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Bernadotte, Count Folke   Cerca

Definizione

Count Folke Bernadotte (1895-1948) was a Swedish statesman who negotiated the rescue of Jewish and political prisoners from concentration camps during the war. The nephew of the king of Sweden, Gustav V, and the count of Wisborg, Bernadotte became vice-chairman of the Swedish Red Cross in 1943. In March and April 1945, Bernadotte met with Heinrich Himmler and his aides and negotiated the release of 7,000 Scandinavian prisoners from concentration camps and the Theresienstadt ghetto. After meeting with Nobert Masur, a representative from the World Jewish Congress, Bernadotte also worked for the release of 10,000 female prisoners, 2,000 of them Jewish, from the Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany who were then transferred to Sweden. On April 24, 1945, Himmler attempted to negotiate a peace with the Allies through Bernadotte, which the Allies rejected. In 1946, Bernadotte became the president of the Swedish Red Cross and in May 1948, was appointed by the United Nations to be a mediator in the Arab-Israeli conflict. After an unpopular suggestion regarding territory to be incorporated in the state of Israel, Bernadotte was assassinated by members of the Hazit ha-Moledet in Jerusalem on September 17, 1948. A forest was planted near Jerusalem in his honor. (en-US)

Fonte

Encyclopaedia Judaica. 16 vols. Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House Ltd., 1971-1972. vol. 4, pp. 669-670

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