Creating the safe harbour: Depictions of Swedish refugee assistance actions in wartime propaganda film

Abstract

This article examines the production and content of Swedish state propaganda films designed to foster public support for the country's refugee rescue and assistance actions in the latter half of World War II. It argues that these films produced an exceptionalist image of Sweden, in which neutrality came to symbolize unique national values that endowed Sweden with an ethical responsibility to offer help to those in occupied neighbouring countries. This depiction departed from earlier state-produced narratives of Swedish neutrality that characterized the country as under immediate foreign threat.