White Buses

Swedish Red Cross buses, possibly near their field headquarters in Friedrichsruh

"White Buses" refers to a program undertaken by the Swedish Red Cross and the Danish government in the spring of 1945 to rescue concentration camp inmates in areas under Nazi control and transport them to Sweden, a neutral country. Although the program was initially targeted at saving citizens of Scandinavian countries, it rapidly expanded to include citizens of other countries.

All told, the program removed 15,345 prisoners from mortal peril in concentration camps; of these 7,795 were Scandinavian and 7,550 were non-Scandinavian (Polish, French, etc.). In particular, 423 Danish Jews were saved from the Theresienstadt concentration camp inside German occupied terrority of Czechoslovakia, contributing significantly to the fact that the casualties among Danish Jews during the Holocaust were among the lowest of the occupied countries of Europe.

The term "white buses" originates from the buses having been painted white with red crosses to avoid confusion with military vehicles.

Inspired by this program, the Norwegian White Buses Foundation organises excursions to Sachsenhausen and the sites of other concentration camps for school classes, accompanied by first-hand witnesses and survivors.

Scandinavian prisoners in Germany

Denmark and Norway were invaded by Germany on April 9, 1940. A number of Norwegians were immediately arrested, two months later the occupying force established the first prisoners' camp at Ulven outside Bergen.

Tension intensified between the Nazi authorities and the resistance. Consequently, more Norwegians were arrested and detained, initially in Norwegian prisons and camps and deported to camps in Germany. The first Norwegians arrived at Sachsenhausen on August 29, 1940, but they were released and sent home in December. Regular deportations from Norway began in the spring of 1941.

Arrests in Denmark began with the resignation of the coalition government on August 29, 1943.

The Scandinavian prisoners in Germany were divided into various categories, from the so-called civil interned who lived privately and had certain freedoms, to the Nacht und Nebel (NN) or "Night and Fog" prisoners who were destined to be worked to death. As the number of Scandinavian prisoners increased, various groups organised relief work for them. The Norwegian seamen's priests in Hamburg, Arne Berge and Conrad Vogt-Svendsen, visited prisoners, brought them food and brought letters to their families in Norway and Denmark. Vogt-Svendsen also made contact with the civilians interned at Gross Kreutz, the Norwegian families Hjort and Seip. Together with other Scandinavians the group at Gross Kreutz compiled extensive lists of prisoners and their location. The lists were then sent to the Norwegian government-in-exile in London through the Swedish embassy in Berlin. In Stockholm the Norwegian diplomat Niels Christian Ditleff engaged himself heavily with the fate of the Scandinavian prisoners. By the end of 1944 there were around 8,000 Norwegian prisoners in Germany, in addition to some 1,125 Norwegian prisoners of war.

On the Danish side Admiral Carl Hammerich had long worked with secret plans for an expedition code-named the Jyllandskorps to save Danish and Norwegian prisoners from the German camps. Hammerich had good connections with both the Norwegian seaman's priests, the Gross Kreutz group and with Niels Christian Ditleff in Stockholm. By the beginning of 1945 there were around 6,000 Danish prisoners in Germany. During 1944 the Danes made extensive planning efforts, including the registration of prisoners and plans for transporting resources and making available food, shelter and quarantine for the prisoners, if they succeeded in reaching Denmark. Hammerich visited Stockholm in February, April and July 1944 and discussed the plans with Ditleff.

Evacuate or "stay put"?

As the Allied forces approached Germany at the end of 1944, SHAEF decided what should be done regarding Allied prisoners. Within the Norwegian government Major Johan Koren Christie wrote a memorandum on September 23; the Norwegian prisoners should "stay put", and wait until they were liberated by the advancing Allied forces. The Gross Kreutz group got to know about this policy a month later and reacted swiftly, with Johan Bernhard Hjort writing a report advising against the proposal. His arguments were that the prisoners risked being murdered and that they had to be rescued from Germany before the country was occupied.

He wrote:

It is therefore strongly suggested that the Norwegian government considers the possibility that the Swedish government could be induced to intervene to help at least the Norwegian and Danish civil prisoners in Germany, including those in prisons, with the aim of transporting them to Sweden, where they if feasible may stay until the war has ended.

The October 1944 report from Hjort was the first time a Swedish operation for the Scandinavian prisoners is mentioned; the proposal was, however, initially unfavourably received. Rescuing the prisoners was seen as a Norwegian responsibility and the Norwegian government was reluctant to give the Swedes any chance to distinguish themselves at the end of the war.

The energetic diplomat Niels Christian Ditleff in Stockholm refused to accept the guidelines from the Norwegian government and continued to implore both Swedes and the Swedish foreign department to have Sweden rescuing Scandinavian prisoners. In September 1944 Ditleff raised the question with Count Folke Bernadotte who was immediately positive about the plan. On November 30 Ditleff handed over his memorandum "Reasons for a Swedish operation for rescuing prisoners" to the Swedish foreign office, but still on his own initiative. On December 29 the Norwegian government changed its position and instructed its embassy in Stockholm to discuss the possibility of a Swedish operation targeting the Scandinavian prisoners.

While Ditleff tried to influence the exiled Norwegian government the Danes obtained a German permit to retrieve prisoners. The first ones transported back to Denmark were Danish policemen from Buchenwald, the first transport started on December 5. Until the end of February 1945, the Danes transported 341 prisoners home, most of them ill. These journeys gave the Danes valuable experience that would later benefit the "White Buses".

Swedish help to the prisoners

Sweden was the only Nordic country that remained neutral during the Second World War, but its neutrality fluctuated. Until the German defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad, Sweden was accommodating towards Germany; after Stalingrad Sweden altered its policy gradually to become closer to the Allies.

The Baltic German, Felix Kersten, was Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler's personal masseur. He lived in Stockholm and acted as an intermediary between the Swedish foreign department and Himmler. Himmler and his trusted subordinate Walter Schellenberg had long held the view that Germany would lose the war and were examining the possibility of a separate peace treaty with the Western powers; in this Sweden could be a useful intermediary. With Kersten's assistance the Swedish foreign department was able to free 50 Norwegian students, 50 Danish policemen and 3 Swedes in December 1944. An absolute condition for the release of the prisoners was that it should be hidden from the press; if Hitler got to know about it further repatriations would be impossible.

Ditleff sent a new memorandum on February 5, 1945, this time as an official Norwegian request. Sweden was solicited for sending a Red Cross delegation to Berlin to negotiate the position of the Scandinavian prisoners, and if successful to send a Swedish relief expedition. The Swedish foreign minister Christian Günther was in favour and the Swedish government gave permission for Bernadotte, second in command of the Swedish Red Cross:

to attempt to obtain permission in Germany for the transport to Sweden or Denmark of the interned Norwegian and Danish prisoners.

Bernadotte flew to Berlin on February 16 and met several Nazi leaders such as the foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, head of the RSHA (Reich Main Security Office), Himmler and Schellenberg. Himmler, one of the most powerful persons in Nazi Germany, was initially negative to the transportation of prisoners to neutral Sweden. The prisoners could be trained as police troops, as Sweden already did with other Norwegians and Danes. Bernadotte had to fall back on his secondary proposal - that the prisoners should be assembled in one camp so the Swedish Red Cross could support them. Bernadotte told Himmler he estimated the number of Scandinavian prisoners to be around 13,000 while Himmler held it could not be more than two or three thousand.

During a second meeting with Schellenberg on February 21, Bernadotte got word from Himmler that he had accepted the proposal to assemble the Scandinavian prisoners in one camp. During the visit to Berlin Bernadotte also had several meetings with the Gross Kreutz group, Didrik Arup Seip, Conrad Vogt-Svendsen, Wanda Hjort and Bjørn Heger. Bernadotte's secondary proposal to Himmler, that he accepted, was prepared by Heger.

Establishing the expedition

The foundation of the White Buses expedition were several years of planning and information collection by Danes and Norwegians. This was used by the Swedes without many alterations. The Swedish Red Cross contacted the Swedish Army who supplied the needed transport. In reality this was:

the Swedish state's expedition – the personnel were almost entirely volunteers from the armed forces, the equipment was supplied from armed forces stockpiles and the expenses were covered by the state's coffers.

Composition of the expedition force

• 308 personnel, among them about 20 doctors and nurses, the rest were volunteers from the supply regiments T1, T3 and T4; they were commanded by Colonel Gottfrid Björck as he was the inspector general for the Swedish supply forces
• 36 ambulance buses
• 19 trucks
• 7 passenger cars
• 7 motorcyles
• rescue and workshop trucks and a field kitchen
• all necessary equipment, including food, fuel and spare parts, as nothing could be had once in Germany
• The vessels Lillie Matthiessen sailing to Lübeck with 350 tons of fuel and 6,000 food parcels for the prisoners, later the Magdalena, both from the Salèn shipping line

The force was divided into three bus platoons (each with 12 buses), one truck platoon (with 12 vehicles) and one supply platoon. Total transport capacity for the force was 1,000 persons for longer distances; 1,200 persons for shorter distances where the trucks could also be used. The buses used Motyl (a mixture of 50% gasoline and 50% alcohol) and had eight stretchers or seats for 30 passengers. They used 0.5 litres of fuel per kilometer (5.6 mpg); with full tanks they could cover 100 kilometers (62 mi). Each bus carried two drivers.

To avoid publicity in the newspapers the Swedish state information bureau distributed so-called "grey notices" where the editors were instructed to avoid stories about the expedition.

The Danish ambassador in Stockholm had offered a larger force (40 buses, 30 trucks, 18 ambulances and other vehicles). Bernadotte had considered a mixed Swedish-Danish expedition, this offer was turned down on February 23, due to the German requirement that the expedition force had to be Swedish. If not they could launch a full-scale attack on Denmark and Norway.

Departure

The first section of the expedition departed Hässleholm on March 8 and boarded the ferry from Malmö to Copenhagen. Due to security, the Danish resistance movement was informed, but no problems were experienced - on the contrary, the expedition was very well received. On March 12, the first part of the expedition had reached its headquarters, Friedrichsruh castle, situated 30 km southeast of Hamburg. The castle was close to the Danish border and near the Neuengamme concentration camp, where the Scandinavian prisoners were to be assembled. Friedrichsruh castle was owned by Otto von Bismarck, a friend of Bernadotte and married to a Swede. The expedition staff were lodged in the castle and a nearby pub, while the men established a tented camp in the park surrounding the castle.

Gestapo officers escorting the "white buses"

The expedition had German liaison officers; the most prominent of them being Himmler's communications officer, SS Obersturmbannführer Karl Rennau, while Franz Göring was a liaison officer with the Gestapo. The expedition had around 40 German communication, SS and Gestapo officers. The Germans demanded that every second vehicle should have a German officer on board. The "White Buses" expedition was totally dependent on cooperation with the Germans as the country under Nazi rule was a police state. Only with liaison personnel from the Gestapo and SS could the expedition move without restrictions.

Bernadotte had promised Schellenberg to have the expedition in Warnemünde on March 3, but it was delayed by more than a week. The main reason for this was the difficulty in obtaining guarantees from the Allied forces to ensure that the expedition would not be attacked. At this stage in the war, the Allies had total air superiority and regularly attacked transport on German roads. The "White Buses" expedition would move mainly within areas controlled by the Royal Air Force. On March 8, the British government informed the Swedish foreign department that it was informed about the expedition but that it could not give any guarantees against attacks; the Swedish expedition was on its own within Germany. Some of the vehicles were hit by Allied aircraft, strafing the roads, killing one Swedish driver and 25 concentration camp prisoners.

Renegotiation

On March 6, 1945, Bernadotte arrived in Berlin by plane from Stockholm and continued his negotiations with the German authorities. Himmler's masseur, Felix Kersten, had already arrived and the Swedish foreign department instructed the Swedish ambassador, Arvid Richert, to support Kersten so he could influence Himmler. Parallel with this, the Danish authorities - especially the Danish ambassador in Berlin, Otto Carl Mohr - tried to secure the release of more Danish prisoners. Swedish and Danish aims were somewhat different. The Swedes negotiated with Himmler and Schellenberg and concentrated on gathering the prisoners in Neuengamme. The Danes negotiated with Kaltenbrunner and tried to secure permission to have the prisoners released, or possibly interned in Denmark.

On March 12 the Danes obtained permission for three transports and until March 21 a total of 262 Danish prisoners of various categories were moved back to Denmark using Danish vehicles. From March 21 there were a break in Danish transports and the Swedes took over.

Transports start

Map of German concentration camps

The expedition in Friedrichsruh was divided into two groups, the first being assigned the responsibility of transporting prisoners from Sachsenhausen, (North of Berlin), to Neuengamme. The evacuations started on March 15, over a distance of around 540 kilometers. During seven missions, some 2,200 Danes and Norwegians were transferred to Neuengamme.

Sven Frykmann, who commanded one of the columns, wrote about the prisoners and the drive:

In general they were in relative good shape compared to other prisoners I have seen and one could not complain regarding their personal hygiene. They related that the food packs they had received from Norway and Denmark had kept their spirits up and recently the treatment had been noticeably better. They were all touching [sic] thankful and happy. I believe that all of us that have had the option of helping these poor people in Germany have experienced such an overwhelming gratitude that it is enough for the rest of our lives

As the prisoners were being picked up in Sachsenhausen, their names were checked with the group from Gross Kreutz, to make sure no one was left behind.

The other group was responsible for collecting prisoners from southern Germany. This included Dachau to the north of Munich, Schönberg (some 80 kilometers south of Stuttgart) and Mauthausen (12 kilometers/7.5 miles east of Linz). The distances for this mission were greater, as Munich alone was 800 kilometers (500 mi) away. Adding to the difficulties was the delay that the transports faced due to a lack of fuel. The first column started out on March 19, including 35 vehicles under Colonel Björck, which returned to Neuengamme on March 24. The journey back was difficult as most of the prisoners were in poor physical condition, as Swedish nurse Margaretha Björcke documented:

I have never in my twelve years practice as a nurse seen so much misery as I here witnessed. Legs, backs and necks full of wounds of a type that an average Swede would be on sick leave for just one of them. I counted twenty on one prisoner, and he did not complain

This first transport collected 550 prisoners while 67 very sick prisoners were left behind. A huge problem during the transports was the prisoners' chronic diarrhoea. This situation was subsequently remedied by the Danes supplying portable toilets of a type that had been used during their transports.

Due to the Swedish transports Neuengamme received ever more prisoners and the concentration of Scandinavian prisoners that Himmler had promised did not materialize. Swedish health personnel were not allowed to enter the camp. During the first transports the buses were not allowed to enter the camp and the prisoners had to march to them as the Germans would not let the Swedes in charge of the buses see the camp.

Swedes to Sweden

Early in February a small Swedish Red Cross detachment under Captain Hultgren arrived in Berlin; six men, two buses and a private car. Their mission was to transport Swedish-born women who were married to German men, but due to the imminent breakdown of Germany needed to escape. The evacuation started on March 26; 1,400 women and children of Swedish descent arrived in Malmö via Lübeck and Denmark by April 20.

Assisting the SS

Neuengamme concentration camp was overcrowded, and to have space for the Scandinavian prisoners, the SS insisted that prisoners of other nationalities be moved to other camps. The SS commander had no transport of his own and required that the white buses accepted the transports so the newly arrived Scandinavians could only have the Schonungsblock, a barrack building for prisoners not fit to work.

Around 2,000 French, Belgian, Dutch, Russian and Polish prisoners were transported to other camps. During the evacuations some 50 to 100 prisoners died, many more died in the worse conditions in the new camps in which they arrived, having been moved to avoid the advancing Allied armies.

Most of the transports of prisoners for the SS took place between March 27 and 29, from Neuengamme to subcamps in Hannover and Salzgitter and to Bergen-Belsen.

The Swedish sub-lieutenant Åke Svenson wrote:

We could now see how the Germans treated their prisoners in general, French, Belgians, Dutch, Poles, and Russians. It was terrible. This time the Germans had to allow us into the camp as most of the passengers could not walk the minor distance from the barracks to the road. From these barracks a group of creatures were forced, that hardly anymore seemed to be human beings.

The last transport for the SS was undertaken as late as April 13, with around 450 so-called prominent French prisoners (senators, leading businessmen, etc.) who the Germans stated would be repatriated through Switzerland. The prisoners would be according to plan, delivered to the concentration camp at Flossenburg. From there they should be transported to Switzerland by the Swiss Red Cross. The promise of the transport to Switzerland was a lie and the camp was full, so the prisoners were taken to Theresienstadt where the "white buses" were heading to pick up 400 Danish Jews.

Gathering in Neuengamme

Convoys on March 30 and April 2 from the camps at Torgau, Mühlberg and Oschatz near Leipzig collected Danish police and some Norwegians, 1,200 in all. The Danish policemen were taken to Denmark in two columns between April 3 and 5; on April 23 some 1,000 of these were sent to Sweden.

On March 29 the Swedish Red Cross personnel were finally given access to Neuengamme as well as medicine, blankets, personal hygiene articles and food. A Scandinavian block was established and the conditions there became so good that prisoners from other nations became negative to the privileged Scandinavian prisoners.

Bernadotte arrived in Berlin from Stockholm on March 28 for renewed negotiations with Himmler. He was to gain permission to transfer the Scandinavian prisoners from Neuengamme to Sweden, have access to the whole of the camp and if possible, also take Jewish prisoners to Sweden. On March 30 Bernadotte had his first chance to visit the Neuengamme camp.

A Danish prisoner, J. B. Holmgård, wrote:

For the first time in the history of Neuengamme the Nazi butchers Pauly and Thuman were not two bragging, arrogant representatives of the master race, with swinging whips. They came pussyfoot[ing] behind Bernadotte, suddenly accommodating, helpful and amenable nearing servile wheedling, the typical wheedling so distinctive for the butchers of the master race, when it emerged for them that their days were counted. Now we were secure of, that we would be able to return home.

At the beginning of April most of the Scandinavian prisoners in Germany were gathered in Neuengamme. The mission dragged out; Colonel Björck returned to Sweden and a new commander for the column was appointed, Major Sven Frykman. Some of the personnel also left, but after a promise of double daily pay around 130 men, half of the force, stayed.

On April 2 a new Swedish column set off for the south of Germany to collect the remaining prisoners from Mauthausen and Dachau. One bus with the Norwegian doctor Bjørn Heger was assigned to search for 30 prisoners which the "Gross Kreutz" group presumed were in the area around Schömberg. The conditions were difficult, the Swede Molin wrote:

...on our way to Schömberg the activity in the air was very high and we were overflown many times by Allied fighter planes, that did not attack us. Along the autobahn there were a lot of damaged cars and severely injured people. In some places where chaos reigned we simply could not just drive past with our white bus with Red Cross markings, but had to stop and give first aid. In some cases the damage were enormous.

In the subcamp at Vaihingen 16 of the 30 prisoners were found alive; the rest were dead. Among the survivors (all were severely weak) were Trygve Bratteli and Kristian Ottosen. This column saved a total of 75 prisoners: 16 from Vaihingen, 16 female NN prisoners from Mauthausen, and 43 seriously ill men from Dachau.

The Danes join

On April 5 close to half of the Swedes returned to Sweden and they were replaced by Danes. This was accepted by the Germans and the Swedish foreign department. The Danes mustered 33 buses, 14 ambulances, seven lorries and four private cars. They were led by Frants Hvass from the Danish foreign department. The Danish contingent were coordinated with the Swedish and from April 8 the "white buses" were a mixed Swedish-Danish expedition, with the Swedes in command. The Danish vehicles were also painted white, but displayed the Danish flag, (the Dannebrog), instead of the Red Cross.

Prisoners kept in ordinary jails were a separate category and the "white buses" were only allowed to collect these prisoners in April. On April 9 a mixed Swedish-Danish column under Captain Folke travelled to Berlin to transport 200 prisoners from various jails; knowledge of their location was the result of the work of the Reverend Vogt-Svendsen. A total of 211 prisoners were collected from some 20 establishments, among them Dresden, Cottbus, Luckay, Zeithin, Groitsch and Waldheim (east of Dresden). On the return trip to Neuengamme on April 11, the column witnessed for the first time a German car painted white with Red Cross markings, similar to the "white buses". On April 15 a column collected 524 prisoners from jails in Mecklenburg.

Theresienstadt

The Danish Jews who had not been able to escape the arrests of 1943 had been deported to Theresienstadt, near the city of Terezín in today's Czech Republic. It required patience before the Germans gave permission to proceed and time was short; the Allies were approaching. In the end the German liaison officer, Rennau, managed to get authorization from the Gestapo and on April 12 a column set-out under the command of Captain Folke with 23 Swedish buses, 12 private cars, motorcycles and a number of Danish ambulances with Danish doctors and nurses.

The situation in Germany was now critical and the Swedish drivers were informed that the trip would be very dangerous. At the last minute the Swedish foreign department tried to stop the departure as they had been informed that Soviet forces had blocked the road, but the column departed. On April 15 the column had collected 423 Scandinavian Jews from Theresienstadt and could start on the perilous return journey. On the way back the column passed Dresden, which had been bombed a month before and had an overnight stop near Potsdam, which had been bombed the same night. The transport reached Padborg without casualties on April 17. The next day, the rescued Jews were transported by ferry to Malmö.

The first air attack against the "white buses" happened on April 18 when the Danish camp at Friedrichsruh was strafed by Allied fighter planes, four drivers and a nurse were slightly wounded, ten vehicles were destroyed. In the coming days several such attacks from the air occurred, several personnel were killed and wounded.

"We're going to Sweden"

Through new negotiations Bernadotte got clearance for evacuating severely ill prisoners, the first transport started from Neuengamme on April 9; 12 Swedish buses and eight Danish ambulances were used. 153 prisoners, most of them confined to bed, were taken to the Danish border and left at Padborg where the Danes had a quarantine station. The prisoners got further rest and treatment before they were transported through Denmark on Danish buses and trains and sent by ferry to Malmö. By April 18 a total of 1216 sick Danish and Norwegian prisoners had been transported to Sweden. Two days later, on April 20, all Scandinavian prisoners in Neuengamme had been evacuated.

In the evening of April 19, the evacuation of Scandinavian prisoners from Neuengamme was discussed in a meeting at Friedrichsruh castle. Bernadotte, Frykmann and Richert from the Swedish side were present, with Rennau for the Germans while Hvass and Holm represented Dennmark. The situation was critical, the existing Swedish and Danish vehicles in Friedrichsruh did not have enough capacity to evacuate the prisoners fast enough. The Danes offered additional vehicles from Jyllandskorpset which was accepted.

A total of 4,255 Danish and Norwegian prisoners were evacuated, by 100 Danish and 20 Swedish buses. After a few days in Denmark the prisoners were sent on by ferry to Malmö.

Evacuation from Ravensbrück

Ravensbrück was a concentration camp about 90 kilometers (56 mi) north of Berlin, established in 1938 for female inmates. On April 8 some 100 Scandinavian female prisoners (including two French women) were collected from the camp and transported directly to Padborg in Denmark. At this stage Bernadotte had got permission to collect all sick prisoners. On April 22 a column with 15 Danish ambulances under the command of Captain Arnoldson departed from Friedrichsruh to collect the women from Ravensbrück.

Women prisoners gathered when the Red Cross arrive to Ravensbrück in April 1945. The white paint marks shows they are prisoners. See footnote

When the column arrived at the camp it was in chaos as it was to be evacuated due to the advancing Soviet forces. Arnoldson was told he could collect all French, Belgian, Dutch, and Polish women, a total of about 15,000. Arnoldson accepted, even though this was more than three times as many as the "white buses" could carry. The ambulances collected 112 sick women and on arriving in Lübeck, Arnoldson managed to inform Bernadotte that further transport was needed. He promised that all available resources would be mobilized.

Two new columns arrived in Ravensbrück; one departed on April 23 with 786 women, mostly French, who were transported directly to Padborg. The second column collected 360 French women. The last columns arrived in Ravensbrück on April 25. The situation within Germany was rapidly deteriorating, with frequent shooting on the transports as the Allied forces continued advancing. In the camp a total of 706 French, Belgian, Dutch, and Polish women were loaded onto a column with Danish ambulances and lorries from the International Red Cross. On the way to Padborg this transport was attacked by Allied fighter planes, at least 11 were killed and 26 severely injured; the final number of fatalities was estimated at 25.

The last column, led by Sub-lieutenant Svenson, had 934 women in 20 buses; mostly Polish but also French, American and English. The column rested during the night, was unsuccessfully attacked by fighter planes and arrived in Padborg on April 26, 1945. This was the last Swedish transport before Germany capitulated. The Swedes were fortunately able to use a train - 50 goods wagons with 80 female prisoners in each wagon. The train departed Ravensbrück on April 25 and arrived in Lübeck on April 29. After the passengers had been fed, the train moved on to Denmark. A total of 3,989 female prisoners were rescued by this method. Within a few days around 7,000 female prisoners were evacuated from Ravensbrück to Denmark and then on to Sweden.

The last evacuees

On April 28 Captain Ankarcrona led a column from the International Red Cross to the camp at Neu-Brandenburg. The transport passed advancing Soviet forces, collected 200 female prisoners and returned to Lübeck. Franz Göring, a Gestapo officer, organized a train from Hamburg which carried about 2000 women (960 Jews, 790 Poles and 250 French); this train arrived in Padborg on May 2. It is not counted in the Swedish Red Cross overview of rescued prisoners, but it seems appropriate to mention this transport in connection with the "white buses".

On April 30 the two Swedish ships Magdalena and Lillie Matthiessen sailed from Lübeck, the former with 223 female prisoners, the latter with 225. The transport had been organised by the Swedish doctor Hans Arnoldsson with the assistance of Bjørn Heger. They had to leave behind thousands of prisoners on several other ships that were bombed on May 3 by British planes, (the Cap Arcona disaster). The last group of female prisoners travelled from Copenhagen to Malmö by ferry on May 4.

Reception and accounting

The main reception station in Denmark was in the city of Padborg, on the border with Germany; the prisoners received food and medical treatment before they were transported through Denmark to Copenhagen. Transport to Sweden was by ferry to Malmö where the prisoners were received by Länsstyrelsen, (the county administration) and Civilförsvaret, (civil defense). Everyone that arrived was placed in quarantine, due to the risk of spreading infection. In all there were 23 billeting areas, most of them in Malmöhus län with about 11,000 beds. Ambulanting health centres, mostly manned by Norwegian and Danish doctors and nurses (themselves being refugees), took care of the prisoners. For some of the prisoners it was too late; 110 died after arriving in Sweden, most of them Polish.

According to the Swedish Red Cross a total of 15,345 prisoners were saved, of these 7,795 were Scandinavian and 7,550 from other countries. Around 1,500 German-Swedes were transported to Sweden. A total of 2,000 prisoners were transported from Neuengamme to other camps so that space was available for Scandinavian prisoners. Four hundred French prisoners were transported from Neuengamme or left in Theresienstadt as they could not be delivered to the camp in Flossenbürg.

The "white buses" expedition was a Swedish triumph that earned the country much goodwill, the return transports through Denmark were met by ecstatic crowds. On May 17 Count Bernadotte af Wisborg was on the balcony of the Royal castle in Oslo with the Norwegian crown prince.

The British diplomat Peter Tennant, who was stationed in Stockholm during the war, wrote:

The Swedish humanitarian efforts under and after the war did much to remove the dishonor the country had got during its acrobatic exercises in neutrality policy.

White Buses timeline

One of the remaining original White Buses

Another view of a White Bus

The interior

Year	Month/Date	Event
1940	August	The first Norwegian political prisoners are deported to Germany.
1942	October	The family of Johan Bernhard Hjort, interned at the castle Gross Kreutz outside Berlin, in Germany, start work to support the prisoners.
1943	September	The Danish coalition government resigns; deportations of Danish prisoners to Germany begin.
1944	January	Niels Christian Ditleff establishes contact with the group at Gross Kreutz.
	February	Carl Hammerich visits Sweden and has the first of several meetings with Ditleff, discussing the Scandinavian prisoners.
	September 22	Ditleff meets Bernadotte and suggests a Swedish expedition to save Scandinavian prisoners.
	September 23	Major Johan Koren Christie writes a PM which states that the prisoners shall "Stay Put".
	October	A report from the Gross Kreutz group written by Johan Bernhard Hjort argues that the Scandinavian prisoners must be moved out of Germany before the war ends.
	December	Felix Kersten, masseur to SS head Heinrich Himmler, manages to free 103 Scandinavian prisoners.
	December 29	The Norwegian government-in-exile in London changes its view and requests that the embassy in Stockholm research a possible Swedish expedition to rescue prisoners in Germany.
1945	February 5	Ditleff sends an official Norwegian PM to the Swedish foreign department, requesting a Swedish expedition to rescue the Scandinavian prisoners.
	February 16	Bernadotte travels to Berlin by plane, meets Himmler and discusses the release of political prisoners.
	March 12	The "white buses" arrive at Friedrichsruh, the base for the expedition in Germany.
	March 15	The first transport from Sachsenhausen to Neuengamme; 2,200 Norwegian and Danes are collected.
	March 19	The first transport collecting prisoners in the south of Germany; 559 prisoners are transported to Neuengamme. Five surviving Norwegian Jews in Buchenwald are left behind.
	March 26	The first transport of Swedish women married to Germans are carried to Sweden.
	March 27	Transport of French, Belgian, Dutch, Polish, and Russian prisoners from Neuengamme to make space for additional Scandinavian prisoners.
	March 29	The Swedish Red Cross gets access to the Neuengamme concentration camp.
	March 30	Transport from the area around Leipzig; some 1,200 prisoners are collected, 1,000 of them are Danish police and transported on to Denmark.
	April 2	A new Swedish column to the south of Germany, the camps at Mauthausen, Dachau and Vaihingen are visited; 75 prisoners are collected at Neuengamme.
	April 5	About half of the Swedish contingent return to Sweden; they are replaced by Danes.
	April 8	The first transport from Ravensbrück; 100 female prisoners are transported directly to Padborg in Denmark.
	April 9	A Swedish/Danish column travels to Berlin to collect political prisoners from jails; 211 prisoners are transported to Neuengamme. The evacuation of sick prisoners to Denmark starts.
	April 15	A total of 524 political prisoners from jails in Mecklenburg are collected; 423 Jews are transported from Theresienstadt to Denmark and Sweden.
	April 8	The first air attack against the "white buses" occurs at the Danish camp at Friedrichsruh, four Danish drivers and one nurse are slightly wounded.
	April 20	The evacuation of all Scandinavian prisoners from Neuengamme to Sweden through Denmark starts.
	April	Transport of sick prisoners from Ravensbrück; 786 and 360 female prisoners in two columns are taken to Padborg.
	April 2	One column with 934 female and one train with 3,989 female prisoners; the last "white buses" transport leaves from Ravensbrück.
	April 30	The Magdalena with 223 prisoners and Lillie Matthiessen with 225 female prisoners depart from Lübeck.
	May 2	2,000 female prisoners (960 Jews, 790 Poles, and 250 French) arrive in Padborg by train.
	May 3	Cap Arcona, a German passenger vessel filled with prisoners from Neuengamme is attacked by the RAF; almost all the 7,500 aboard the vessel die.
	May 4	The last transport leaves with rescued political prisoners transported by ferry from occupied Copenhagen in Denmark to Malmö in Sweden.

Later debate

After the end of the Second World War the expedition of the "white buses" was widely approved, as a result of the number of prisoners saved. However, the 2005 book Blind Fläck (Blind Spot) by Swedish historian Ingrid Lomfors raised questions regarding the priority given to Scandinavian prisoners. The debate has been in both Swedish and Norwegian newspapers. In a letter in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten on October 14, 2005 several political ex-prisoners wrote very critically of Lomfors and ended with:

On behalf of the Swedish government Folke Bernadotte and the crew on the 'white buses' performed the largest Swedish humanitarian action during the Second World War. The Swedish government should as soon as possible erect a monument in tribute to the expedition. Ingrid Lomfors should ask forgiveness from the Swedish Red Cross and the crew of the 'white buses' who risked their lives in the operation.

Bernt H. Lund, a former political prisoner in Sachsenhausen, was positive about the exposure of the moral dilemma that the prisoners experienced. In an article in the newspaper Aftenposten (August 20, 2005), he wrote extensively about the privileged status of many Scandinavian prisoners, about the shame of being treated better, and ends the article with:

But it feels right to have this out in broad daylight. A huge thank you to Ingrid Lomfors who in a proper way has removed a blind spot not only for our Swedish liberators, but also for us who assisted them in a difficult situation!

Some of the former prisoners and many of their descendants are still living in the south of Sweden; greater numbers are present in the city of Malmö where many of them first landed on arriving in Sweden.

References

• Heger, Wanda Hjort (1984), Hver fredag foran porten, Gyldendal, ISBN 82-05-14937-2 ("Every Friday at the gate", in Norwegian), German edition (1989) Jeden Freitag vor dem Tor Schneekluth, ISBN 3-7951-1132-3
• Persson, Sune (2002), «Vi åker till Sverige», De vita bussarna 1945. Bokförlaget Fischer & co. ISBN 91-85183-18-0 ("We go to Sweden. The white buses in 1945", in Swedish)
• Persson Sune (2000), Folke Bernadotte and the White Buses, J. Holocaust Education, Vol 9, Iss 2-3, 2000, 237-268. Also published in David Cesarani and Paul A. Levine (eds.), Bystanders to the Holocaust: A Re-evaluation Routledge, 2002.
• Lomfors, Ingrid (2005), Blind fläck: minne och glömska kring svenska Röda korsets hjälpinsats i Nazityskland 1945. Bokförlaget Atlantis. ISBN 91-7353-051-4 ("Blind spot: remembrance and forgetfulness of the Swedish Red Cross humanitarian aid in 1945 Nazi-Germany", in Swedish)

External links

• The White Buses
• The Danish Red Cross report about the "White Buses" (in Danish)
• Swedish Red Cross website about the "White Buses" (in Swedish)
  • A Swedish Red Cross report about the "White Buses" (in Swedish)
  • Demographics of those rescued (in Swedish)
  • Map of "White Buses" routes (in Swedish)
  • Bibliography (in Swedish)
• The Norwegian Hvite Busser Association (in Norwegian)
• M. Friedman: The road to freedom. An essay by survivor of the holocaust. From "The memory project", United States Holocaust Memorial Museum