| Per Engdahl | |
|---|---|
| Born | Per Claes Sven Edvard Engdahl 25 February 1909 Jönköping |
| Died | 4 May 1994 (aged 85) Malmö |
| Nationality | Swedish |
| Known for | Far-right politician |
| Political party | New Swedish Movement, National League of Sweden, European Social Movement |
Per Claes Sven Edvard Engdahl (25 February 1909 in Jönköping – 4 May 1994 in Malmö) was a leading Swedish far right politician. He was the leader of Sveriges Fascistiska Kamporganisation, SFKO (Sweden's Fascist Struggle Organization) during the 1920's.
Engdahl began his career as an independent in Uppsala, advocating a fascist-influenced policy of his own creation which he called nysvenskhet ('new Swedishness'). An attempt was made in 1932 to incorporate his group into the newly-formed Nationalsocialistiska folkpartiet of Sven Olov Lindholm (a pro-Nazi party) although Engdahl resisted their overtures.[1]
As an ideology, nysvenskhet supported a strong Swedish nationalism, corporatism, anti-Semitism and anti-communism as well as a cult of personality around Engdahl himself. The policy overtly rejected Nazism, instead looking more towards Benito Mussolini for inspiration while also seeking to unify all groups against democracy, whether they were fascist or not.[2]
Engdahl founded his own group, Riksförbundet Det nya Sverige, in 1937. Before long he merged this group into the pro-Nazi National League of Sweden, becoming deputy leader of this organisation. Adopting a policy which he described as nysvenskhet ('new Swedishness') he split from this group in 1941 to lead his own Nysvenska Rörelsen which continued to strongly support the Nazis. Before the end of the war his supporters had united in the Svensk Opposition (Swedish Opposition) which also included the supporters of Birger Furugård.[3] The group advocated Swedish entry into World War II and went public with this aim in 1942.[4]
After World War II, Engdahl revived Nysvenska Rörelsen, publishing a paper, Vägen Framåt ('The Way Forward'), that concerned itself with attacks on communism and capitalism.[5] He also became a leading figure in the European neo-fascist scene, and was instrumental in setting up the European Social Movement in 1951, hosting the meeting in his home base of Malmö. Although this group proved unsuccessful, Engdahl continued to be active in such circles for many years.[6]
His name once again became controversial after his death, when some of his personal correspondence was released, revealing that Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, had been a member of Engdahl's groups during the war.[7]
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||