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Bernadotte recounted the White Buses mission in his book <i>The End. My Humanitarian Negotiations in Germany in 1945 and Their Political Consequences</i>, published on June 15, 1945 in Swedish. In the book, Bernadotte recounts his negotiations with Himmler and others, and his experience at the Ravensbrück concentration camp.
Bernadotte recounted the White Buses mission in his book <i>The End. My Humanitarian Negotiations in Germany in 1945 and Their Political Consequences</i>, published on June 15, 1945 in Swedish. In the book, Bernadotte recounts his negotiations with Himmler and others, and his experience at the Ravensbrück concentration camp.


===Claims of antisemitism===
===Felix Kersten and Controversial Claims===


Bernadotte's access to Himmler, and to some extent his gaining Himmler's assent to the White Buses expedition, had been facilitated by Himmler's masseur [[Felix Kersten]].<ref>Raymond Palmer. Felix Kersten and Count Bernadotte: A Question of Rescue, ''Journal of Contemporary History'', vol. 29 (1994) pp 39-51. Yehuda Bauer, ''Jews for Sale? Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933-1945''. Yale University Press, 1994. pp 241-149.</ref> When Bernadotte published his account of the affair after the war, however, Kersten was not mentioned. Bernadotte later made an effort to limit the distribution of Kersten's memoirs when they were published in 1947.<ref>Palmer, pp 46-48.</ref>
Bernadotte's access to Himmler, and to some extent his gaining Himmler's assent to the White Buses expedition, had been
facilitated by Himmler's masseur [[Felix Kersten]].<ref>Raymond Palmer. Felix Kersten and Count Bernadotte: A Question of Rescue, ''Journal of Contemporary History'', vol. 29 (1994) pp 39-51. Yehuda Bauer, ''Jews for Sale? Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933-1945''. Yale University Press, 1994. pp 241-149.</ref> When Bernadotte published his account of the affair after the war, however, Kersten was not mentioned. Bernadotte later made an effort to limit the distribution of Kersten's memoirs when they were published in 1947.<ref>Palmer, pp 46-48.</ref>


The resulting feud between Bernadotte and Kersten came to public attention through British historian [[Hugh Trevor-Roper]].<ref>Amitzur Ilan. ''Bernadotte in Palestine, 1948'', MacMillan 1989, p41.</ref> In 1953, Trevor-Roper published an article based on an interview and documents originating with Kersten.<ref>H.R. Trevor-Roper. Kersten, Himmler and Count Bernadotte, ''The Atlantic'', vol 7 (1953), pp 43-45.</ref> The article stated that Bernadotte's role in the rescue operations was that of "transport officer, no more". More damagingly, Kersten was quoted as saying that, according to Himmler, Bernadotte was opposed to the rescue of Jews and understood "the necessity of our fight against World Jewry". A few years later, Trevor-Roper moderated this charge, continuing to claim that Bernadotte had opposed including Jews but suggesting that the cause was Bernadotte's failure to understand his instructions.<ref>H.R. Trevor-Roper. Introduction to Felix Kersten: ''The Kersten Memoirs 1940-1945'', English Edition: Hutchinson 1956. Reprinted with minor changes in: H.R. Trevor-Roper. The Strange Case of Himmler's Doctor, ''Commentary'', vol. 23 (1957) pp 356-364.</ref>
The resulting feud between Bernadotte and Kersten came to public attention through British historian [[Hugh Trevor-Roper]].<ref>Amitzur Ilan. ''Bernadotte in Palestine, 1948'', MacMillan 1989, p41.</ref> In 1953, Trevor-Roper published an article based on an interview and documents originating with Kersten.<ref>H.R. Trevor-Roper. Kersten, Himmler and Count Bernadotte, ''The Atlantic'', vol 7 (1953), pp 43-45.</ref> The article stated that Bernadotte's role in the rescue operations was that of "transport officer, no more". More damagingly, Kersten was quoted as saying that, according to Himmler, Bernadotte was opposed to the rescue of Jews and understood "the necessity of our fight against World Jewry". A few years later, Trevor-Roper moderated this charge, continuing to claim that Bernadotte had opposed including Jews but suggesting that the cause was Bernadotte's failure to understand his instructions.<ref>H.R. Trevor-Roper. Introduction to Felix Kersten: ''The Kersten Memoirs 1940-1945'', English Edition: Hutchinson 1956. Reprinted with minor changes in: H.R. Trevor-Roper. The Strange Case of Himmler's Doctor, ''Commentary'', vol. 23 (1957) pp 356-364.</ref>
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Later events caused Trevor-Roper to retreat further. At the time of his article, Kersten had just been nominated by the Dutch government for the Nobel Peace Prize for thwarting a Nazi plan to deport the entire Dutch population, based primarily on Kersten's own claims to this effect.<ref>Trevor-Roper (1953).</ref> A later official Dutch investigation concluded that no such plan had ever existed, however, and that some of Kersten's documents were fabricated.<ref>Louis de Jong, 1972, reprinted in German translation: H-H. Wilhelm and L. de Jong. ''Zwei Legenden aus dem dritten Reich : quellenkritische Studien'', Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 1974, pp 79-142.</ref> Following these revelations and others, Trevor-Roper told journalist Barbara Amiel in 1995, "I am not certain that Bernadotte refused to take Jews. I have some reservations about the documentation here. If he did, it may well have been that he simply had no instructions except in respect of Norwegians and Danes."<ref>Barbara Amiel. A Death in Jerusalem (book review), ''The National Interest'', Summer 1995. [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2751/is_n40/ai_17100953]; also see Ilan, p262, for earlier concessions by Trevor-Roper.</ref>
Later events caused Trevor-Roper to retreat further. At the time of his article, Kersten had just been nominated by the Dutch government for the Nobel Peace Prize for thwarting a Nazi plan to deport the entire Dutch population, based primarily on Kersten's own claims to this effect.<ref>Trevor-Roper (1953).</ref> A later official Dutch investigation concluded that no such plan had ever existed, however, and that some of Kersten's documents were fabricated.<ref>Louis de Jong, 1972, reprinted in German translation: H-H. Wilhelm and L. de Jong. ''Zwei Legenden aus dem dritten Reich : quellenkritische Studien'', Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 1974, pp 79-142.</ref> Following these revelations and others, Trevor-Roper told journalist Barbara Amiel in 1995, "I am not certain that Bernadotte refused to take Jews. I have some reservations about the documentation here. If he did, it may well have been that he simply had no instructions except in respect of Norwegians and Danes."<ref>Barbara Amiel. A Death in Jerusalem (book review), ''The National Interest'', Summer 1995. [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2751/is_n40/ai_17100953]; also see Ilan, p262, for earlier concessions by Trevor-Roper.</ref>


A number of other historians have questioned Kersten's account. According to Amitzur Ilan, Kersten's accusations of anti-semitism rest entirely on a letter allegedly sent by Bernadotte to Himmler in March 1945.<ref>Ilan, pp 43-44.</ref> The letter said "I do not want to take any Jews...I ask you, Mr. Himmler, do it yourself," adding, "[y]our 'V' weapon is not hitting London well. I leave you a sketch of English military targets."<ref>Ilan, pp 262-263.</ref> Kersten produced a copy of this letter in 1953, claiming it had been typed in Himmler's headquarters from the original.<ref>Ilan, pp 44-45.</ref> When historian Gerald Fleming asked [[Scotland Yard]] to examine the letter in 1976, however, it was determined that the letter had been typed on Kersten's own typewriter.<ref>G. Fleming. Die Herkunft des 'Bernadotte-Briefs' an Himmler vom 10. März 1945, ''Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte'', vol. 24, 1978, pp 571-600.</ref> Fleming concluded that the original never existed; Ilan more cautiously suggested that Kersten had distorted the original, though no original has ever been found.<ref>Fleming, Ilan.</ref>
A number of other historians have questioned Kersten's account. According to Amitzur Ilan, Kersten's accusations of anti-semitism rest entirely on a letter allegedly sent by Bernadotte to Himmler in March 1945.<ref>Ilan, pp 43-44.</ref> The letter said "I do not want to take any Jews...I ask you, Mr. Himmler, do it yourself," adding, "[y]our 'V' weapon is not hitting London well. I leave you a sketch of English military targets."<ref>Ilan, pp 262-263.</ref> Kersten produced a copy of this letter in 1953, claiming it had been typed in Himmler's headquarters from the original.<ref>Ilan, pp 44-45.</ref> When historian Gerald Fleming asked [[Scotland Yard]] to examine the letter in 1976, however, it was determined that the letter had been typed on Kersten's own typewriter.<ref>G. Fleming. Die Herkunft des 'Bernadotte-Briefs' an Himmler vom 10. März 1945, ''Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte'', vol. 24, 1978, pp 571-600.</ref> Fleming concluded that the original never existed; Ilan more cautiously suggested that Kersten had distorted the original.


Some controversy regarding the White Buses trip has also arisen in Scandinavia, particularly regarding the priority given to Scandinavian prisoners.<ref>Sune Persson, Folke Bernadotte and the White Buses, ''J. Holocaust Education'', Vol 9, Iss 2-3, 2000, 237-268. Also published in David Cesarani and Paul A. Levine (eds.), ''Bystanders to the Holocaust: A Re-evaluation'' Routledge, 2002.</ref> Historian Sune Persson judged these doubts to be contradicted by the documentary evidence. He concluded, "The accusations against Count Bernadotte ... to the effect that he refused to save Jews from the concentration camps are obvious lies" and listed many prominent eyewitnesses who testified on Bernadotte's behalf, including the [[World Jewish Congress]] representative in Stockholm in 1945.<ref>Persson, p264.</ref>
Some controversy regarding the White Buses trip has also arisen in Scandinavia, particularly regarding the priority given to Scandinavian prisoners.<ref>Sune Persson, Folke Bernadotte and the White Buses, ''J. Holocaust Education'', Vol 9, Iss 2-3, 2000, 237-268. Also published in David Cesarani and Paul A. Levine (eds.), ''Bystanders to the Holocaust: A Re-evaluation'' Routledge, 2002.</ref> Historian Sune Persson judged these doubts to be contradicted by the documentary evidence. He concluded, "The accusations against Count Bernadotte ... to the effect that he refused to save Jews from the concentration camps are obvious lies" and listed various eyewitnesses who testified on Bernadotte's behalf. These included the [[World Jewish Congress]] representative in Stockholm in 1945.<ref>Persson, p264.</ref> Another book making similar charges was published in Hebrew by Ofer Regev in 2006. Journalist and historian [[Danny Rubinstein]]'s review of the book called it "riddled with inaccuracies, large and small". Of the charge of pro-Nazi sympathies, Rubinstein wrote "Many scholars have explored this claim, but very few have come to the conclusion that it was anything more than perhaps a tendency. Most say there is no basis for such a claim whatsoever."<ref>Rubinstein, Danny. [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/768763.html "A murder waiting to happen"], a review of ''Nesikh yerushalayim'' (''The Prince of Jerusalem'') by Ofer Regev, Porat Publishing.</ref>


===UN mediator===
===UN mediator===
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The Israeli government criticized Bernadotte's participation in the negotiations. In July 1948, Bernadotte said that the Arab nations were reluctant to resume the fighting in Palestine and that the conflict now consisted of "incidents." A spokesman for the Israeli government replied: "Count Bernadotte has described the renewed Arab attacks as "incidents". When human lives are lost, when the truce is flagrantly violated and the [[Security Council|SC]] defied, it shows a lack of sensitivity to describe all these as incidents, or to suggest as Count Bernadotte does, that the Arabs had some reason for saying no... Such an apology for aggression does not augur well for any successful resumption by the mediator of his mission". <ref>''The Palestine Post'', July 12, 1948 </ref>
The Israeli government criticized Bernadotte's participation in the negotiations. In July 1948, Bernadotte said that the Arab nations were reluctant to resume the fighting in Palestine and that the conflict now consisted of "incidents." A spokesman for the Israeli government replied: "Count Bernadotte has described the renewed Arab attacks as "incidents". When human lives are lost, when the truce is flagrantly violated and the [[Security Council|SC]] defied, it shows a lack of sensitivity to describe all these as incidents, or to suggest as Count Bernadotte does, that the Arabs had some reason for saying no... Such an apology for aggression does not augur well for any successful resumption by the mediator of his mission". <ref>''The Palestine Post'', July 12, 1948 </ref>

Colonel [[Richard Meinertzhagen]] wrote in his diary two weeks before Bernadotte's assassination: "In formulating this horrible proposal he has signed his own death warrant. They will have no use for him and the terrorists will get him sooner or later and everyone else who stands between Israel and Jerusalem. I'm terribly sorry that Bernadotte made such an error for he has both moral and physical courage and might have succeeded if he had understood Zionism better. As it is, the Jews will get him."<ref>Middle East Diary 1917-1956 (Cresset Press, 1959), page 235 </ref>


==Assassination==
==Assassination==

Revision as of 12:06, 15 January 2007

Count Folke Bernadotte of Sweden

Count Folke Bernadotte of Wisborg (2 January 1895 - 17 September 1948) was a Swedish diplomat noted for his negotiation of the release of about 15,000 prisoners from German concentration camps during World War II. [1] In 1945, he received a German surrender offer from Heinrich Himmler, though the offer was ultimately rejected.

After the war, Bernadotte was unanimously chosen by the victorious powers to be the United Nations Security Council mediator in the Arab-Israeli conflict of 1947-1948. He was assassinated in Jerusalem in 1948 by members of the underground Jewish group Lehi while pursuing his official duties.

Biography

Early life

Folke Bernadotte was the son of Oscar Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (formerly Prince Oscar of Sweden) and his wife, née Ebba Henrietta Munck af Fulkila. Bernadotte's grandfather was King Oscar II of Sweden. Oscar married without the King's consent in 1888, however, thereby leaving the royal family, and was in 1892 given the hereditary title Count of Wisborg by the Grand Duke Adolphe of Luxembourg.

Bernadotte was a graduate of the military school of Karlberg and a Swedish cavalry officer in the Royal Horse Guards.

Marriage and children

On 1 December 1928 he married Estelle Manville (b. 26 September 1904 in Pleasantville, New York), a wealthy American heiress whom he had met in the French Riviera. They had four sons: Gustaf (b. 1930), Folke (b. 1931), Frederik (b. 1934) and Bertil (b. 1935).

Diplomatic career

World War II

Count Folke Bernadotte (left) talking to Australian Prisoners of War in Germany, 1943

While vice-president of the Swedish Red Cross in 1945, Bernadotte attempted to negotiate an armistice between Germany and the Allies. At the very end of the war, he received Heinrich Himmler's offer of Germany's complete surrender to Britain and the United States, provided Germany was allowed to continue resistance against the Soviet Union. The offer was passed to Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Harry S. Truman, but never accepted.

Just before the end of the war, he led a rescue operation transporting interned Norwegians, Danes and other western European inmates from German concentration camps to hospitals in Sweden. Around 15,000 people were taken to safety in the "White Buses" of the Bernadotte expedition, including between 6,500 and 11,000 Jews. [2]

In April 1945, Himmler asked Bernadotte to convey a peace proposal to Eisenhower without the knowledge of Hitler. The main point of the proposal was that Germany would surrender to the Western Allies only, thus isolating the Soviets. According to Bernadotte, he told Himmler that the proposal had no chance of acceptance, but nevertheless he passed it on to the Swedish government. It had no lasting effect. [3]

The White Buses

During World War II, Bernadotte lead several rescue missions in Germany for the Red Cross. During the autumns of 1943 and 1944, he organized prisoner exchanges which brought home 11,000 prisoners from Germany via Sweden.

In the spring of 1945, Bernadotte was in Germany when he met Heinrich Himmler, who had become commander for the entire German army following the assassination attempt on Hitler the year before. Bernadotte had originally been assigned to retrieve Norwegian and Danish POWs in Germany. He returned on May 1, 1945, the day of Hitler's death. Following an interview, the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet wrote that Bernadotte succeeded in rescuing 15,000 people from German concentration camps, including approximately 8000 Danish and Norwegians and 7000 women of French, Polish, Czech, English, American, Argentinian and Chinese nationalities. (SvD 2/5-45). The missions took approximately two months, and exposed the Swedish Red Cross staff to significant danger, both due to political difficulties and by taking them through areas under Allied bombing.

The mission became known for its buses, painted entirely white except for the Red Cross emblem on the side, so that they would not be mistaken for military targets. In total it included 308 personnel (approximately 20 medics and the rest volunteer soldiers), 36 hospital buses, 19 trucks, 7 passenger cars, 7 motorcycles, a tow truck, a field kitchen, and full supplies for the entire trip, including food and gasoline, none of which were permitted to be obtained in Germany. After Germany's surrender, the White Buses mission continued in May and June to save approximately 10,000 additional people.

Bernadotte recounted the White Buses mission in his book The End. My Humanitarian Negotiations in Germany in 1945 and Their Political Consequences, published on June 15, 1945 in Swedish. In the book, Bernadotte recounts his negotiations with Himmler and others, and his experience at the Ravensbrück concentration camp.

Claims of antisemitism

Bernadotte's access to Himmler, and to some extent his gaining Himmler's assent to the White Buses expedition, had been facilitated by Himmler's masseur Felix Kersten.[4] When Bernadotte published his account of the affair after the war, however, Kersten was not mentioned. Bernadotte later made an effort to limit the distribution of Kersten's memoirs when they were published in 1947.[5]

The resulting feud between Bernadotte and Kersten came to public attention through British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper.[6] In 1953, Trevor-Roper published an article based on an interview and documents originating with Kersten.[7] The article stated that Bernadotte's role in the rescue operations was that of "transport officer, no more". More damagingly, Kersten was quoted as saying that, according to Himmler, Bernadotte was opposed to the rescue of Jews and understood "the necessity of our fight against World Jewry". A few years later, Trevor-Roper moderated this charge, continuing to claim that Bernadotte had opposed including Jews but suggesting that the cause was Bernadotte's failure to understand his instructions.[8]

Later events caused Trevor-Roper to retreat further. At the time of his article, Kersten had just been nominated by the Dutch government for the Nobel Peace Prize for thwarting a Nazi plan to deport the entire Dutch population, based primarily on Kersten's own claims to this effect.[9] A later official Dutch investigation concluded that no such plan had ever existed, however, and that some of Kersten's documents were fabricated.[10] Following these revelations and others, Trevor-Roper told journalist Barbara Amiel in 1995, "I am not certain that Bernadotte refused to take Jews. I have some reservations about the documentation here. If he did, it may well have been that he simply had no instructions except in respect of Norwegians and Danes."[11]

A number of other historians have questioned Kersten's account. According to Amitzur Ilan, Kersten's accusations of anti-semitism rest entirely on a letter allegedly sent by Bernadotte to Himmler in March 1945.[12] The letter said "I do not want to take any Jews...I ask you, Mr. Himmler, do it yourself," adding, "[y]our 'V' weapon is not hitting London well. I leave you a sketch of English military targets."[13] Kersten produced a copy of this letter in 1953, claiming it had been typed in Himmler's headquarters from the original.[14] When historian Gerald Fleming asked Scotland Yard to examine the letter in 1976, however, it was determined that the letter had been typed on Kersten's own typewriter.[15] Fleming concluded that the original never existed; Ilan more cautiously suggested that Kersten had distorted the original.

Some controversy regarding the White Buses trip has also arisen in Scandinavia, particularly regarding the priority given to Scandinavian prisoners.[16] Historian Sune Persson judged these doubts to be contradicted by the documentary evidence. He concluded, "The accusations against Count Bernadotte ... to the effect that he refused to save Jews from the concentration camps are obvious lies" and listed various eyewitnesses who testified on Bernadotte's behalf. These included the World Jewish Congress representative in Stockholm in 1945.[17] Another book making similar charges was published in Hebrew by Ofer Regev in 2006. Journalist and historian Danny Rubinstein's review of the book called it "riddled with inaccuracies, large and small". Of the charge of pro-Nazi sympathies, Rubinstein wrote "Many scholars have explored this claim, but very few have come to the conclusion that it was anything more than perhaps a tendency. Most say there is no basis for such a claim whatsoever."[18]

UN mediator

Following the 1947 UN Partition Plan, on 20 May 1948, Folke Bernadotte was appointed the United Nations' mediator in Palestine, the first official mediator in the UN's history. In this capacity, he succeeded in achieving a truce in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and laid the groundwork for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

First proposal

At the end of June 1948, Bernadotte submitted his first formal proposal in secret to the various parties. It suggested that Palestine and Transjordan be reformed as "a Union, comprising two Members, one Arab and one Jewish". He wrote that: "in putting forward any proposal for the solution of the Palestine problem, one must bear in mind the aspirations of the Jews, the political difficulties and differences of opinion of the Arab leaders, the strategic interests of Great Britain, the financial commitment of the United States and the Soviet Union, the outcome of the war, and finally the authority and prestige of the United Nations. [19]

As far as the boundaries of the two Members were concerned, Bernadotte thought that the following "might be worthy of consideration." [20]

  1. Inclusion of the whole or part of the Negev in Arab territory.
  2. Inclusion of the whole or part of Western Galilee in the Jewish territory.
  3. Inclusion of the City of Jerusalem in Arab territory, with municipal autonomy for the Jewish community and special arrangements for the protection of the Holy Places.
  4. Consideration of the status of Jaffa.
  5. Establishment of a free port at Haifa, the area of the free port to include the refineries and terminals.
  6. Establishment of a free airport at Lydda.

Second proposal

After the unsuccessful first proposal, Bernadotte continued with a more complex proposal that abandoned the idea of a Union and proposed two independent states. This proposal was completed on September 16, 1948, and had as its basis seven "basic premises" (verbatim): [21]

  1. Peace must return to Palestine and every feasible measure should be taken to ensure that hostilities will not be resumed and that harmonious relations between Arab and Jew will ultimately be restored.
  2. A Jewish State called Israel exists in Palestine and there are no sound reasons for assuming that it will not continue to do so.
  3. The boundaries of this new State must finally be fixed either by formal agreement between the parties concerned or failing that, by the United Nations.
  4. Adherence to the principle of geographical homogeneity and integration, which should be the major objective of the boundary arrangements, should apply equally to Arab and Jewish territories, whose frontiers should not therefore, be rigidly controlled by the territorial arrangements envisaged in the resolution of 29 November.
  5. The right of innocent people, uprooted from their homes by the present terror and ravages of war, to return to their homes, should be affirmed and made effective, with assurance of adequate compensation for the property of those who may choose not to return.
  6. The City of Jerusalem, because of its religious and international significance and the complexity of interests involved, should be accorded special and separate treatment.
  7. International responsibility should be expressed where desirable and necessary in the form of international guarantees, as a means of allaying existing fears, and particularly with regard to boundaries and human rights.

The proposal then made specific suggestions that included (extracts):[22]

  1. The existing indefinite truce should be superseded by a formal peace, or at the minimum, an armistice.
  2. The frontiers between the Arab and Jewish territories, in the absence of agreement between Arabs and Jews, should be established by the United Nations.
  3. The Negev should be defined as Arab territory.
  4. The frontier should run from Faluja north northeast to Ramleh and Lydda (both of which places would be in Arab territory).
  5. Galilee should be defined as Jewish territory.
  6. Haifa should be declared a free port, and Lydda airport should be declared a free airport.
  7. The City of Jerusalem, which should be understood as covering the area defined in the resolution of the General Assembly of 29 November, should be treated separately and should be placed under effective United Nations control with maximum feasible local autonomy for its Arab and Jewish communities with full safeguards for the protection of the Holy Places and sites and free access to them and for religious freedom.
  8. The United Nations should establish a Palestine conciliation commission.
  9. The right of the Arab refugees to return to their homes in Jewish-controlled territory at the earliest possible date should be affirmed by the United Nations, and their repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation, and payment of adequate compensation for the property of those choosing not to return, should be supervised and assisted by the United Nations conciliation commission.

Bernadotte's second proposal was prepared in consultation with British and American emissaries. The degree to which they influenced the proposal is poorly known, since the meetings were kept strictly secret and all documents were destroyed,[23] but Bernadotte apparently "found that the U.S.-U.K., proposals were very much in accord with his own views" and the two emissaries expressed the same opinion.[24] The secret was publicly exposed in October, only nine days before the U.S. presidential elections, causing President Truman great embarrassment. Truman reacted by making a strongly pro-Zionist declaration, which contributed to the defeat of the Bernadotte plan in the UN during the next two months. Also contributing was the failure of the cease-fire and continuation of the fighting.[25]

After Bernadotte's death, his assistant American mediator Ralph Bunche was appointed to replace him. Bunche eventually negotiated a ceasefire, signed on the Greek island of Rhodes. See 1949 Armistice Agreements.

Reception

The Israeli government criticized Bernadotte's participation in the negotiations. In July 1948, Bernadotte said that the Arab nations were reluctant to resume the fighting in Palestine and that the conflict now consisted of "incidents." A spokesman for the Israeli government replied: "Count Bernadotte has described the renewed Arab attacks as "incidents". When human lives are lost, when the truce is flagrantly violated and the SC defied, it shows a lack of sensitivity to describe all these as incidents, or to suggest as Count Bernadotte does, that the Arabs had some reason for saying no... Such an apology for aggression does not augur well for any successful resumption by the mediator of his mission". [26]

Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen wrote in his diary two weeks before Bernadotte's assassination: "In formulating this horrible proposal he has signed his own death warrant. They will have no use for him and the terrorists will get him sooner or later and everyone else who stands between Israel and Jerusalem. I'm terribly sorry that Bernadotte made such an error for he has both moral and physical courage and might have succeeded if he had understood Zionism better. As it is, the Jews will get him."[27]

Assassination

File:Folke Bernadotte.gif
Count Folke Bernadotte in uniform

Bernadotte was assassinated on 17 September 1948 by members of the Lehi group, sometimes known as the Stern Gang. The assassination was approved by the three-man Lehi 'center': Yitzhak Shamir, Natan Yellin-Mor, and Yisrael Eldad[28], and planned by the Lehi operations chief in Jerusalem, Yehoshua Zetler. A four-man team lead by Meshulam Makover ambushed Bernadotte's motorcade in downtown Jerusalem and team member Yehoshua Cohen fired into Bernadotte's car. Bernadotte and his aide, UN observer Colonel André Serot were killed. The following day the United Nations Security Council condemned the killing of Bernadotte as "a cowardly act which appears to have been committed by a criminal group of terrorists in Jerusalem while the United Nations representative was fulfilling his peace-seeking mission in the Holy Land".[29]

Lehi took anonymous responsibility for the killings in the name of Hazit Hamoledet (The National Front), a name they copied from a war-time Bulgarian resistance group.[30] The group regarded Bernadotte as a stooge of the British and their Arab allies, and therefore as a serious threat to the emerging state of Israel.[31]. Most immediately, a truce was currently in force and Lehi feared that the Israeli leadership would agree to Bernadotte's peace proposals, which they considered disastrous.[32] They did not know that the Israeli leaders had already decided to reject Bernadotte's plans and take the military option.[33]

Lehi was forcibly disarmed and many members were arrested, but nobody was charged with the killings. Yellin-Mor and another Lehi member, Schmuelevich, were charged with belonging to a terrorist organization. They were found guilty but immediately released and pardoned. Yellin-Mor had meanwhile been elected to the first Knesset.[34] Years later, Cohen's role was uncovered by David Ben-Gurion's biographer Michael Bar Zohar, while Cohen was working as Ben-Gurion's personal bodyguard. The first public admission of Lehi's role in the killing was made in on the anniversary of the assassination in 1977.[35] The statute of limitations for murder had expired in 1971.[36]

The Swedish government initially believed that Bernadotte had been assassinated by Israeli government agents.[37] They publicly attacked the inadequacy of the Israel investigation and campaigned unsuccessfully to delay Israel's admission to the United Nations.[38] In 1950, Sweden recognized Israel but relations remained frosty despite Israeli attempts to console Sweden such as the planting of a Bernadotte Forest by the JNF in Israel.[39] At a ceremony in Tel-Aviv in May 1995, attended by the Swedish deputy prime minister, Israeli Foreign Minister and Labor Party member Shimon Peres issued a "condemnation of terror, thanks for the rescue of the Jews and regret that Bernadotte was murdered in a terrorist way," adding that "We hope this ceremony will help in healing the wound." [40]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Sune Persson, Folke Bernadotte and the White Buses, Journal of Holocaust Education, Vol 9, Iss 2-3, 2000, 237-268. Also published in David Cesarani and Paul A. Levine (eds.), Bystanders to the Holocaust: A Re-evaluation (Routledge, 2002). The precise number is nowhere officially recorded. A count of the first 21,000 included 8,000 Danes and Norwegians, 5,911 Poles, 2,629 French, 1,615 stateless Jews and 1.124 Germans. The total number of Jews was 6,500 to 11,000 depending on definitions. Also see A. Ilan, Bernadotte in Palestine, 1948 (Macmillan, 1989), p37.
  2. ^ Werner, Emma. "A Conspiracy of Decency: The Rescue of the Danish Jews During World War II". Westview Press, 2002 ISBN 0813339065 ; Buckser, Andrew. After the Rescue: Jewish Identity and Community in Contemporary Denmark. Palgrave Macmillan 2003 ISBN 1403962707; and Persson, Sune. "Folke Bernadotte and the White Buses," Journal of Holocaust Education, Vol 9, Iss 2-3, 2000, 237-268. Also published in Cesarani, David & Levine, Paul A. (eds.), Bystanders to the Holocaust: A Re-evaluation. Routledge, 2002.
  3. ^ F. Bernadotte, The fall of the curtain : last days of the Third Reich, English Edition: Cassell 1945. Also Ilan, p36-38.
  4. ^ Raymond Palmer. Felix Kersten and Count Bernadotte: A Question of Rescue, Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 29 (1994) pp 39-51. Yehuda Bauer, Jews for Sale? Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933-1945. Yale University Press, 1994. pp 241-149.
  5. ^ Palmer, pp 46-48.
  6. ^ Amitzur Ilan. Bernadotte in Palestine, 1948, MacMillan 1989, p41.
  7. ^ H.R. Trevor-Roper. Kersten, Himmler and Count Bernadotte, The Atlantic, vol 7 (1953), pp 43-45.
  8. ^ H.R. Trevor-Roper. Introduction to Felix Kersten: The Kersten Memoirs 1940-1945, English Edition: Hutchinson 1956. Reprinted with minor changes in: H.R. Trevor-Roper. The Strange Case of Himmler's Doctor, Commentary, vol. 23 (1957) pp 356-364.
  9. ^ Trevor-Roper (1953).
  10. ^ Louis de Jong, 1972, reprinted in German translation: H-H. Wilhelm and L. de Jong. Zwei Legenden aus dem dritten Reich : quellenkritische Studien, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 1974, pp 79-142.
  11. ^ Barbara Amiel. A Death in Jerusalem (book review), The National Interest, Summer 1995. [1]; also see Ilan, p262, for earlier concessions by Trevor-Roper.
  12. ^ Ilan, pp 43-44.
  13. ^ Ilan, pp 262-263.
  14. ^ Ilan, pp 44-45.
  15. ^ G. Fleming. Die Herkunft des 'Bernadotte-Briefs' an Himmler vom 10. März 1945, Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, vol. 24, 1978, pp 571-600.
  16. ^ Sune Persson, Folke Bernadotte and the White Buses, J. Holocaust Education, Vol 9, Iss 2-3, 2000, 237-268. Also published in David Cesarani and Paul A. Levine (eds.), Bystanders to the Holocaust: A Re-evaluation Routledge, 2002.
  17. ^ Persson, p264.
  18. ^ Rubinstein, Danny. "A murder waiting to happen", a review of Nesikh yerushalayim (The Prince of Jerusalem) by Ofer Regev, Porat Publishing.
  19. ^ Bernadotte, Folke. To Jerusalem, Hodder & Stoughton, 1951, pp. 114-115; full report at [2]
  20. ^ Bernadotte, Folke. To Jerusalem, Hodder & Stoughton, 1951, pp. 129-131; full report at [3]
  21. ^ Bernadotte, Folke. To Jerusalem, pp. 238-239; full report at [4]
  22. ^ To Jerusalem, p239-241; full report at [5]
  23. ^ Ilan, pp. 186-191.
  24. ^ Gazit, Mordechai. American and British Diplomacy and the Bernadotte Mission. The Historical Journal, vol. 29, 1986, pp. 677-696.
  25. ^ Ilan, pp244-247.
  26. ^ The Palestine Post, July 12, 1948
  27. ^ Middle East Diary 1917-1956 (Cresset Press, 1959), page 235
  28. ^ A. Ilan, Bernadotte in Palestine, 1948 (Macmillan, 1989) p194; J. Bowyer Bell, Assassination in International Politics, International Studies Quarterly, vol 16, March 1972, 59--82.
  29. ^ Security Council 57 (1948) Resolution of 18 September 1948.
  30. ^ Heller, Joseph. The Stern Gang; Ideology, Politics and Terror 1940-1949. Frank Cass 1995 ISBN 0714641065, pp252-253. For the text of the announcement, see: Stanger, C.D. A haunting legacy: The assassination of Count Bernadotte. Middle East Journal, vol. 42, 1988, pp 260-272.
  31. ^ Heller, pp239-255.
  32. ^ Heller, passim; Ben-Yehuda, Nachman. Political Assassinations by Jews. SUNY Press 1993 ISBN 0791411656, pp267-274.
  33. ^ Ilan, Amitzur. Bernadotte in Palestine. MacMillan 1989 ISBN 0333472748, pp200-201; Shamir, loc. cit., p241.
  34. ^ Heller, pp261-270.
  35. ^ Yair Amikam, Yediot Aharonot, February 28, 1977: interview with Yehoshua Zetler and Yisrael Eldad. English translation in Journal of Palestine Studies, vol 6, no. 4 (1977) 145-147.
  36. ^ Ilan, p193.
  37. ^ Ilan, p224.
  38. ^ Ilan, p238.
  39. ^ Ilan, p241.
  40. ^ "Israel belatedly condemns U.N. negotiator's murder" and "Israel tries to ease tensions with Sweden" (two articles), Reuters News, 15 May 1995. "Peres apologizes for assassination of Bernadotte", Jerusalem Post, 15 May 1995, page 1.

References

  • Kushner, Harvey W. (2002). Encyclopedia of Terrorism. Sage Publications. ISBN 0-7619-2408-6
  • Schwartz, Ted (1992). Walking with the Damned: The Shocking Murder of the Man Who Freed 30,000 Prisoners From the Nazis. Paragon House, New York. ISBN 1-55778-315-2
  • Marton, Kati (1994). A death in Jerusalem. Pantheon. ISBN 0-679-42083-5
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