23 Oct Regnbågen
Stockholm in 1944 from Illustrated Guide: #1 is the Regnbågen Restaurant and #2 is the Ogo Confectioner’s Shop, both Nazi hangouts. #3 is the American Legation where OSS X-2 offices were located. Click on map for a clearer view.
According to a 1945 OSS report I discovered in the National Archives, the Gestapo was said to have its meeting place in Stockholm in a restaurant called Regnbågen. The word Regnbågen translates to mean Rainbow.
In 1941, it was reported that persons in Stockholm who had joined the Waffen SS and their leaders had been meeting at Regnbågen.
The restaurant was located at Stureplan, a public square (see map) where the streets of Kungsgatan, Birger Jarlsgatan, and Sturegatan converge. Today this area is the center of Stockholm nightlife with some of the most famous and expensive restaurants and bars in the city.
Spy Bar as photographed in 2013, site of the WWII popular restaurant Regnbågen
For instance, there is a trendy nightclub called “Spy Bar.” I’ve read that it is “legendary” so that’s one thing I’ll need to check out when I go there.
I will assume that the original Regnbågen was torn down and replaced by a newer establishment. If anyone knows the history I hope you’ll make a comment.
UPDATE: After I posted this I noticed that my new friends from Sweden, Lifecruiser Travel, had written a post about a Stockholm ice cream shop. I commented, asking if perhaps they knew of a “confectioners shop OGI at Kungagatan” that had been referred to in the same report as a regular meeting spot for German Gestapo agents. Below is their reply, and I have to say that they are good detectives!
They referred me to a posting about a pastry shop on that same street that has now closed. There is a photo of it probably in the ’60’s. It is certainly possible that the OGI in the report should have been OGO. Click on their comment. My question is, was the shop there in the 1940’s, during the war?
UPDATE #2: I have just read in another OSS report that the Conditori (the writer’s spelling; I think it should be Konditori) OGO was a Nazi hangout. So it is solved.
Lifecruiser Travel
Posted at 13:00h, 24 OctoberI had no information for you about Regnbågen, BUT managed to search and find something on the internet about the confectioner shop OGI for you. It’s actually OGO you’re after. A wellknown café in old times.
Quote from the page I found:
“There were in the 50s (and much later) is also a pastry Ogo on Main Street. It was the same owner. It was a popular meeting place, as confectioneries often. It was during the era when the pastry shops had a heyday. Pastry provided pastries, cakes and tarts, unlike most bakeries bakers had baked cakes, biscuits and bread too. The border was a bit blurred. Confectioneries had a badge in brass that hung inside the glass entrance door. The label was designed as a Krokann, which said “member of the Swedish Association of Pastry”. When you opened the door rattled it always from the brass where the mark, when the small metal pieces hanging in a chain, swung to. So they made the entrance of a bakery in the 1950s. I think Ogo was a pastry. Eventually, the demand for confectionery. Crafts Institute trained master confectioner and baker, so it was really different occupations, although nearby. ”
I used translate.google.com to translate the page for you since it was in Swedish. OGO obviously stands for the owners name Olof Gottfrid Ohlsson:
http://translate.google.se/translate?sl=sv&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=sv&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Faforum.genealogi.se%2Fdiscus%2Fmessages%2F44%2F54729.html%3F1082102990
It’s from the site named anbytarforum, which is a Swedish genealogy forum – where I think you might be able to get a lot of answers about anything from older times.
This is the start page: http://aforum.genealogi.se/discus/ – if you click on the English links or the American flag you can get help about how to use it. Don’t be afraid of write in English since many Swedes know English very well.
I also found a newspaper article about it, which is mentioning that it were situated at the address of Kungsgatan 27:
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=sv&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dn.se%2Fblogg%2Fepstein%2F2011%2F01%2F03%2Fjag-saknar-ogo-pa-kungsgatan%2F
I also searched for Café Ogo in the current company register and it said that it has ceased to exist.
Lifecruiser Travel
Posted at 16:35h, 25 OctoberAnother tip: If you want to ask someone else about whether or not the Café OGO was there in 1945, I think you should make a try with the email address of Stockholms City Museum, they might know something – or someone else to ask:
http://www.stadsmuseum.stockholm.se/index.php?sprak=english
(as you can see the email address is in the top right of the page)
Good luck 🙂
Lifecruiser Travel
Posted at 16:38h, 25 October..or if you have any other Stockholm-related question they might be able to help?
Mats Deland
Posted at 16:21h, 16 AugustOgo is now the Radio shop Siba.
Pat DiGeorge
Posted at 08:26h, 21 AugustThank you Mats. I checked it out on Google Maps!