23 Feb Barbro Torén
Count Bernadotte with the American Minister Herschel Johnson, Stockholm 1944. From the wartime scrapbook of Herman F. Allen
When my parents were in Stockholm during World War II they befriended Count Folke Bernadotte, the nephew to the King of Sweden, Gustav V. Count Bernadotte was Vice-Chairman of the Swedish Red Cross and in that capacity was responsible, alongside the U.S. Military Air Attaché, for the affairs of the American airmen who were interned in Sweden.
My Dad’s worked under the Air Attaché and in that capacity also worked closely with Bernadotte.
My mother’s letters mention Count Bernadotte’s secretary, Barbro Torén. I have no other information about her other than she signed the guest list of people at my parents’ wedding in January of 1945.
In all the reading I have done about Folke Bernadotte I have found reference to his secretary Barbro Wessel. She was with him and his entourage the day of his assassination in Israel, September 17, 1948. After Bernadotte’s death she went on to work for the Swedish Red Cross. In 1972 she married Sven Jerring, a popular Swedish radio announcer and sportscaster who created a children’s foundation, and at that site is a page about his wife Barbro (Wessel) Jerring.
I hope my Swedish readers can confirm whether or not Barbro Torén is indeed Barbro Wessel.
Update February 12, 2017: Please see comments below.
Related posts:
Count Folke Bernadotte
Estelle Manville Bernadotte
Bob Terrell
Posted at 13:01h, 27 SeptemberThank you for posting this photograph, which I had not seen. Herschel Johnson was my grandmother’s brother, and I met him a few times in the 1950s and 60s.
Carl-Peter Anderberg
Posted at 08:09h, 11 February19200119-0822
Jerring, Barbro Astrid Pauline
De Geersgatan 12, V, Stockholm
Död 13/6 2007.
Folkbokförd i Oscar, Stockholms stad (Stockholms län, Uppland).
Född 19/1 1920 i Matteus (Stockholms stad, Uppland).
Änka (27/4 1979).
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Födelseförsamling i källan:
Matteus (Stockholms län)
Källor:
FK 09 / man91
Carl-Peter Anderberg
Posted at 08:11h, 11 FebruaryBarnets förnamn: Barbro Maleine
[Barbro Maleine Torén]
Födelsedatum: 24 jun 1922
Födelseort: Sollentuna, Stockholm, Sweden
Fader: Erik Torén
Faderns födelsedatum : 4 nov 1888
Moder: Magdalena Julia Rudbeck
Moderns födelsedatum : 8 jun 1899
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Conclusion: Barbro Jerring is not the same person as Barbro Torén
Carl-Peter Anderberg
Posted at 08:14h, 11 FebruaryHowever Barbro Torén worked at the Swedish legation in Washington DC 1946-47 as secretary.
http://interactive.ancestry.se/8842/41256_b126752-01287?pid=2728249&backurl=http://search.ancestry.se/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D8842%26h%3D2728249%26ssrc%3Dpt%26tid%3D14827865%26pid%3D330069408968%26usePUB%3Dtrue&ssrc=pt&treeid=14827865&personid=330069408968&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true
Pat DiGeorge
Posted at 11:15h, 12 FebruaryThank you so much, Carl-Peter, for your information about the two ladies named Barbro. Interesting that Barbro Torén obviously went from the American Legation in Stockholm to the Swedish Legation in Washington, D.C. after the war.