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{{short description|Swedish diplomat (1895–1948)}}
]
{{pp-30-500|small=yes}}
'''Count Folke Bernadotte of Wisborg''' (] ] - ] ]) or simply Count Bernadotte, was a Swedish diplomat noted for his negotiation of the release of 15,000 mostly ]n prisoners {{fact}} from the German ]s in ] and for his assassination by members of a Jewish terrorist group during his service as ] mediator in ].
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Folke Bernadotte
| title = ]
| image = Folke-Bernadotte.jpg
| caption = Bernadotte in the mid 1940s
| birth_date = {{birth date|1895|1|2|df=y}}
| birth_place = ], Sweden
| death_date = {{death date and age|1948|9|17|1895|1|2|df=y}}
| death_place = ]
| burial_place = ], ]
| burial_date =
| father = ]
| mother = ]
| house = ]
| spouse = {{marriage|]|1928}}
| issue = {{plainlist|
* Count Gustaf Eduard
* Count Folke
* Count Fredrik Oscar
* Count Bertil Oscar
}}
}}

'''Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg''' (2 January 1895&nbsp;– 17 September 1948) was a Swedish ] and ]. In ], he negotiated the release of about 450 Danish Jews and 30,550 non-Jewish prisoners of many nations from the Nazi German ] ].{{efn|The precise number is not officially recorded. A count of the first 21,000 included 8,000 Danes and Norwegians, 5,911 Poles, 2,629 French, 1,615 stateless Jews and 1,124 Germans. The total number of Jews was 6,500 to 11,000 depending on definitions.<ref name=Persson00>{{cite journal |first=Sune |last=Persson |title=Folke Bernadotte and the White Buses |journal=Journal of Holocaust Education |volume=9 |issue=2 |date=2000 |pages=237–268 |doi=10.1080/17504902.2000.11087111 |issn=1359-1371 }}</ref><ref name=Cesarani-Levine02>{{cite book |editor1=David Cesarani |editor2=Paul A. Levine |title=Bystanders to the Holocaust: A Re-evaluation |publisher=Routledge |date=2002 |isbn=9780714682433 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780714682433 |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref name=Ilan89>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bernadotteinpale0000ilan |title=Bernadotte in Palestine, 1948 |first=Amitzur |last=Ilan |date=1989 |publisher=St. Martin's Press, Inc. |location=New York, New York |isbn=0-312-03259-5 |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|37}}}} They were released on 14 April 1945.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zwoje-scrolls.com/zwoje38/text18.htm |title=A Jew talks to Himmler |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110321173725/http://www.zwoje-scrolls.com/zwoje38/text18.htm |archive-date=2011-03-21 |first=Frank |last=Fox}}</ref><ref name="Independent">{{cite news |title = Israel's forgotten hero: The assassination of Count Bernadotte–and the death of peace |first = Donald |last = Macintyre |newspaper = ] |date = 2008-09-18 |url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israels-forgotten-hero-the-assassination-of-count-bernadotte--and-the-death-of-peace-934094.html |access-date = 2008-12-11 |location = London |archive-date = 2015-09-25 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150925193755/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israels-forgotten-hero-the-assassination-of-count-bernadotte--and-the-death-of-peace-934094.html |url-status = dead }}</ref> In 1945 he received a German surrender offer from ], though the offer was ultimately rejected by the allies.

After the war, Bernadotte was unanimously chosen to be the ] mediator in the ] of 1947–1948. He was assassinated in ] in 1948 by the ] ] group ] while pursuing his official duties. Upon his death, ] took up his work at the UN, successfully mediating the ] between ] and ].


==Early life== ==Early life==
He was the son of ], Count of Wisborg (formerly Prince Oscar of Sweden) and his wife, née Ebba Henrietta Munck af Fulkila. Oscar, the son of King ] of ] and ], married without the King's consent in 1888, thereby leaving the ], and was (in 1892) given the hereditary ] '']'' by the Grand Duke ] of ]. Folke Bernadotte was born in ] into the ], the Swedish royal family. His father, ] (formerly Prince Oscar of Sweden, Duke of ]), was the second son of King ]; his mother, ], had been a lady in waiting to ], the wife of ]. Oscar had married Ebba without the consent of the King, and so was forced to renounce his Swedish titles; in 1892, he was granted the titles of ] and ] by his uncle, ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/File:Luxembourg_Grand_Ducal_letters_patent_1892.JPG|title=English: Letters patent issued by Grand Duke Adolph of Luxembourg re: titles of nobility for his nephew Prince Oscar Bernadotte & familyPlace: National Archives, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg|first=Luxembourg|last=Government|date=April 2, 1892|via=Wikimedia Commons}}</ref><ref> by Government of Luxembourg 1892-04-02</ref>


Bernadotte attended school in Stockholm, after which he entered training to become a ] ] at the ]. He took the officer's exam in 1915, was commissioned a ] in 1918, and subsequently was promoted to the rank of ].
==Marriage and children==


Bernadotte represented Sweden in 1933 at the ], and later served as Swedish commissioner general at the ] in 1939–40. Bernadotte had long been involved with the ], and took over as director of the organization in 1937. At the outbreak of ], Bernadotte worked to integrate the scouts into Sweden's defense plan, training them in ] work and as ]s. Bernadotte was appointed Vice Chairman of the ] in 1943.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/count-folke-bernadotte |website=Jewish Virtual Library |title=Folke Bernadotte Biography |access-date=22 March 2007}}</ref>
On ] ] he married Estelle Manville (b. ] ] in ]), a wealthy American heiress whom he had met in the French Riviera. They had four sons: Gustaf (b. 1930), Folke (b. 1931), Frederik (b. 1934) and Bertil (b. 1935).


==Diplomatic career==
==World War II diplomacy==
===World War II===
]
]
Bernadotte, while vice-president of the Swedish ] in ], attempted to negotiate an ] between ] and ]. At the very end of the war he received ]'s offer, from ] of Germany's complete surrender to ] and the ], provided ] was allowed to continue resistance against the ]. The offer was passed on to Prime Minister ] and President ].
During the autumns of 1943 and 1944, he organized prisoner exchanges which brought home 11,000 prisoners from Germany via Sweden. While Vice-President of the Swedish Red Cross in 1945, Bernadotte attempted to negotiate an ] between Germany and ]. He also led several rescue missions in Germany for the Red Cross. In April 1945, ] asked Bernadotte to convey a peace proposal to Prime Minister ] and President ] without the knowledge of ]. The main point of the proposal was that Germany would surrender only to the Western Allies (the United Kingdom and the United States), but would be allowed to continue resisting the ]. According to Bernadotte, he told Himmler that the proposal had no chance of acceptance, but nevertheless he passed it on to the Swedish government and the Western Allies. It had no lasting effect.<ref name=Ilan89/>{{rp|36–38}}<ref name=Bernadotte-Lewenhaupt>{{cite book |first=Folke |last=Bernadotte |translator=Count Eric Lewenhaupt |title=The Curtain Falls: Last Days of the Third Reich |edition=First American |date=1945 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York, New York |url=https://archive.org/details/curtainfalls0000unse/}}</ref>{{rp|151–152}}<!-- more refs needed-->


===White Buses===
Just before the end of ] he gained much good will leading a rescue operation transporting interned ], ] and other West-]s inmates from German Concentration Camps to hospitals in ], of whom some speaking ] from the ]. In the "]" of the Bernadotte-expedition 15,000 persons were liberated, mostly ] but also quite a few ]s. However, it's been claimed that Bernadotte refused to rescue Jews, and the Jews that were included were there in spite of his refusal and as a result of pressure from ] and Himmler's doctor ] <ref> The Kersten memoirs, 1940-1945, (1956); Hugh Trevor-Roper, The Last Days of Hitler (1971); Baruch Nadal, Bernadotte's murder (1968); Ofer Regev, Prince Of Jerusalem (2006); </ref>
{{verification section|date=September 2016}}
{{main article|White Buses}}
], Denmark, 17 April 1945.]]Upon the initiative of the Norwegian diplomat ] in the final months of the war, Bernadotte acted as the negotiator for a rescue operation transporting interned ], ] and other western European inmates from German concentration camps to hospitals in Sweden.


In the spring of 1945, Bernadotte was in Germany when he met Heinrich Himmler, who was briefly appointed commander of an entire German army following the assassination attempt on Hitler the year before. Bernadotte had originally been assigned to retrieve Norwegian and Danish ] in Germany. He returned on 1 May 1945, the day after Hitler's death. Following an interview, the Swedish newspaper '']'' wrote that Bernadotte succeeded in rescuing 15,000 people from German concentration camps, including about 8,000 Danes and Norwegians and 7,000 women of French, Polish, Czech, British, American, Argentinian, and Chinese nationalities<!-- (SvD 2/5&nbsp;–45) -->. The missions took around two months, and exposed the Swedish Red Cross staff to significant danger, both due to political difficulties and by taking them through areas under Allied bombing.
Bernadotte served on the ] of the ] from ] until ].


The mission became known for its buses, painted entirely white except for the Red Cross emblem on the side, so that they would not be mistaken for military targets. In total it included 308 personnel (about 20 medics and the rest volunteer soldiers), 36 hospital buses, 19 trucks, seven passenger cars, seven motorcycles, a tow truck, a field kitchen, and full supplies for the entire trip, including food and gasoline, none of which was permitted to be obtained in Germany. A count of 21,000 people rescued included 8,000 Danes and Norwegians, 5,911 Poles, 2,629 French, 1,615 Jews, and 1,124 Germans.
==UN mediator==
Following the ], on ] ], Folke Bernadotte was appointed the ]' mediator in ]. This made him the first official mediator in the history of the world organization. In this capacity, he succeeded in achieving a truce in the ] and laid the groundwork for the ].


After Germany's surrender, the White Buses mission continued in May and June and about 10,000 additional liberated prisoners were thus evacuated.
==Assassinated in Jerusalem by ''Lehi''==
]


Bernadotte recounted the White Buses mission in his book ''The End. My Humanitarian Negotiations in Germany in 1945 and Their Political Consequences'', published on June 15, 1945 in Swedish.<ref name=Bernadotte-Lewenhaupt/>
Bernadotte was assassinated on ] ] by members of the ] group, sometimes known as the Stern Gang. The assassination was approved by the three-man Lehi 'center': ], ] and ], and planned by the Lehi operations chief in Jerusalem, ]. A four-man team lead by Meshulam Makover ambushed Bernadotte's motorcade in downtown Jerusalem and team member Yehoshua Cohen fired into Bernadotte's car. Bernadotte and his aide, ] observer Colonel ] were killed. The following day the ] condemned the killing of Bernadotte as "a cowardly act which appears to have been committed by a criminal group of terrorists in Jerusalem while the United Nations representative was fulfilling his peace-seeking mission in the Holy Land".<ref> Resolution of 18 September 1948.</ref>


====Postwar controversy====
Lehi took public credit for the killings in the name of a previously unknown group, but Lehi's role was never in doubt. Lehi was forcibly disarmed and many members were arrested, but nobody was ever charged with the killings. Yellin-Mor and another Lehi member Schmuelevich were charged with belonging to a terrorist organization. They were found guilty but immediately released and pardoned (Yellin-Mor had meanwhile been elected to the first ]). Years later, Cohen's role was uncovered by ]'s biographer ] while Cohen was working for Ben-Gurion as a security guard. The first public admission of Lehi's role in the killing was made in 1977 (], Feb 28).
Following the war, some controversies arose regarding Bernadotte's leadership of the White Buses expedition, some personal and some as to the mission itself. One aspect involved a long-standing feud between Bernadotte and Himmler's personal ], ], who had played a role in facilitating Bernadotte's access to Himmler,<ref name=Palmer-94>{{cite journal |first=Raymond |last=Palmer |title=Felix Kersten and Count Bernadotte: A Question of Rescue |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |volume=29 |issue=1 |date=1994 |pages=39–51 |doi=10.1177/002200949402900102}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Yehuda |last=Bauer |title=Jews for Sale? Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933–1945 |publisher=Yale University Press |date=1994 |pages=241–149 |url=https://archive.org/details/jewsforsalenazij00baue |isbn=0-300-05913-2 |url-access=limited}}</ref> but whom Bernadotte resisted crediting after the war.<ref name=Palmer-94/>{{rp|46–48}} The resulting feud between Bernadotte and Kersten came to public attention through British historian ].<ref name=Ilan89/>{{rp|41}} In 1953, Trevor-Roper published an article based on an interview and documents originating with Kersten.<ref name=Atlantic-TR53>{{cite magazine |first=H. R. |last=Trevor-Roper |title=Kersten, Himmler and Count Bernadotte |magazine=] |volume=7 |date=February 1953 |pages=43–45 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1953/02/kersten-himmler-and-count-bernadotte/640677/ |author-link=Hugh Trevor-Roper |access-date=20 June 2024}}</ref> The article stated that Bernadotte's role in the rescue operations was that of "transport officer, no more". Kersten was quoted as saying that, according to Himmler, Bernadotte was opposed to the rescue of Jews and understood "the necessity of our fight against World Jewry".


Shortly following the publication of his article, Trevor-Roper began to retreat from these charges. At the time of his article, Kersten had just been nominated by the ] for the ] for thwarting a Nazi plan to deport the entire Dutch population, based primarily on Kersten's own claims to this effect.<ref name=Atlantic-TR53/> A later investigation by Dutch historian ] concluded that no such plan had existed, however, and that Kersten's documents were partly fabricated.{{efn|The original results were published by de Jong in 1972 and republished in a German translation in 1974.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Hans-Heinrich |last1=Wilhelm |first2=Louis |last2=de Jong |title=Zwei Legenden aus dem dritten Reich : quellenkritische Studien |trans-title=Two legends from the Third Reich: source-critical studies |journal=Schriftenreihe der Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte |lang=de |publisher=Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag |volume=28 |date=1974 |pages=79–142 |doi=10.1524/9783486703573|isbn=978-3-486-70357-3 }}</ref>}} Following these revelations and others, Trevor-Roper told journalist ] in 1995 that he was no longer certain about the allegations, and that Bernadotte may merely have been following his orders to rescue Danish and Norwegian prisoners.{{efn|In 1956, for the introduction of Kersten's ''Memoirs'' (1956), Trevor-Roper wrote "It is important to note that although Bernadotte seems to have been understood by Himmler as using the language of anti-Semitism—which may have been a tactical necessity—there is no reason to suppose that his motive in refusing to take the Jews was anti-Semitic. Indeed the evidence points in the other direction, for Bernadotte also refused to take French and Polish prisoners. It seems that he genuinely misunderstood his instructions, thinking that he was only authorized to take Scandinavians. The fact that he could so misunderstand, and be so overruled, is evidence of the subordinate position which he occupied in these negotiations."<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/the-kersten-memoirs-1940-1945 |title=The Kersten Memoirs 1940–1945 |first1=Felix |last1=Kersten |author1-link=Felix Kersten |edition=English |publisher=Hutchinson |date=1956 |translator1=Constantine Fitzgibbon |translator2=James Oliver |chapter=Introduction |first2=H. R. |last2=Trevor-Roper |author2-link=Hugh Trevor-Roper |pages=9–21 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/the-kersten-memoirs-1940-1945/page/8/mode/2up}}</ref>{{rp|16}} The introduction was reprinted with minor changes in a 1957 ''Commentary'' magazine article.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.commentary.org/articles/h-trevor-roper/the-strange-case-of-himmlers-doctorfelix-kersten-and-count-bernadotte/ |first=H. R. |last=Trevor-Roper |author-link=Hugh Trevor-Roper |title=The Strange Case of Himmler's Doctor |magazine=Commentary |volume=23 |date=April 1957 |pages=356–364}}</ref> In 1995, Trevor-Roper clarified this earlier statement, quoted in a ] review of ]'s book as saying, "I am not certain that Bernadotte refused to take Jews. I have some reservations about the documentation here. If he did, it may well have been that he simply had no instructions except in respect of Norwegians and Danes."<ref>{{cite magazine |author-link=Barbara Amiel |first=Barbara |last=Amiel |title=A Death in Jerusalem (book review) |magazine=The National Interest |date=Summer 1995 |url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2751/is_n40/ai_17100953 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120090933/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2751/is_n40/ai_17100953/ |archive-date=2012-01-20}}</ref> Trevor-Roper earlier had made similar concessions.<ref name=Ilan89/>{{rp|262}}}} Several other historians have also questioned Kersten's account, concluding that the accusations were based on a forgery or a distortion devised by Kersten.<ref name=Ilan89/>{{rp|43–45}}<ref>{{cite journal |first=Gerald |last=Fleming |title=Die Herkunft des 'Bernadotte-Briefs' an Himmler vom 10. März 1945 |journal=Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte |volume=26 |number=4 |date=1978 |pages=571–600 |url=https://www.ifz-muenchen.de/heftarchiv/1978_4_3_fleming.pdf |access-date=20 June 2024}}</ref>
==His mediation efforts in the Arab-Israeli conflict of 1947/8==
Three days after his death, a report describing Bernadotte's peace efforts was published. It included the following proposals:


Some controversy regarding the White Buses trip has also arisen in Scandinavia, particularly regarding the priority given to Scandinavian prisoners.<ref name=Persson00/><ref name=Cesarani-Levine02/> Political scientist Sune Persson judged these doubts to be contradicted by the documentary evidence. He concluded, "The accusations against Count Bernadotte ... to the effect that he refused to save Jews from the concentration camps are obvious lies" and listed many prominent eyewitnesses who testified on Bernadotte's behalf, including the ] representative in Stockholm in 1945.<ref name=Persson00/>{{rp|264}}
]


===UN mediator===
*To transform the first lull in the fighting into a permanent peace, or at least a ceasefire, and determine the final borders of the Jewish and Arab states in Palestine
]
*To grant the ] desert to the Arab state and the ] to the Jewish state
], ]]]
*To internationalize ] (his first report however stated that it will be controlled by the Arabs)
{{main|Bernadotte plan}}
*To grant control over the Arab sections of Palestine to the Arab states (in effect, ])
On 20 May 1948, Folke Bernadotte was appointed "United Nations Mediator in Palestine", in accordance with UN-resolution 186 of 14 May 1948.<ref>UNGA@unispal, {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103072620/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/A9A8DA193BD46C54852560E50060C6FD |date=2011-01-03 }} (doc.nr. A/RES/186 (S-2)), 14 May 1948</ref>
*To ensure that the port in ] and the airport in ] serve both the Jewish and Arab sections of the country, and the neighboring Arab states.
It was the first official mediation in the ] history. This was necessitated by the ] that followed the ] and the subsequent unilateral ]. In this capacity, he succeeded in achieving an initial truce during the subsequent ] and laid the groundwork for the ]. The specific proposals showed the influence of the previously responsible ], and to a lesser extent the ].<ref name="Sachar1998">
* ], except the airport, and ] will be controlled by ].
{{cite book
*To return the 360,000 Arab refugees to their homes
|first=Howard M.
*] will be subjected to the agreement of ].
|last=Sachar
*To establish a Reconciliation Committee as the first step toward achieving a lasting peace in the region.
|author-link=Howard M. Sachar
|title=Israel and Europe: An Appraisal in History
|year=1998
|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf
|isbn=978-0-679-45434-2
|chapter=Chapter 1: The Pangs of Withdrawal
|chapter-url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/sachar-israel.html
|url=https://archive.org/details/israeleuropeap00sach
}}</ref>
Bernadotte wrote that: "in putting forward any proposal for the solution of the Palestine problem, one must bear in mind the aspirations of the Jews, the political difficulties and differences of opinion of the Arab leaders, the strategic interests of Great Britain, the financial commitment of the United States and the Soviet Union, the outcome of the war, and finally the authority and prestige of the United Nations."<ref>Diary of Folke Bernadotte, ''To Jerusalem'', Hodder & Stoughton, 1951, pp. 114–115</ref>


The government of ] rejected the proposals. After Bernadotte's death, American mediator ] was appointed to replace him. Bunche eventually negotiated a ceasefire, signed on the Greek island of ]. See ]. After Bernadotte's assassination, his assistant American mediator ] was appointed to replace him. Bunche eventually negotiated a ceasefire, signed on the Greek island of ]. See ].


==Assassination==
Bernadotte kept a diary which was published in 1951. The diary shows that Bernadotte decided to designate Jerusalem for the Arab state. <ref name="bernadotte">Folke Bernadotte, To Jerusalem, (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1951), To Jerusalem, (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1951) page 12 </ref> The diary shows Bernadotte's close relationships to British delegates and especially to Abdallah, king of ]. <ref> Bernadotte, page 164 </ref>
]'s family tomb at the ] in Stockholm where the remains of Folke Bernadotte also are interred]]


Bernadotte was assassinated on Friday 17 September 1948 by members of the group ], a Zionist paramilitary militant organization, commonly known in the West as the Stern Gang. Immediately after Bernadotte was pronounced dead, his body was moved to the ], after which it was taken to ] and flown back to Sweden. Bernadotte was granted a state funeral, ] attended on behalf of Israel. Bernadotte was survived by a widow and two sons, a 12-year-old and a 17-year-old. He was buried in Prince ]'s family tomb at the ] in Stockholm.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://norrabegravningsplatsen.se/bernadottegraven/|title=Bernadottegraven|first=Anders|last=Arhammar|date=October 7, 2016|website=Norra begravningsplatsen}}</ref>
Bernadotte also wrote about his considerations in the agreement he proposes : <ref> Bernadotte, page 114 </ref>


===Planning and background===
<blockquote><blockquote>
Journalist Baruch Nadel planned the murder.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1970-09-27 |title=Falscher Brief |url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/falscher-brief-a-e40d4307-0002-0001-0000-000044418139 |access-date=2024-04-13 |work=Der Spiegel |language=de |issn=2195-1349}}</ref> The Stern Gang saw Bernadotte as a puppet of the British and the Arabs and therefore a serious threat to the emerging State of Israel.<ref name=Heller95/>{{rp|239–255}} Most immediately, a truce was in force, and Lehi feared that the Israeli leadership would agree to Bernadotte's peace proposals, which it considered disastrous.<ref name=Heller95/>{{rp|passim}}<ref>Ben-Yehuda, Nachman. ''Political Assassinations by Jews''. SUNY Press 1993 {{ISBN|978-0-7914-1165-0}}, pp. 267–274.</ref> The group was unaware the Israeli government had already decided to reject Bernadotte's plan and to take the military option.<ref name=Ilan89/>{{rp|200–201}}<ref>Shamir, ''loc. cit.'', p. 241.</ref>
"When proposing an offer for the solution of Palestine, one must remember the aspirations of the Jews, the hardships and the political disputes between the Arab leaders, the strategic interests of the United Kingdom, the financial commitments of the Unites States and of the U.S.S.R, the results of the war, and finally the authority and prestige of the United Nations"
</blockquote></blockquote>


The killing was approved by the three-man 'center' of Lehi: Yitzhak Yezernitsky (the future ] ]), Nathan Friedmann (also called ]) and ] (also known as Scheib). A fourth leader, ] (Hanegbi) was also suspected by the Israeli Prime Minister ] of being part of the group that ordered the assassination.<ref name=Ilan89/>{{rp|194}}<ref>
==Footnotes==
], Assassination in International Politics, ''International Studies Quarterly'', vol 16, March 1972, 59–82.
<references />
</ref><ref name="Haberman1995">
{{cite news |first= Clyde |last= Haberman |author-link= Clyde Haberman |title= Terrorism Can Be Just Another Point of View |url= https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEFDF153EF931A15751C0A963958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all |work=Books of the Times |publisher= New York Times |date= February 22, 1995 |access-date=2008-12-28 |quote= Mr. Shamir, nearly 80, still speaks elliptically about the Bernadotte assassination. Years later, when Ben-Gurion moved to a kibbutz in the Negev desert, Sdeh Bokker, one of his closest friends there was Yehoshua Cohen, who had been one of the assassins.
}} Review of Kati Marton's biography.
</ref><ref name="Cowell1991">
{{cite news |first= Alan |last= Cowell |author-link= Alan Cowell |title= The Middle East Talks: Reporter's Notebook; Syria Offers Old Photo to Fill an Empty Chair}}</ref>
The assassination was planned by Lehi's Jerusalem operations chief, ].<ref name="Kifner1988"/>


===The attack===
==References==
{{quotebox |align=right |width=30em |quote={{pad|1.0em}}In the Katamon quarter, we were held up by a Jewish Army type jeep placed in a road block and filled with men in Jewish Army uniforms. At the same moment, I saw an armed man coming from this jeep. I took little notice of this because I merely thought it was another checkpoint. However, he put a Tommy gun through the open window on my side of the car, and fired point blank at Count Bernadotte and ]. I also heard shots fired from other points, and there was considerable confusion. <br/>{{pad|1.0em}}Colonel Serot fell in the seat in back of me, and I saw at once that he was dead. Count Bernadotte bent forward, and I thought at the time he was trying to get cover. I asked him: 'Are you wounded?' He nodded, and fell back. <br/>{{pad|1.0em}}When we arrived I carried the Count inside and laid him on the bed I took off the Count's jacket and tore away his shirt and undervest. I saw that he was wounded around the heart and that there was also a considerable quantity of blood on his clothes about it.<br/>{{pad|1.0em}}When the doctor arrived, I asked if anything could be done, but he replied that it was too late. |source=General ], who was in the UN vehicle<ref>{{cite press release |publisher=United Nations Department of Public Information |url=https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/23E5F866FE7393B585256A680061B348 |title=General Lundstrom Gives Eyewitness Account of Bernadotte's Death, PAL/298 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140222215045/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/23E5F866FE7393B585256A680061B348 |archive-date= 2014-02-22 |date=18 September 1948}}</ref>}}
* Kushner, Harvey W. (2002). ''Encyclopedia of Terrorism''. Sage Publications. ISBN 0-7619-2408-6
A four-man team, consisting of ], Yitzhak Ben-Moshe (Markovitz), Avraham Steinberg, and Meshulam Makover, ambushed Bernadotte's ] in Jerusalem's ] neighborhood. The team left a Lehi base in a Jeep and set up a makeshift roadblock at Ben Zion Guini Square, off Hapalmach Street, and waited in the jeep. When Bernadotte's motorcade approached, Cohen, Ben-Moshe, and Steinberg got out and approached it, while Makover, the driver, remained in the jeep. Captain Moshe Hillman, the motorcade's Israeli liaison officer, who was sitting in the leading UN vehicle, called out in Hebrew to let them through, but was ignored.
* Schwartz, Ted (1992). ''Walking with the Damned: The Shocking Murder of the Man Who Freed 30,000 Prisoners From the Nazis''. Paragon House, New York. ISBN 1-55778-315-2

Cohen came up to Bernadotte's ] and fired through an open window, pumping 6 shots into Bernadotte's chest, throat and arms and 18 into Colonel ] who was seated to his left, killing both.<ref name="Independent"/> Serot had swapped places in the motorcade to join Bernadotte and thank him personally for having saved his wife's life in a German concentration camp.<ref name="Independent"/> Ben-Moshe and Steinberg shot at the tires of the UN vehicles, while Cohen finished the magazine by firing at the radiator. The driver of the sedan, Colonel Begley, got out and tried to grapple with Cohen as he fired his last shots, but was burned in the face by the gun flashes. Ben-Moshe and Steinberg then rushed back and mounted the jeep, which quickly accelerated down a side road, while Cohen ran away from the scene across a roadside field.<ref name="Kifner1988">
{{cite news |first= John |last= Kifner |author-link=<!-- John Kifner --> |title= 2 Recount '48 Killing in Israel
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/12/world/2-recount-48-killing-in-israel.html |newspaper=] |date= 12 September 1988 |access-date= 2008-12-28 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.haaretz.com/2006-09-29/ty-article/a-murder-waiting-to-happen/0000017f-e0e2-df7c-a5ff-e2fa11280000 |title=A Murder Waiting to Happen |first=Danny |last=Rubinstein |work=Haaretz |date=September 29, 2006 |access-date=23 October 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bell |first=J. Bowyer |author-link=J. Bowyer Bell |title=Terror out of Zion |date=1976 |pages=338–339 |publisher=Avon Books |isbn=0-380-39396-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/terroroutofzion00jbow |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref name="baram">{{cite news |url= http://www.jpost.com/IsraelGuide/JerusalemAreaTours/Article.aspx?id=166744 |first= Aviva |last= Bar Am |title= Katamon – Independence Day miracle |date= January 25, 2010 |newspaper= The Jerusalem Post}}</ref>

Following the shooting, Bernadotte's car sped to ], despite damage to the radiator; the lead vehicle followed as its tires came apart. At the hospital, Bernadotte was pronounced dead.

All four members of the hit team made it to the religious community of ], where they hid with local ] sympathizers. After a few days in hiding, they fled to ] in the back of a furniture truck.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-assassination-of-count-bernadotte |title= The Assassination of Count Bernadotte |website= www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org |access-date= 2019-06-11}}</ref>

===Investigation===
Lehi leaders initially denied responsibility for the attack.<ref name="sdc">{{cite news |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=ddB7do2jUx8C&dat=19480918&printsec=frontpage |title= Jews launch great manhunt |date= 1945-09-18 |publisher= Spokane Daily Chronicle |access-date= 23 April 2010}}</ref> Only later did Lehi take responsibility for the killings in the name of ''Hazit Hamoledet'' (the Homeland Front), a name they copied from a war-time Bulgarian resistance group.{{efn|The text of the announcement was reprinted in 1988.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Stanger |first=Cary David |jstor=4327737 |title=A haunting legacy: The assassination of Count Bernadotte |journal=The Middle East Journal |publisher=Middle East Institute |volume=42 |number=2 |date=1988 |pages=260–272}}</ref>}}<ref name=Heller95>{{cite book |last=Heller |first=Joseph |title=The Stern Gang: Ideology, Politics and Terror 1940–1949 |publisher=Frank Cass |date=1995 |isbn=978-0-7146-4106-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/sterngangideolog0000hell}}</ref>{{rp|252–253}}

Lehi was forcibly disarmed and many members were arrested, but nobody was charged with the killings. The ], along with the military police and security services, investigated the assassination, but failed to identify any of the participants in the assassination, and the case was eventually closed without any of the participants having been identified. It has been suggested that the reasons for the failure of the investigation were poor coordination between these bodies, which resulted in information that may have assisted the police not being turned over to them, and the lack of proficiency among police officers and investigators in the early days of the Israel Police.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.israeldefense.co.il/he/content/%D7%94%D7%94%D7%AA%D7%A0%D7%A7%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%A4%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%98%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%94-%D7%91%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%9C-%D7%9E%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%95%D7%9A-%D7%94%D7%90%D7%95%D7%9D-%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%96%D7%9F-%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%A0%D7%93%D7%95%D7%98 |title= ההתנקשות הפוליטית הראשונה בישראל – מתווך האו"ם, הרוזן ברנדוט {{!}} Israel Defense |website= www.israeldefense.co.il |language= he |access-date= 2019-06-11}}</ref> The murder case was identified as ''148/48'' in Israeli police records.<ref name="makorrishon">{{cite web |url= https://www.makorrishon.co.il/magazine/dyukan/21963/ |title= תיק סגור: כלי הנשק שנמצא וחשף סוד עתיק של מדינת ישראל |date= 22 February 2018 |website= www.makorrishon.co.il |format= PDF |access-date= 2019-07-11}}</ref>

] (center) and Matityahu Shmueliwitz in front of the Acre prison, after their release in 1949]]
Yellin-Mor and another Lehi member, Mattityahu Shmulevitz, were charged with belonging to a terrorist organization. They were found guilty but immediately released and pardoned. Yellin-Mor had meanwhile been elected to the first ].<ref name=Heller95/>{{rp|261–270}} Betty Knut-Lazarus, a Lehi militant, and the granddaughter of composer ], was also imprisoned for being allegedly involved in the killing, before being subsequently released.<ref>Lazaris, V. (2000). Три женщины. Tel Aviv: Lado, pp. 363–368</ref>

Years later, Cohen's role was uncovered by ]'s biographer ], while Cohen was working as Ben-Gurion's personal bodyguard. The first public admission of Lehi's role in the killing was made on the anniversary of the assassination in 1977.<ref>''Yair Amikam, ]'', 28 February 1977: interview with Yehoshua Zetler and Yisrael Eldad. English translation in ''Journal of Palestine Studies'', vol 6, no. 4 (1977) 145–147.</ref> The ] for the murder had expired in 1971.<ref name="Haberman1995" /><ref name=Ilan89/>{{rp|193}} In 1988, two years after Cohen's death, Zettler and Makover publicly confessed their role in the assassination and confirmed that Cohen had killed Bernadotte.<ref name="makorrishon"/>

The weapon which was used in the assassination (an ], serial number 2581)<ref name="makorrishon"/> was lost, and was only found again in 2018 during an inventory check in the {{ill|בית מורשת משטרת ישראל|he|lt=Heritage House of the Israel Police}}, when an unidentified box was found to contain an MP 40 machine pistol and the curator, Shlomi Shitrit, decided to identify the history of the weapon. Prior to finding it, it was believed to have been destroyed.<ref name="makorrishon"/>

===Diplomatic fallout===
], ], ], ]]]

The day after the murders, by means of ], the ] condemned the killing of Bernadotte as "a cowardly act which appears to have been committed by a criminal group of terrorists in Jerusalem while the United Nations representative was fulfilling his peace-seeking mission in the Holy Land."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://unscr.com/en/resolutions/doc/57 |title=57 (1948). Resolution of 18 September 1948 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090118072030/http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/d744b47860e5c97e85256c40005d01d6/48c06a0c497863f1852560c2005beb32%21OpenDocument |archive-date=18 January 2009 |url-status=live |publisher=United Nations Security Council}}</ref>

The Swedish government believed that Bernadotte had been assassinated by Israeli government agents.<ref name=Ilan89/>{{rp|224}} They publicly attacked the inadequacy of the Israeli investigation, and campaigned unsuccessfully to delay Israel's admission to the United Nations.<ref name=Ilan89/>{{rp|238}} In 1950, Sweden recognized Israel, but relations remained frosty despite Israeli attempts to mollify Sweden, such as through the planting of a Bernadotte Forest by the ] in Israel.<ref name=Ilan89/>{{rp|241}} At a ceremony in ] in May 1995, attended by the Swedish deputy prime minister, Israeli Foreign Minister and ] member ] issued a "condemnation of terror, thanks for the rescue of the Jews and regret that Bernadotte was murdered in a terrorist way", adding that "We hope this ceremony will help in healing the wound."<ref>{{cite news |title=Israel belatedly condemns U.N. negotiator's murder |work=Reuters News |date=15 May 1995}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Israel tries to ease tensions with Sweden |work=Reuters News |date=15 May 1995}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Peres apologizes for assassination of Bernadotte |work=Jerusalem Post |date=15 May 1995 |page=1}}</ref>

], Bernadotte's American deputy, succeeded him as U.N. mediator. Bunche was successful in bringing about the signing of the ], for which he received the ].

===Awards and memorials===
], Denmark]]
In 1998, Bernadotte was posthumously awarded one of the first three ]s, given to UN peacekeepers who are killed in the line of duty.<ref>.</ref>
], Sweden]]

The university library at ] in ], US is named after him.

==Wife and children==
In 1928 in ],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1928/12/01/archives/count-today-weds-estelle-manville-union-of-count-bernadotte-and.html |title=Count today weds Estelle Manville: Union of Count Bernadotte and American to be first nupitals of Royalty on our soil |newspaper=The New York Times |date=1 December 1928 |page=12 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Folke Bernadotte married ] (1904–1984), whose family had founded part of the ] Corporation.
They had four sons, two of whom died in childhood.
*Count Gustaf Eduard Bernadotte of Wisborg (1930–1936)
*Count Folke Bernadotte of Wisborg (born 1931), married Christine Glahns
*Count Fredrik Oscar Bernadotte of Wisborg (1934–1944)
*Count Bertil Oscar Bernadotte of Wisborg (born 1935) married Rose-Marie Heering (1942–1967) and Jill Georgina Rhodes-Maddox

Seven grandchildren were all born after Folke Bernadotte's death. His widow Estelle Bernadotte remarried in 1973.

In September 2008, it became official that before his marriage Bernadotte had a daughter with actress {{ill|Lillie Ericson-Udde|sv}} (1892–1981):<ref> Fokus, 12 September 2008.</ref>
*Jeanne Birgitta Sofia Kristina Matthiessen, ] Ericson (1921–1991), who was adopted by Carl G. W. Matthiessen (1886–1951) when he married Lillie Ericson in 1925.

==Books==
* {{cite book |first=Folke |last=Bernadotte |translator=Count Eric Lewenhaupt |title=The Curtain Falls |year=1945 |publisher=A. A. Knopf |location=New York|lccn=45008956 |url=https://archive.org/details/curtainfallsthel006937mbp}} (Swedish title: ''Slutet''.)
* {{cite book |first=Folke |last=Bernadotte |title=Instead of arms: autobiographical notes |year=1948 |location=Stockholm; New York |publisher=Bonniers|isbn=978-1-125-28453-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/bwb_O8-AZQ-532/ |url-access=registration}}<!--|access-date=2008-12-28 -->
* {{cite book |first=Folke |last=Bernadotte |title=Människor jag mött |trans-title=People I Met |year=1947 |publisher=A. Bonnier |location=Stockholm |language=sv }}
* {{cite book |first=Folke |last=Bernadotte |translator=Joan Bulman |title=To Jerusalem |orig-year=1951 |year=1976 |location=Westport, Connecticut |publisher=Hyperion Press }}


==See also== ==See also==
*] *]

==References==
===Notes===
{{notelist}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

=== General sources===
* {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofterrorism |author-link=Harvey Kushner |last=Kushner |first=Harvey W. |date=2002 |title=Encyclopedia of Terrorism |publisher=Sage Publications |isbn=978-0-7619-2408-1}}
* {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/deathinjerusalem00mart |author-link=Kati Marton |last=Marton |first=Kati |date=1994 |title=A Death in Jerusalem |publisher=Pantheon Books |isbn=978-0-679-42083-5 |url-access=limited}}
* {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/walkingwithdamne0000schw |last=Schwarz |first=Ted |date=1992 |title=Walking with the Damned: The Shocking Murder of the Man Who Freed 30,000 Prisoners from the Nazis |location=New York |publisher=Paragon House |isbn=978-1-55778-315-8 |url-access=registration}}

== Further reading ==
*Ben-Dror, Elad (2015). Ralph Bunche and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: Mediation and the UN 1947–1949, Routledge. {{ISBN|978-1-138-78988-3}}.


==External links== == External links ==
{{Commons|Folke Bernadotte}} {{Commons}}
{{Wikiquote}}
*
* . From the Memory Project, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
*
* &nbsp;– Daily Telegraph obituary
*
* {{PM20|FID=pe/001572}}
*


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Latest revision as of 16:32, 28 December 2024

Swedish diplomat (1895–1948)

Folke Bernadotte
Count of Wisborg
Bernadotte in the mid 1940s
Born(1895-01-02)2 January 1895
Stockholm, Sweden
Died17 September 1948(1948-09-17) (aged 53)
Jerusalem
BurialNorthern Cemetery, Solna
Spouse Estelle Romaine Manville ​ ​(m. 1928)
Issue
  • Count Gustaf Eduard
  • Count Folke
  • Count Fredrik Oscar
  • Count Bertil Oscar
HouseBernadotte
FatherPrince Oscar Bernadotte
MotherEbba Munck af Fulkila

Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (2 January 1895 – 17 September 1948) was a Swedish nobleman and diplomat. In World War II, he negotiated the release of about 450 Danish Jews and 30,550 non-Jewish prisoners of many nations from the Nazi German Theresienstadt concentration camp. They were released on 14 April 1945. In 1945 he received a German surrender offer from Heinrich Himmler, though the offer was ultimately rejected by the allies.

After the war, Bernadotte was unanimously chosen to be the United Nations Security Council mediator in the Arab–Israeli conflict of 1947–1948. He was assassinated in Jerusalem in 1948 by the paramilitary Zionist group Lehi while pursuing his official duties. Upon his death, Ralph Bunche took up his work at the UN, successfully mediating the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and Egypt.

Early life

Folke Bernadotte was born in Stockholm into the House of Bernadotte, the Swedish royal family. His father, Prince Oscar Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (formerly Prince Oscar of Sweden, Duke of Gotland), was the second son of King Oscar II of Sweden; his mother, Ebba Munck af Fulkila, had been a lady in waiting to Victoria of Baden, the wife of Crown Prince Gustaf. Oscar had married Ebba without the consent of the King, and so was forced to renounce his Swedish titles; in 1892, he was granted the titles of Prince Bernadotte and Count of Wisborg by his uncle, Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

Bernadotte attended school in Stockholm, after which he entered training to become a cavalry officer at the Royal Military Academy. He took the officer's exam in 1915, was commissioned a lieutenant in 1918, and subsequently was promoted to the rank of major.

Bernadotte represented Sweden in 1933 at the Chicago Century of Progress Exposition, and later served as Swedish commissioner general at the New York World's Fair in 1939–40. Bernadotte had long been involved with the Swedish Boy Scouts (Sveriges Scoutförbund), and took over as director of the organization in 1937. At the outbreak of World War II, Bernadotte worked to integrate the scouts into Sweden's defense plan, training them in anti-aircraft work and as medical assistants. Bernadotte was appointed Vice Chairman of the Swedish Red Cross in 1943.

Diplomatic career

World War II

Count Folke Bernadotte (left) talking to Australian prisoners of war in Sweden during a prisoners exchange, 1943

During the autumns of 1943 and 1944, he organized prisoner exchanges which brought home 11,000 prisoners from Germany via Sweden. While Vice-President of the Swedish Red Cross in 1945, Bernadotte attempted to negotiate an armistice between Germany and the Allies. He also led several rescue missions in Germany for the Red Cross. In April 1945, Heinrich Himmler asked Bernadotte to convey a peace proposal to Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Harry S. Truman without the knowledge of Adolf Hitler. The main point of the proposal was that Germany would surrender only to the Western Allies (the United Kingdom and the United States), but would be allowed to continue resisting the Soviet Union. According to Bernadotte, he told Himmler that the proposal had no chance of acceptance, but nevertheless he passed it on to the Swedish government and the Western Allies. It had no lasting effect.

White Buses

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Main article: White Buses
A White Bus passes through Odense, Denmark, 17 April 1945.

Upon the initiative of the Norwegian diplomat Niels Christian Ditleff in the final months of the war, Bernadotte acted as the negotiator for a rescue operation transporting interned Norwegians, Danes and other western European inmates from German concentration camps to hospitals in Sweden.

In the spring of 1945, Bernadotte was in Germany when he met Heinrich Himmler, who was briefly appointed commander of an entire German army following the assassination attempt on Hitler the year before. Bernadotte had originally been assigned to retrieve Norwegian and Danish POWs in Germany. He returned on 1 May 1945, the day after Hitler's death. Following an interview, the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet wrote that Bernadotte succeeded in rescuing 15,000 people from German concentration camps, including about 8,000 Danes and Norwegians and 7,000 women of French, Polish, Czech, British, American, Argentinian, and Chinese nationalities. The missions took around two months, and exposed the Swedish Red Cross staff to significant danger, both due to political difficulties and by taking them through areas under Allied bombing.

The mission became known for its buses, painted entirely white except for the Red Cross emblem on the side, so that they would not be mistaken for military targets. In total it included 308 personnel (about 20 medics and the rest volunteer soldiers), 36 hospital buses, 19 trucks, seven passenger cars, seven motorcycles, a tow truck, a field kitchen, and full supplies for the entire trip, including food and gasoline, none of which was permitted to be obtained in Germany. A count of 21,000 people rescued included 8,000 Danes and Norwegians, 5,911 Poles, 2,629 French, 1,615 Jews, and 1,124 Germans.

After Germany's surrender, the White Buses mission continued in May and June and about 10,000 additional liberated prisoners were thus evacuated.

Bernadotte recounted the White Buses mission in his book The End. My Humanitarian Negotiations in Germany in 1945 and Their Political Consequences, published on June 15, 1945 in Swedish.

Postwar controversy

Following the war, some controversies arose regarding Bernadotte's leadership of the White Buses expedition, some personal and some as to the mission itself. One aspect involved a long-standing feud between Bernadotte and Himmler's personal masseur, Felix Kersten, who had played a role in facilitating Bernadotte's access to Himmler, but whom Bernadotte resisted crediting after the war. The resulting feud between Bernadotte and Kersten came to public attention through British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper. In 1953, Trevor-Roper published an article based on an interview and documents originating with Kersten. The article stated that Bernadotte's role in the rescue operations was that of "transport officer, no more". Kersten was quoted as saying that, according to Himmler, Bernadotte was opposed to the rescue of Jews and understood "the necessity of our fight against World Jewry".

Shortly following the publication of his article, Trevor-Roper began to retreat from these charges. At the time of his article, Kersten had just been nominated by the Dutch government for the Nobel Peace Prize for thwarting a Nazi plan to deport the entire Dutch population, based primarily on Kersten's own claims to this effect. A later investigation by Dutch historian Louis de Jong concluded that no such plan had existed, however, and that Kersten's documents were partly fabricated. Following these revelations and others, Trevor-Roper told journalist Barbara Amiel in 1995 that he was no longer certain about the allegations, and that Bernadotte may merely have been following his orders to rescue Danish and Norwegian prisoners. Several other historians have also questioned Kersten's account, concluding that the accusations were based on a forgery or a distortion devised by Kersten.

Some controversy regarding the White Buses trip has also arisen in Scandinavia, particularly regarding the priority given to Scandinavian prisoners. Political scientist Sune Persson judged these doubts to be contradicted by the documentary evidence. He concluded, "The accusations against Count Bernadotte ... to the effect that he refused to save Jews from the concentration camps are obvious lies" and listed many prominent eyewitnesses who testified on Bernadotte's behalf, including the World Jewish Congress representative in Stockholm in 1945.

UN mediator

Folke Bernadotte in 1948
Count Bernadotte street sign in Gaza City, Gaza Strip
Main article: Bernadotte plan

On 20 May 1948, Folke Bernadotte was appointed "United Nations Mediator in Palestine", in accordance with UN-resolution 186 of 14 May 1948. It was the first official mediation in the UN's history. This was necessitated by the immediate violence that followed the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine and the subsequent unilateral Israeli Declaration of Independence. In this capacity, he succeeded in achieving an initial truce during the subsequent 1948 Arab–Israeli War and laid the groundwork for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The specific proposals showed the influence of the previously responsible British government, and to a lesser extent the U.S. government. Bernadotte wrote that: "in putting forward any proposal for the solution of the Palestine problem, one must bear in mind the aspirations of the Jews, the political difficulties and differences of opinion of the Arab leaders, the strategic interests of Great Britain, the financial commitment of the United States and the Soviet Union, the outcome of the war, and finally the authority and prestige of the United Nations."

After Bernadotte's assassination, his assistant American mediator Ralph Bunche was appointed to replace him. Bunche eventually negotiated a ceasefire, signed on the Greek island of Rhodes. See 1949 Armistice Agreements.

Assassination

Prince Oscar Bernadotte's family tomb at the Northern Cemetery in Stockholm where the remains of Folke Bernadotte also are interred

Bernadotte was assassinated on Friday 17 September 1948 by members of the group Lehi, a Zionist paramilitary militant organization, commonly known in the West as the Stern Gang. Immediately after Bernadotte was pronounced dead, his body was moved to the YMCA, after which it was taken to Haifa and flown back to Sweden. Bernadotte was granted a state funeral, Abba Eban attended on behalf of Israel. Bernadotte was survived by a widow and two sons, a 12-year-old and a 17-year-old. He was buried in Prince Oscar Bernadotte's family tomb at the Northern Cemetery in Stockholm.

Planning and background

Journalist Baruch Nadel planned the murder. The Stern Gang saw Bernadotte as a puppet of the British and the Arabs and therefore a serious threat to the emerging State of Israel. Most immediately, a truce was in force, and Lehi feared that the Israeli leadership would agree to Bernadotte's peace proposals, which it considered disastrous. The group was unaware the Israeli government had already decided to reject Bernadotte's plan and to take the military option.

The killing was approved by the three-man 'center' of Lehi: Yitzhak Yezernitsky (the future Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Shamir), Nathan Friedmann (also called Natan Yellin-Mor) and Yisrael Eldad (also known as Scheib). A fourth leader, Emmanuel Strassberg (Hanegbi) was also suspected by the Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion of being part of the group that ordered the assassination. The assassination was planned by Lehi's Jerusalem operations chief, Yehoshua Zettler.

The attack

 In the Katamon quarter, we were held up by a Jewish Army type jeep placed in a road block and filled with men in Jewish Army uniforms. At the same moment, I saw an armed man coming from this jeep. I took little notice of this because I merely thought it was another checkpoint. However, he put a Tommy gun through the open window on my side of the car, and fired point blank at Count Bernadotte and Colonel Serot. I also heard shots fired from other points, and there was considerable confusion.
 Colonel Serot fell in the seat in back of me, and I saw at once that he was dead. Count Bernadotte bent forward, and I thought at the time he was trying to get cover. I asked him: 'Are you wounded?' He nodded, and fell back.
 When we arrived I carried the Count inside and laid him on the bed I took off the Count's jacket and tore away his shirt and undervest. I saw that he was wounded around the heart and that there was also a considerable quantity of blood on his clothes about it.
 When the doctor arrived, I asked if anything could be done, but he replied that it was too late.

General Åge Lundström, who was in the UN vehicle

A four-man team, consisting of Yehoshua Cohen, Yitzhak Ben-Moshe (Markovitz), Avraham Steinberg, and Meshulam Makover, ambushed Bernadotte's motorcade in Jerusalem's Katamon neighborhood. The team left a Lehi base in a Jeep and set up a makeshift roadblock at Ben Zion Guini Square, off Hapalmach Street, and waited in the jeep. When Bernadotte's motorcade approached, Cohen, Ben-Moshe, and Steinberg got out and approached it, while Makover, the driver, remained in the jeep. Captain Moshe Hillman, the motorcade's Israeli liaison officer, who was sitting in the leading UN vehicle, called out in Hebrew to let them through, but was ignored.

Cohen came up to Bernadotte's sedan and fired through an open window, pumping 6 shots into Bernadotte's chest, throat and arms and 18 into Colonel André Serot who was seated to his left, killing both. Serot had swapped places in the motorcade to join Bernadotte and thank him personally for having saved his wife's life in a German concentration camp. Ben-Moshe and Steinberg shot at the tires of the UN vehicles, while Cohen finished the magazine by firing at the radiator. The driver of the sedan, Colonel Begley, got out and tried to grapple with Cohen as he fired his last shots, but was burned in the face by the gun flashes. Ben-Moshe and Steinberg then rushed back and mounted the jeep, which quickly accelerated down a side road, while Cohen ran away from the scene across a roadside field.

Following the shooting, Bernadotte's car sped to Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital, despite damage to the radiator; the lead vehicle followed as its tires came apart. At the hospital, Bernadotte was pronounced dead.

All four members of the hit team made it to the religious community of Shaarei Pina, where they hid with local Haredi sympathizers. After a few days in hiding, they fled to Tel Aviv in the back of a furniture truck.

Investigation

Lehi leaders initially denied responsibility for the attack. Only later did Lehi take responsibility for the killings in the name of Hazit Hamoledet (the Homeland Front), a name they copied from a war-time Bulgarian resistance group.

Lehi was forcibly disarmed and many members were arrested, but nobody was charged with the killings. The Israel Police, along with the military police and security services, investigated the assassination, but failed to identify any of the participants in the assassination, and the case was eventually closed without any of the participants having been identified. It has been suggested that the reasons for the failure of the investigation were poor coordination between these bodies, which resulted in information that may have assisted the police not being turned over to them, and the lack of proficiency among police officers and investigators in the early days of the Israel Police. The murder case was identified as 148/48 in Israeli police records.

Natan Yellin-Mor (center) and Matityahu Shmueliwitz in front of the Acre prison, after their release in 1949

Yellin-Mor and another Lehi member, Mattityahu Shmulevitz, were charged with belonging to a terrorist organization. They were found guilty but immediately released and pardoned. Yellin-Mor had meanwhile been elected to the first Knesset. Betty Knut-Lazarus, a Lehi militant, and the granddaughter of composer Alexander Scriabin, was also imprisoned for being allegedly involved in the killing, before being subsequently released.

Years later, Cohen's role was uncovered by David Ben-Gurion's biographer Michael Bar Zohar, while Cohen was working as Ben-Gurion's personal bodyguard. The first public admission of Lehi's role in the killing was made on the anniversary of the assassination in 1977. The statute of limitations for the murder had expired in 1971. In 1988, two years after Cohen's death, Zettler and Makover publicly confessed their role in the assassination and confirmed that Cohen had killed Bernadotte.

The weapon which was used in the assassination (an MP 40, serial number 2581) was lost, and was only found again in 2018 during an inventory check in the Heritage House of the Israel Police [he], when an unidentified box was found to contain an MP 40 machine pistol and the curator, Shlomi Shitrit, decided to identify the history of the weapon. Prior to finding it, it was believed to have been destroyed.

Diplomatic fallout

Folke Bernadotte's funeral: From left: Sir Alexander Cadogan, Ernest Bevin, George Marshall, William Lyon Mackenzie King

The day after the murders, by means of Security Council Resolution 57, the United Nations Security Council condemned the killing of Bernadotte as "a cowardly act which appears to have been committed by a criminal group of terrorists in Jerusalem while the United Nations representative was fulfilling his peace-seeking mission in the Holy Land."

The Swedish government believed that Bernadotte had been assassinated by Israeli government agents. They publicly attacked the inadequacy of the Israeli investigation, and campaigned unsuccessfully to delay Israel's admission to the United Nations. In 1950, Sweden recognized Israel, but relations remained frosty despite Israeli attempts to mollify Sweden, such as through the planting of a Bernadotte Forest by the Jewish National Fund in Israel. At a ceremony in Tel Aviv in May 1995, attended by the Swedish deputy prime minister, Israeli Foreign Minister and Labor Party member Shimon Peres issued a "condemnation of terror, thanks for the rescue of the Jews and regret that Bernadotte was murdered in a terrorist way", adding that "We hope this ceremony will help in healing the wound."

Ralph Bunche, Bernadotte's American deputy, succeeded him as U.N. mediator. Bunche was successful in bringing about the signing of the 1949 Armistice Agreements, for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Awards and memorials

Folke Bernadotte Memorial in Kruså, Denmark

In 1998, Bernadotte was posthumously awarded one of the first three Dag Hammarskjöld Medals, given to UN peacekeepers who are killed in the line of duty.

Folke Bernadotte Memorial in Uppsala, Sweden

The university library at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, US is named after him.

Wife and children

In 1928 in Pleasantville, New York, Folke Bernadotte married Estelle Romaine Manville (1904–1984), whose family had founded part of the Johns-Manville Corporation. They had four sons, two of whom died in childhood.

  • Count Gustaf Eduard Bernadotte of Wisborg (1930–1936)
  • Count Folke Bernadotte of Wisborg (born 1931), married Christine Glahns
  • Count Fredrik Oscar Bernadotte of Wisborg (1934–1944)
  • Count Bertil Oscar Bernadotte of Wisborg (born 1935) married Rose-Marie Heering (1942–1967) and Jill Georgina Rhodes-Maddox

Seven grandchildren were all born after Folke Bernadotte's death. His widow Estelle Bernadotte remarried in 1973.

In September 2008, it became official that before his marriage Bernadotte had a daughter with actress Lillie Ericson-Udde [sv] (1892–1981):

  • Jeanne Birgitta Sofia Kristina Matthiessen, née Ericson (1921–1991), who was adopted by Carl G. W. Matthiessen (1886–1951) when he married Lillie Ericson in 1925.

Books

  • Bernadotte, Folke (1945). The Curtain Falls. Translated by Count Eric Lewenhaupt. New York: A. A. Knopf. LCCN 45008956. (Swedish title: Slutet.)
  • Bernadotte, Folke (1948). Instead of arms: autobiographical notes. Stockholm; New York: Bonniers. ISBN 978-1-125-28453-7.
  • Bernadotte, Folke (1947). Människor jag mött [People I Met] (in Swedish). Stockholm: A. Bonnier.
  • Bernadotte, Folke (1976) . To Jerusalem. Translated by Joan Bulman. Westport, Connecticut: Hyperion Press.

See also

References

Notes

  1. The precise number is not officially recorded. A count of the first 21,000 included 8,000 Danes and Norwegians, 5,911 Poles, 2,629 French, 1,615 stateless Jews and 1,124 Germans. The total number of Jews was 6,500 to 11,000 depending on definitions.
  2. The original results were published by de Jong in 1972 and republished in a German translation in 1974.
  3. In 1956, for the introduction of Kersten's Memoirs (1956), Trevor-Roper wrote "It is important to note that although Bernadotte seems to have been understood by Himmler as using the language of anti-Semitism—which may have been a tactical necessity—there is no reason to suppose that his motive in refusing to take the Jews was anti-Semitic. Indeed the evidence points in the other direction, for Bernadotte also refused to take French and Polish prisoners. It seems that he genuinely misunderstood his instructions, thinking that he was only authorized to take Scandinavians. The fact that he could so misunderstand, and be so overruled, is evidence of the subordinate position which he occupied in these negotiations." The introduction was reprinted with minor changes in a 1957 Commentary magazine article. In 1995, Trevor-Roper clarified this earlier statement, quoted in a Barbara Amiel review of Kati Marton's book as saying, "I am not certain that Bernadotte refused to take Jews. I have some reservations about the documentation here. If he did, it may well have been that he simply had no instructions except in respect of Norwegians and Danes." Trevor-Roper earlier had made similar concessions.
  4. The text of the announcement was reprinted in 1988.

Citations

  1. ^ Persson, Sune (2000). "Folke Bernadotte and the White Buses". Journal of Holocaust Education. 9 (2): 237–268. doi:10.1080/17504902.2000.11087111. ISSN 1359-1371.
  2. ^ David Cesarani; Paul A. Levine, eds. (2002). Bystanders to the Holocaust: A Re-evaluation. Routledge. ISBN 9780714682433.
  3. ^ Ilan, Amitzur (1989). Bernadotte in Palestine, 1948. New York, New York: St. Martin's Press, Inc. ISBN 0-312-03259-5.
  4. Fox, Frank. "A Jew talks to Himmler". Archived from the original on 2011-03-21.
  5. ^ Macintyre, Donald (2008-09-18). "Israel's forgotten hero: The assassination of Count Bernadotte–and the death of peace". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 2015-09-25. Retrieved 2008-12-11.
  6. Government, Luxembourg (April 2, 1892). "English: Letters patent issued by Grand Duke Adolph of Luxembourg re: titles of nobility for his nephew Prince Oscar Bernadotte & familyPlace: National Archives, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg" – via Wikimedia Commons.
  7. Documentation by Government of Luxembourg 1892-04-02
  8. "Folke Bernadotte Biography". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 22 March 2007.
  9. ^ Bernadotte, Folke (1945). The Curtain Falls: Last Days of the Third Reich. Translated by Count Eric Lewenhaupt (First American ed.). New York, New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
  10. ^ Palmer, Raymond (1994). "Felix Kersten and Count Bernadotte: A Question of Rescue". Journal of Contemporary History. 29 (1): 39–51. doi:10.1177/002200949402900102.
  11. Bauer, Yehuda (1994). Jews for Sale? Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933–1945. Yale University Press. pp. 241–149. ISBN 0-300-05913-2.
  12. ^ Trevor-Roper, H. R. (February 1953). "Kersten, Himmler and Count Bernadotte". The Atlantic. Vol. 7. pp. 43–45. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  13. Wilhelm, Hans-Heinrich; de Jong, Louis (1974). "Zwei Legenden aus dem dritten Reich : quellenkritische Studien" [Two legends from the Third Reich: source-critical studies]. Schriftenreihe der Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte (in German). 28. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag: 79–142. doi:10.1524/9783486703573. ISBN 978-3-486-70357-3.
  14. Kersten, Felix; Trevor-Roper, H. R. (1956). "Introduction". The Kersten Memoirs 1940–1945. Translated by Constantine Fitzgibbon; James Oliver (English ed.). Hutchinson. pp. 9–21.
  15. Trevor-Roper, H. R. (April 1957). "The Strange Case of Himmler's Doctor". Commentary. Vol. 23. pp. 356–364.
  16. Amiel, Barbara (Summer 1995). "A Death in Jerusalem (book review)". The National Interest. Archived from the original on 2012-01-20.
  17. Fleming, Gerald (1978). "Die Herkunft des 'Bernadotte-Briefs' an Himmler vom 10. März 1945" (PDF). Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte. 26 (4): 571–600. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  18. UNGA@unispal, Resolution 186 (S-2). Appointment and terms of reference of a United Nations Mediator in Palestine Archived 2011-01-03 at the Wayback Machine (doc.nr. A/RES/186 (S-2)), 14 May 1948
  19. Sachar, Howard M. (1998). "Chapter 1: The Pangs of Withdrawal". Israel and Europe: An Appraisal in History. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-679-45434-2.
  20. Diary of Folke Bernadotte, To Jerusalem, Hodder & Stoughton, 1951, pp. 114–115
  21. Arhammar, Anders (October 7, 2016). "Bernadottegraven". Norra begravningsplatsen.
  22. "Falscher Brief". Der Spiegel (in German). 1970-09-27. ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  23. ^ Heller, Joseph (1995). The Stern Gang: Ideology, Politics and Terror 1940–1949. Frank Cass. ISBN 978-0-7146-4106-5.
  24. Ben-Yehuda, Nachman. Political Assassinations by Jews. SUNY Press 1993 ISBN 978-0-7914-1165-0, pp. 267–274.
  25. Shamir, loc. cit., p. 241.
  26. J. Bowyer Bell, Assassination in International Politics, International Studies Quarterly, vol 16, March 1972, 59–82.
  27. ^ Haberman, Clyde (February 22, 1995). "Terrorism Can Be Just Another Point of View". Books of the Times. New York Times. Retrieved 2008-12-28. Mr. Shamir, nearly 80, still speaks elliptically about the Bernadotte assassination. Years later, when Ben-Gurion moved to a kibbutz in the Negev desert, Sdeh Bokker, one of his closest friends there was Yehoshua Cohen, who had been one of the assassins. Review of Kati Marton's biography.
  28. Cowell, Alan. "The Middle East Talks: Reporter's Notebook; Syria Offers Old Photo to Fill an Empty Chair".
  29. ^ Kifner, John (12 September 1988). "2 Recount '48 Killing in Israel". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
  30. "General Lundstrom Gives Eyewitness Account of Bernadotte's Death, PAL/298" (Press release). United Nations Department of Public Information. 18 September 1948. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22.
  31. Rubinstein, Danny (September 29, 2006). "A Murder Waiting to Happen [book review of Nesikh yerushalayim by Ofer Regev]". Haaretz. Retrieved 23 October 2008.
  32. Bell, J. Bowyer (1976). Terror out of Zion. Avon Books. pp. 338–339. ISBN 0-380-39396-4.
  33. Bar Am, Aviva (January 25, 2010). "Katamon – Independence Day miracle". The Jerusalem Post.
  34. "The Assassination of Count Bernadotte". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  35. "Jews launch great manhunt". Spokane Daily Chronicle. 1945-09-18. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  36. Stanger, Cary David (1988). "A haunting legacy: The assassination of Count Bernadotte". The Middle East Journal. 42 (2). Middle East Institute: 260–272. JSTOR 4327737.
  37. "ההתנקשות הפוליטית הראשונה בישראל – מתווך האו"ם, הרוזן ברנדוט | Israel Defense". www.israeldefense.co.il (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  38. ^ "תיק סגור: כלי הנשק שנמצא וחשף סוד עתיק של מדינת ישראל" (PDF). www.makorrishon.co.il. 22 February 2018. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
  39. Lazaris, V. (2000). Три женщины. Tel Aviv: Lado, pp. 363–368
  40. Yair Amikam, Yediot Aharonot, 28 February 1977: interview with Yehoshua Zetler and Yisrael Eldad. English translation in Journal of Palestine Studies, vol 6, no. 4 (1977) 145–147.
  41. "57 (1948). Resolution of 18 September 1948". United Nations Security Council. Archived from the original on 18 January 2009.
  42. "Israel belatedly condemns U.N. negotiator's murder". Reuters News. 15 May 1995.
  43. "Israel tries to ease tensions with Sweden". Reuters News. 15 May 1995.
  44. "Peres apologizes for assassination of Bernadotte". Jerusalem Post. 15 May 1995. p. 1.
  45. The First Dag Hammarskjöld Medals: Biographical Notes.
  46. "Count today weds Estelle Manville: Union of Count Bernadotte and American to be first nupitals of Royalty on our soil". The New York Times. 1 December 1928. p. 12.
  47. "Bernadotte's unknown daughter" Fokus, 12 September 2008.

General sources

Further reading

  • Ben-Dror, Elad (2015). Ralph Bunche and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: Mediation and the UN 1947–1949, Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-78988-3.

External links

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