09 Jul Count Bernadotte and the White Buses

In mid-February of 1945, approximately one month after he officiated at the wedding of my parents, Herman and Hedvig Allen, Count Folke Bernadotte initiated a series of trips to Germany to negotiate with Nazis in top leadership positions for the release of prisoners from some of the most notorious German concentration camps.

Later that month, in deranged desperation, Hitler confirmed a rumor by then circulating all over the world. He ordered his cabinet to destroy all important cities and factories still remaining in Germany. At the same time, he demanded that prisoners in jails, labor camps, and concentration camps be put to death. Hitler’s longtime confidante Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS and the Gestapo, was to be the person to carry out this heinous order.

The Swedish government had already made the decision to send a rescue expedition to Germany. The request had originally come from the Norwegian minister, Niels Christian Ditleff, a personal friend of Folke Bernadotte and, like him, a man dedicated to humanitarian efforts.

As vice-chairman of the Swedish Red Cross, Bernadotte was well qualified to command this expedition. In 1943 and 1944 he had led the two successful and well-publicized prisoner of war exchanges. He spoke fluent German. He was well connected with the Germans, with the Allies, and with leaders of the Jewish community.

By March of 1945, the rescue known today as the “White Buses” was ready to proceed. This dangerous assignment would be carried out by the Swedish Red Cross with the unpublicized support of the Swedish Army. Count Bernadotte was head of the mission and received the critical assistance of many others from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Germany. The Swedish newspapers agreed to be quiet on the subject. It was vital that Hitler not learn about the operation.

All in all, the White Buses expedition ended up being the biggest rescue effort inside Germany during the entire war. The precise number of prisoners taken out depends on the source, but the figure seems to be somewhere around 19,000 people, with just over 8000 of those being Jews.

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Read more about the White Buses in the book: Liberty Lady: A True Story of Love and Espionage in WWII Sweden)

References:

(Persson, Sune: Folke Bernadotte and the White Buses 2000) pp. 90, 249

(Persson, Sune: Escape from the Third Reich: The Harrowing True Story of the Largest Rescue Effort Inside Nazi Germany 2009) p. 10

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