Gösta Engzell (14 February 1897 – 7 March 1997) was a Swedish jurist and diplomat who is known for his activities to rescue Jews during World War II. He was the ambassador of Sweden to Finland between 1954 and 1963 and served in other diplomatic posts.

Biography

Engzell was born in 1897. He worked at the

Göta Court of Appeal The Göta Court of Appeal (), located in Jönköping, is one of the six appellate courts in the Swedish legal system. The court was established in 1634 during the regency of Queen Christina. It is the second oldest of the Swedish courts of appe ...

in 1929 and became a court councilor in 1933. Then he served as an audit secretary and as the director general for administrative affairs in the

Ministry of Commerce and Industry A ministry of trade and industry, ministry of commerce, ministry of commerce and industry or variations is a ministry that is concerned with a nation's trade, industry and commerce. Notable examples are: List *Algeria: Ministry of Industry and ...

in 1936. He headed the Ministry of Foreign Affair's legal department between 1938 and 1947. The department was in charge of all visa and immigration issues. Shortly after his appointment Engzell represented Sweden in the

Évian Conference The Évian Conference was convened 6–15 July 1938 at Évian-les-Bains, France, to address the problem of German and Austrian Jewish refugees wishing to flee persecution by Nazi Germany. It was the initiative of United States President Franklin ...

held at

Évian-les-Bains Évian-les-Bains (), or simply Évian (, , or ), is a Communes of France, commune in Eastern France, by the border with Switzerland. It is located in the northern part of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. A high-m ...

, France, between 6 and 15 July 1938 to address the problem of German and Austrian Jewish refugees. Engzell was made an

envoy Envoy or Envoys may refer to: Diplomacy * Diplomacy, in general * Envoy (title) * Special envoy, a type of Diplomatic rank#Special envoy, diplomatic rank Brands *Airspeed Envoy, a 1930s British light transport aircraft *Envoy (automobile), an au ...

in 1947. He was the envoy of Sweden in Poland from 1949 to 1951. He held the same post in Finland between 1951 and 1954. Then he was named as the ambassador of Sweden in 1954 which he held until 1963. Engzell died in 1997.

Rescuing Jews during World War II

In the late 1930s Engzell and the Swedish government did not have a special interest in Jews who had to flee

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

and did not make any attempt to facilitate the entry of Jews to Sweden without visa or even to get Swedish visa. He had an

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

approach, and his actions at the legal department of the Ministry aimed at keeping Jews out of the country. On 7 September 1942, a Latvian refugee named Gillel Storch met Gösta Engzell and informed him about the increasingly negative conditions of Jews in the German-occupied territories. Then he began to influence the policy of the Swedish government which would help Jews in Nazi controlled regions. He initiated actions to save Jews in Norway and Denmark. In addition, Engzell encouraged Swedish diplomats Carl Ivan Danielsson and Per Anger to take steps to protect Jews in Budapest in 1944. As a result of the activities of Engzell and his staff nearly 30,000-40,000 Jews were rescued.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Engzell, Gösta 1897 births 1997 deaths 20th-century Swedish diplomats Ambassadors of Sweden to Poland Ambassadors of Sweden to Finland Cold War diplomats People from Halmstad