Birgitta Karlström Dorph (born 5June 1939) is a Swedish diplomat. She is mostly known for her clandestine work in channeling funds from the Swedish government to the

anti-apartheid movement The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) was a British organisation that was at the centre of the international movement opposing the South African apartheid system and supporting South Africa's non-white population who were oppressed by the policies ...

in South Africa during the 1980s.

Early life and education

Märta Birgitta Karlström Dorph grew up in

Karlstad Karlstad (, ) is the 20th-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Karlstad Municipality, the capital of Värmland County, and the largest city in the province Värmland in Sweden. The city proper had 67,122 inhabitants in 2020 with 97,233 inhabitan ...

where she went to the Tingvallagymnasiet. After graduating she studied in the United States, attended the

Stockholm School of Economics The Stockholm School of Economics (SSE; , HHS) is a private business school located in city district Vasastaden in the central part of Stockholm, Sweden. SSE offers BSc, MSc and MBA programs, along with PhD- and Executive education progr ...

and worked in France. She finally entered an education at the

Ministry for Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral rela ...

where she remained and worked as a diplomat for 44 years.

Career

During twenty of Karlström Dorph's years within the diplomatic corps she worked in Africa where she was stationed in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

, Ethiopia and

Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Botswana, largest city of Botswana, with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its metropolitan area is home to 534, ...

, Botswana, among other places. In 1982–88, she worked in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

, South Africa.

Secret mission

While stationed as second in command at the Swedish legation in Pretoria and working as a diplomat, she also had a secret mission. Her job was to get in contact with the leaders of the then prohibited anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and Namibia, and find ways to transfer money from Sweden to support their cause. The operation was initiated by

Olof Palme Sven Olof Joachim Palme (; ; 30 January 1927 – 28 February 1986) was a Swedish politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1969 to 1976 and 1982 to 1986. Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 until as ...

and the Swedish government. These arrangements were clandestine and were not discussed in public in the

Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...

. A total sum of about SEK 1.6 billion ($200 million) were transferred to the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

and other organizations. Karlström Dorph established a contact net of recipients and ways to transfer the money. Information about the transfers were sent as

encrypted In cryptography, encryption (more specifically, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plain ...

telegrams Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...

, by couriers or as hidden messages in gifts. The money came mainly from the humanitarian

government agency A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, s ...

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (, ) is a government agency of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Sida is responsible for organization of the bulk of Sweden's official development assistance to developing coun ...

(SIDA) but could not be channeled directly since officially, Sweden was not giving any aid to South Africa. A significant part of the money was used for legal help in defending black persons accused of breaking any of the

apartheid laws The system of racial segregation and oppression in South Africa known as ''apartheid'' was implemented and enforced by many Act of Parliament, acts and other laws. This legislation served to institutionalize racial discrimination and the dominan ...

that were in effect at the time. This help led to a number of people escaping the death penalty, or had their jail sentences drastically reduced. Money also went to churches, newspapers, unions and women's organizations and the United Democratic Front.

Recognitions

Karlström Dorph has been celebrated as a hero among the South African anti-apartheid activists and she was invited to a birthday party for

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

as well as the ANC's centennial celebration. In 2015, the

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television aktiebolag, Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksd ...

made a documentary about Karlström Dorph called ''Palmes hemliga agent'' ("Palme's secret agent").

Personal life

Karlström Dorph has five children and her husband is deceased. She had kept her mission in South Africa a secret from her family up until the documentary about her was made. She says that when her children saw the film "They clapped their hands and gave me a high five!" , she still works for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs from time to time. She currently lives in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Notes

References

External links

Interview with Birgitta Karlström Dorph
(in English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Karlstrom Dorph, Birgitta 1939 births Living people Ambassadors of Sweden to Ethiopia Ambassadors of Sweden to Djibouti Ambassadors of Sweden to Botswana Civil rights activists Women civil rights activists People from Karlstad