Harald Edelstam

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Harald Edelstam (1913–1989) was a Swedish diplomat. During World War II he earned the nickname Svarta nejlikan ("the Black Pimpernel," a reference to The Scarlet Pimpernel) for helping Norwegian resistance fighters in Hjemmefronten escape from the Germans. During the 1970s he was stationed in Santiago, Chile, and became known as the "Raoul Wallenberg of the 1970s" when he helped political refugees escape persecution by Augusto Pinochet. One night during a coup, the Mexican embassy was under fire by tanks and Mexicans were returning fire from the windows; Edelstam took a Swedish flag in hand and walked in front of the tanks as bullets hurled past. He fetched the Mexicans out of the embassy and took them to the Swedish embassy, then got them out of Chile to safety.[1] Edelstam also helped many Cubans escape from Chile and was honored by Fidel Castro as a hero.

A film about Edelstam in Chile, The Black Pimpernel, is under production and planned for 2007.