Reaching a State of Hope

Overview

Shedding new light on the issues concerning refugees and immigration in 20th-century Sweden, this analysis examines the implications of its immigration policies. On what grounds were refugees admitted? Where did they come from? How did the Swedish state aid its new citizens? What differences were there between refugees and the “imported labor” that was essential to Swedish industry? A group of established Swedish and international historians answer these questions against the background of the eras passed: the Second World War, the Cold War, and the labor movement that shaped the national characteristic of Sweden so deeply. Reaching a State of Hope contributes to the wider field of research on political and administrative practices around refugees historically and places the Swedish refugee and immigration experience in a European perspective.

Author Biography

Mikael Byström is an associate professor of history at Uppsala University in Sweden. He has published extensively on the subject of the debate regarding refugees and migration during World War II. Pär Frohnert is an associate professor of history at Stockholm University in Sweden. He has published extensively on the impact of the Holocaust in European culture and the aid to refugees during the 1930s and the Second World War.