Conspiracy 58 (Swedish: Konspiration 58 or KSP58) is a Swedish mockumentary from 2002, made by producers from the national public service, which claims that the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden didn't really take place, but was staged as a television and radio event between American and Swedish Television, the CIA and FIFA as part of a Cold War strategy. It is claimed that Sweden did not have the economic or technical resources to promote such an event. The main reason for the Americans' involvement, according to the theory, was to find out if propaganda on television had any influence on viewers and if such methods could be used as political weapons.
A large amount of evidence was presented. For example, there was analysis of television recordings at the matches, where houses can be seen in the backgrounds that never actually stood there. The programme also analyzed how the shadows of the players in the field were falling, and were angled in a way that is not possible in Sweden if you study the position of the sun at the time. The Chairman of the association, Bror Jacques de Wærn, who was employed in the Swedish National Agency for more than twenty years, claims that he has looked for evidence that the tournament really took place, but didn't find anything.
After the end of the film it was revealed that it was a hoax. Despite this, many people still believed in it, as the hoax was not revealed in the film itself. It took several days until the newspapers actually announced it was all made up by the producers. The film was reported by Swedish viewers to the Swedish Broadcasting Commission numerous times, but it was declared that the broadcaster did not violate ethical rules.[1]
The aim of the movie, according to the director Johan Löfstedt, was to illustrate how historical denial (in particular Holocaust denial) works and to highlight the importance of source criticism when getting information from, for example, the media.[1]
The majority of the characters in the film are real celebrities who were playing themselves.
Contents |
| Name | Cast |
|---|---|
| Bror Jacques de Wærn | Author, historian, professor, Chairman of KSP58 |
| Olof Arnell | Director of KSP58 |
| Ingrid Lorentzen | Treasurer of the KSP58 Foundation |
| Thomas Böhm | Psychologist |
| Caj Ernelli | Bookseller |
| Bengt Grive | Sports-writer in the 1950s |
| Ulf Drakenberg | Sports-journalist in the 1950s |
| Bengt Ågren | Secretary of the FIFA Organization Committee 1958 |
| Per Carlsson | Chairman of the Vindicate the 1958 Movement |
| Lennart Johansson | UEFA-President 1990-2007 |
| Agne Simonsson | Player in Sweden national football team 1958 |
| Kurt Hamrin | Player in Sweden national football team 1958 |
| Sigvard Parling | Player in Sweden national football team 1958 |