Swedish extradition of Baltic soldiers

On 2 June 1945, the Soviet Union asked (Zalcmanis, page 14-15) that Sweden extradite all interned Axis soldiers, as per the terms in the German surrender.

The Swedish Communist Party wanted to go further, by extraditing all civilian refugees from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

The extradition to the Soviet Union took place on 25 January 1946 in the port of Trelleborg for transportation on the steamer Beloostrov [ru].

Nevertheless, the Swedish government, led by Per Albin Hansson, complied with Soviet demands to extradite the men.

On 20 June 1994, 40 of the 44 surviving extradited (35 Latvians, 4 Estonians, and 1 Lithuanian) accepted an invitation to visit Sweden.

On 15 August 2011, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt officially apologized to the prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania at a ceremony in Stockholm saying that "Sweden owes its Baltic neighbours a "debt of honour" for turning a blind eye to post-war Soviet occupation" and speaking of "a dark moment" in his country's history.