stockholm. I can see why.
In the map below, I have marked a few places in Östermalm …
- The American Legation at Strandvägen 7A.
- An address I found for The German Legation, Karlavägen 59, which does not match my mother’s notation on the photograph above. More research needed! If you have anything to add, please comment!
- Stureplan, where the Nazi hangouts were located and which is a hub of Stockholm nightlife today.
- Gustav Adolfs kyrka, the church where my parents were married.
- Karlaplan, the “five star” park plaza
Hi,
Karlavägen 59 was the German RadioCentral, equipped with probably radios, but also a Geheimschreiber, the Telex machine that coded telegrams to Berlin (which were solved by the Swedes and the professor in Mathematics Arne Beurling , a feat comparable with Enigma and Ultra at Bletchley Park. The Germans used Swedish cables for their transmissions as they thought the Geheimschreiber safe, easy to tap. The group working with the German relegrams sat on Karlaplan only some 100 metres from Karlavägen 59.)
On Karlavägen 99 the German Air Attache had his office, also with a Gheimschreiber. On the fifth floor. Let’s hope ther was an elevator.
Thank you so much, Tommy. Do you know where the actual German Legation was? Was it down from the American Legation as it shows in my Mother’s postcard?
The house to the left of the American Legation was the office of the German Military Attache, not the Legation
Sorry, to the right of the US Legation.
A bit further up was Kaptensgatan 8 (I think the number is right) was the German Information or prpaganda bureayu. They had a filmstudio showing propaganda films every week.
As always, THANKS, Tommy for your valuable assistance.