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| Outside of the building |
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| Signage outside the building. |
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Inside poster
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There was a small permanent exhibit and an inaugural temporary exhibit. In the permanent exhibit, there was a chronological display of Swedish newspapers from the late 1930s to the end of the war. There was also a continuous audio listing in Swedish and English the dates and nature of the Nazis' restrictive laws against the Jews in the 1930s.
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| Swedish newspaper display |
A brief history of Sweden's policies towards immigration and Jews was also noted in the permanent exhibit. On January 1, 1938, Sweden's new
Aliens Act entered into force. The law prevented large-scale immigration-- the arguments against immigration were based on the idea that Jewish trades folk and well- educated Jews who came to Sweden posed a threat to the Swedish labour market.
In October 1938, a circular was issued to Swedish border guards and diplomatic missions stating that all holders of German passports stamped with a red "J" were to be denied entry into the country if they lacked valid entry documents.
Sweden's policy of neutrality entailed major concessions to Nazi Germany. German troop transports were allowed through the country. Sweden exported iron ore and ball bearings to Nazi Germany. At the same time, Sweden exported timber and paper to Great Britain. In 1941, the Swedish government allowed German troop transports through Sweden to Finland. The internal negotiations regarding troop transports were one of the coalition government's biggest crises during the war.
In November 1942, the Nazis deported over 500 Norwegian Jews to Poland. The rounding up and deportation of these citizens received attention in the Swedish press. The attitude towards accepting Jewish refugees softened and over the course of a few weeks in the winter of 1942-42, about 1000 Norwegian Jews fled across the border to Sweden.
There was a brief section about the use of Swedish "protection passports" to save Jews from death. Many Hungarian Jews were rescued by the head of the Swedish diplomatic mission in Budapest, Ivan Danielsson with the help of colleagues Raoul Wallenberg and Per Anger, through the use of the Swedish protection passports.
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| One wall had a picture of a ravine that flashed the names of the ravines in Poland and other Eastern European countries with the date and numbers of the murdered (mainly Jews murdered "by bullets"). |
The temporary exhibit was entitled: Seven Lives (Sju Liv) and focused on seven people who survived the war and ended up in Sweden.
One of them came to Sweden on their own as a child, others survived both concentration camps and death marches. They are of different backgrounds and from different parts of Europe. Unlike millions of others, they have been able to share their memories and experiences and share objects, letters and photographs they have saved. Five of the seven were Jewish, one was Roma and one a non-Jewish Pole.
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| Seven Lives |
Alice Grosz (b. 1914 Budapest, d. 1982 Stockholm) Lieselotte Jacks (b 1923 Berlin, d. Göteburg 1990); Kiwa Żyto (b. 1932 Kielce, Poland, lives in Sweden); Eva Israel (b. 1936, grew up in Munkfors, lives in Skåne, Sweden); Hanna Brezinska (b. 1931, Poland, d. 1992, Stockholm); Czeslaw Średzki (b. Łódź, Poland, d. 1980, Stockholm ); Walter Brünn (b.1892, Berlin, d.1985, Stockholm).
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| Identification cards of the seven |
The stories were all very poignant. Walter and Lilii Brünn lived in Berlin, where Walter ran a successful department store which his father had started 50 years earlier. Walter was imprisonned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp in connection with Kristallnacht, November 1938. After two weeks there he was released and a new owner reopened his family's business. In the summer of 1939, he was granted permission to enter Sweden and left Berlin in August. His wife came to Sweden shortly after.
There was a section about Eva who lived in western Germany with her parents and older brother. Her father was a teacher in Jewish elementary school. Their house was raided by the SS who was looking for her father who luckily was in hiding. After he returned, they realized they had to leave Germany. Eva and her mother got to Munkfors Sweden. Her father was deported to Auschwitz in 1942 and did not survive.
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| Eva and her mother's passports |
Lieselotte Jacks (called Lilo), was 15 in 1939, living in Berlin. Her parents applied for her to be one of the children permitted to leave Germany as part of the so called Children's transport. On June 6, 1939 she arrived by train in Gothenburg in Sweden and moved in with her relatives.
Story of Lilo arriving in Sweden as part of the Children's Transport. Her parents wrote her letter in Sweden for as long as they could. They were deported from Berlin to Auschwitz in the autumn of 1942 and did not survive.
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| Postcard from Lilo's paternal grandmother, Rosalie Jacks, Theresienstadt, August 1943 |
(She was later deported to Auschwitz and did not survive)
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| Kiwa Żyto grew up a Jewish family in Kielce, Poland with his parents and three older brothers. The family fled to the forest and hid but later was forced to split up. Kiwa and his mother Zelda ended up in the Kielce ghetto. He hid during a transport and was concealed by his mother. In 1944, they were deported to Auschwitz. Kiwa was later moved to Dachau and then another camp. He survived as had his mother and one brother. They ended up in Sweden after the war. |
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| Hanna Brezinska grew up in a Roma family. Hanna was only 11 when she was registered at the Roma section of Auschwitz-Birkenau in the spring of 1943. Hanna and her little sister Anita came to Auschwitz together. Anita was murdered after a short time in the camp. The rest of Hanna's family was murdered in Poland. After being transferred to a number of other camps, she was in the queue that lead to the gas chambers at the Majadanek extermination camp when the guards received new orders to send all able-bodied prisoners to Hamburg to work as slave labourers. She was one of the few Roma, who after the war, was rescued by the Red Cross and came to Sweden. Under Swedish law, Roma were not allowed to immigrate to Sweden until 1954. |
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Update on Kiwa Zyto-- each update also talks about how the museum got the artefacts. Kiwa is still alive and donated his jacket from Dachau as well as photographs and documents to the Holocaust Museum.
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Update on Walter Brünn (he and his wife died in 1885). They never got their department store back in Berlin. Their neighbour and friend took care of their documents and then donated them to the Museum.
Eva Lecerof (Israel) was nine years old at the end of the war. She lived in Munkfors, Sweden with her mother and brother. She worked as a psychiatrist and doctor and lives in Skåne. She shared her story and documents with the Museum. |
Update on Lilo Jacks and Hanna Dimitri.
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Czeslaw Aredzki was from a non- Jewish, middle class Polish family.
In August 1943, he was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Auschwitz. |
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Czesław Aredzki was never the same after the war and in 1954 he and Krystyna, his wife divorced. In the late 1960's Czeslaw and his son moved to Sweden. He died in Stockholm in 1980. His son shared his father's stories and lent letters, photographs and objects.
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The exhibit detailing the lives of seven ordinary people during the war and their arrival in Sweden was a very effective way of showing the impact of the Holocaust.
After the exhibit, we continued to walk down the street, passing a beautifully restored Water and Gas Works building. Stockholm has done a great job of repurposing older buildings.
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| Waterworks building-now offices and meeting spaces |
Our destination was two neighbourhoods over from ours. Östermalm has the city's most desirable real estate, up-scale shops; a modern shopping centre and a fabulous indoor food/restaurant market. It was a beautiful day and we just wanted to meander in a new neighbourhood.
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| En route, through Norrmalm, we passed a very buzzy café called |
Vete-Katten, one of Sweden's largest and oldest patisseries dating back to 1928
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| Raffia cats in the window |
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| Buzzy bakery part of the café |
We walked through the square in Norrmalm with the food court and stalls in the square, where we had been on Friday. This time we stopped and bought some chanterelles.
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| More stalls on Saturday |
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| Lingonberry and chanterelle season |
We made our way to Stureplan square with the Sturegallerian, an upscale shopping centre. We were looking for Pascal, a coffee shop that was on the same street.
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| This building on the square houses Spy Bar, a hip bar on three floors |
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| Signage for the new season of Lupin (one of our favourites) on a building in the square |
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| Building under renovation near the Shopping Centre |
We stopped at the new location of Pascal- very nicely designed shop with excellent coffee.
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| Chatting coffee with the barista |
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| Enjoying a Swedish avocado toast with excellent coffee |
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| Interesting indoor seating at Pascal |
We quickly walked through the shopping centre which had a number of up-scale eating options.
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| Very nice looking decor |
We stopped at Gateau, a small bakery to pick up a kanelbulle (cinnamon) and kardemummsbulle (cardamon) buns. Apparently, Kanelbullens Dag (day) is October 4.
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| Our new addiction- delicious nicely sized cinnamon and cardamon buns |
We walked a few streets away to Östermalms Saluhall, the very beautiful and upscale food hall.
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| Outside of Saluhall, very busy |
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| Entrance way with leg |
We stopped at a gorgeous seafood place to get some fish. Our server asked if we wanted to have the bones removed from our pieces of filet. Amazing service.
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| The fish stall where we bought some perch |
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| Beautiful looking fish- deboning our filets |
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| Beautiful stalls with high-quality foods |
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| Lisa Elmqvist (a Stockholm institution) has a number of fish stores (including the one where we bought our fish) and restaurants in the Food Hall. |
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| Lots of crabs- crates being unloaded as well |
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| Another busy pedestrian street |
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| We passed our favourite bakery chain. They are all small bakeries, usually with a few seats where people can have coffee. Excellent breads and a small pastry menu. We bought another baguette there on Saturday. |
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| Very opulent Kungliga Dramatiska Theatern (Theatre) |
We went down to Östermalm harbour. Lots of very nice design shops and other stores on the waterfront. Private boats and small ferry boats operate in the harbour to take folks to Islands with a number of museums.
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| Harbour area |
We walked along the harbour and then came to another large square with high-end shops and hotels.
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| Another sculpture |
We started the walk back to our apartment and passed by Eataly in Stockholm (who knew?) It has a very different look than the Toronto, New York or Italy stores. Huge chandeliers in the dining area. We later read that it opened in February 2018 in a former movie theatre.
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| Entranceway- looked familiar |
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| Very elegant Eataly-- a very different look |
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| Elaborate ceiling-- most likely from the former movie theatre |
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| We passed a sign for Open House Stockholm (like Toronto's Open Doors) |
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Passing the Gallery in the early evening, about five minutes from our apartment.
It was a wonderful Saturday. Allan made a lovely arctic char dinner. All the fish we have bought has been excellent quality. We followed the Jays extra inning loss (ended at about midnight, Stockholm time) and then checked the Seattle game in the middle of the night. Phew, with the Seattle loss, we're in the playoffs again!!
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