White Buses
White Buses was a Swedish humanitarian operation with the objective of freeing Scandinavians in German concentration camps in Nazi Germany during the final stages of World War II.
Those allowed by the Germans to be freed from the concentration camps were transported by the white buses and trucks to the port city of Lübeck, Germany.
Swedish diplomat Folke Bernadotte and others negotiated the White Buses operation with German officials, especially Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler.
Hammerich had good connections with the Norwegian seaman's priests, the Gross Kreutz group and with Niels Christian Ditleff in Stockholm.
The Gross Kreutz group learned of this policy a month later and reacted swiftly, with Johan Bernhard Hjort writing a report advising against the proposal.
In September 1944, Ditleff raised the question with Count Folke Bernadotte of the Swedish Red Cross, who immediately supported the plan.
On 29 December, the Norwegian government changed its position and instructed its embassy in Stockholm to discuss the possibility of a Swedish operation aimed at rescuing Scandinavian prisoners.
Felix Kersten, the personal physical-therapist of Nazi Germany's Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, set the table for the release of internees in German concentration camps.
During the visit to Berlin Bernadotte also had several meetings with the Gross Kreutz group, Didrik Arup Seip, Conrad Vogt-Svendsen, Wanda Hjort and Bjørn Heger.
The mission became known for its buses, which, with the exception of the Red Cross emblem on their sides, were painted entirely white so that they would not be mistaken for military vehicles.
I believe that all of us that have had the option of helping these poor people in Germany have experienced such an overwhelming gratitude that it is enough for the rest of our lives.As the prisoners were being picked up in Sachsenhausen, their names were checked with the group from Gross Kreutz, to make sure no one was left behind.
Early in February a small Swedish Red Cross detachment under Captain Hultgren arrived in Berlin: six men, two buses and a private car.
The Swedish sub-lieutenant Åke Svenson wrote: We could now see how the Germans treated their prisoners in general, French, Belgians, Dutch, Poles, and Russians.
From these barracks a group of creatures were forced, that hardly anymore seemed to be human beings.The last transport for the SS was undertaken as late as 13 April, with around 450 so-called prominent French prisoners (senators, leading businessmen, etc.)
The promise of the transport to Switzerland was a lie and that camp was full, so the prisoners were taken to Theresienstadt where the "white buses" were heading to pick up 400 Danish Jews.
On 29 March the Swedish Red Cross personnel were finally given access to Neuengamme as well as medicine, blankets, personal hygiene articles and food.
B. Holmgård, wrote: For the first time in the history of Neuengamme the Nazi butchers Pauly and Thuman were not two bragging, arrogant representatives of the master race, with swinging whips.
One bus with the Norwegian doctor Bjørn Heger was assigned to search for 30 prisoners which the "Gross Kreutz" group presumed were in the area around Schömberg.
The conditions were difficult, Axel Molin (one of the busdrivers) wrote: ...on our way to Schömberg the activity in the air was very high and we were overflown many times by Allied fighter planes, that did not attack us.
In some places where chaos reigned we simply could not just drive past with our white bus with Red Cross markings, but had to stop and give first aid.
On 9 April a mixed Swedish-Danish column under Captain Folke travelled to Berlin to transport 200 prisoners from various jails; knowledge of their location was the result of the work of the Reverend Vogt-Svendsen.
The first air attack against the "white buses" happened on 18 April, when the Danish camp at Friedrichsruh was strafed by Allied fighter planes.
In the camp a total of 706 French, Belgian, Dutch, and Polish women were loaded onto a column with Danish ambulances and lorries from the International Red Cross.
On the way to Padborg this transport was attacked by Allied fighter planes, at least 11 were killed and 26 severely wounded; the final number of fatalities was estimated at 25.
On 26 April, the Neuengamme concentration camp itself was emptied as British and Canadian forces closed in; around ten thousand remaining inmates being transferred to a flotilla of decommissioned cruise ships anchored in Lübeck Bay, where they were imprisoned below decks.
The "white buses" expedition was a Swedish triumph that earned the country much good will; the return transports through Denmark were met by ecstatic crowds.
The British diplomat Peter Tennant, who was stationed in Stockholm during the war, wrote: The Swedish humanitarian efforts during and after the war did much to remove the dishonour the country had got during its acrobatic exercises in neutrality policy.Following an interview, the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet wrote that Bernadotte succeeded in rescuing 15,000 people from German concentration camps, including about 8,000 Danes and Norwegians and 7,000 women of French, Polish, Czech, British, American, Argentinian, and Chinese nationalities.
The missions took around 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.
These survivors explained their hope when they climbed into the Swedish buses that they were being evacuated to Sweden and their crushing despair and feeling of betrayal when they were disembarked.
A huge thank you to Ingrid Lomfors who in a proper way has removed a blind spot not only for our Swedish liberators, but also for us who assisted them in a difficult situation!
