' ( en, italic=yes, This is a Swedish tiger, formerly stylized in all caps) is a 2019 book written by

Aron Flam Aron Flam (; born 12 June 1978) is a Swedish writer, stand-up comedian, podcaster, and occasional actor. Flam started his career in stand-up comedy in his hometown of Stockholm in 2007 and was awarded the "Rookie of the Year" award in 2009 at ...

. The book is made with sources and claims made in a podcast series with the same name; which was a part of Flam's main podcast '' Dekonstruktiv kritik''. The book's subject is Sweden, the

Swedish government The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden ( sv, Konungariket Sveriges regering) is the national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Ministerappointed and dismissed by the Speaker of the R ...

's role before, during, and after World War II and Swedish trade with Nazi Germany as well as the denial of this involvement by the Swedish authorities. Flam was accused of copyright infringement on the basis that the title of the book was paraphrasing ''

En svensk tiger En svensk tiger () was a slogan and an image that became part of a propaganda campaign in Sweden during World War II. Its goal was to prevent espionage by encouraging secrecy. Explanation In Swedish, the word '' svensk'' can mean both the adjec ...

'' (which the copyright of which is owned by ). Around 2,000 copies of the third edition were seized by the Swedish police.

Podcast series

On 9 February 2018, Flam uploaded the first episode of the series which was originally called ''En svensk tiger'', as a part of his podcast ''Dekonstruktiv kritik''. After episode three, the podcast changed its name to ''Det här är en svensk tiger'' after pressure by Beredskapsmuseet. In total, nineteen episodes were published, the last of which was published on 10 May 2019.

Book

Flam reworked the content in the podcast series to a book that was published in August 2019 via his own publisher Samizdat Publishing.

The cover

The cover of the book was designed by Tomas Arfert. During the spring and summer of 2020, the book received attention due to the cover of the book which is a parody/satire of Bertil Almqvist's drawing ''En svensk tiger'' for the SIS (, en, The State's Information Board) during World War II. Almqvist's drawing represents a blue and yellow tiger. Beredskapsmuseet claimed that Flam's version was plagiarism. Flam's version depicts the same blue and yellow tiger, winking and raising its right paw with an armband on its left foreleg featuring a

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. It ...

. In June 2020, Flam was prosecuted for copyright infringement regarding the cover. On 11 June 2020, the police seized 2,282 copies (1.5 tons) of the book's third edition directly from the warehouse of Samizdat Publishing AB in

Bromma Bromma () is a borough (''stadsdelsområde'') in the western part of Stockholm, Sweden, forming part of the Stockholm Municipality. Bromma is primarily made up of Bromma Parish and Västerled Parish. The fourth largest airport in Sweden and the th ...

. Beredskapsmuseet claimed damages of originally ( SEK) 250,000, which was later increased to SEK 1.5 million, as well as a fine for repeated use of the banned version of the cover. The Court for Intellectual Property and the Market at Stockholm District Court, ruled on 5 August 2020 that the book seizure was still in action. However, The Court of Appeal for Intellectual Property and the Market lifted the seizure on 13 August 2020. The verdict came on 9 October 2020, where Flam was acquitted by a unanimous court with reference to the ''parody exception'' Flam commented on the verdict together with and Liselott Agerlid in an episode of his podcast.

Reception

The historian Mikael Nilsson claims that Flam's book contains lies, misuse of facts and plagiarism.

References

External links