Diacronie. Studi di Storia Contemporanea (Dec 2022)
The National-Socialist-led German school in Stockholm 1941-1945: an institution of cultural propaganda
Abstract
On the 21st of October 1941, a National-Socialist-led German school opened its doors in Stockholm. At the opening ceremony, both Swedish and German officials alluded to long-standing historical connections between the two countries and described the school as a warrant for cultural exchange and Swedish-German education. The National-Socialist regime itself had a special interest in the Nordic countries in general, and Sweden in particular, as Northern Europe was imagined as an essential part of a racialized German Kulturvolk. However, while the National-Socialist regime envisioned the establishment of a German school as an instrument of cultural propaganda, a difficult balance had to be maintained at the school. This article discusses how the school became part of National-Socialist propaganda by studying the way in which a specific NS-version of Germanness was activated and instrumentalized by National-Socialist officials and teachers between 1941-45.
