The Extradition of the Balts from Sweden to the USSR –Baltutlämningen – retold

Abstract

The tragic event when Sweden extradited the Balts to the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1946 has been discussed in numerous publications in scientific literature, belles-lettres, and fiction (P. O. Enquist: Legionärerna. En roman om baltutlämningen, 1968), and on the screen (J. Bergen-stråhle: Baltutlämningen, 1970). Sometimes, when historic events are described, deviations from facts, omissions and errors are introduced. The present aim is to summarise some of these and show their possible effects on the overall description of a historical event. Examples were obtained from a review by Kristensen and Burman (2018). The results show that while care should be taken to avoid deviations, omissions and errors, if sufficiently numerous, they may lead to a skewed interpretation of the historical event. Furthermore, the authors “argue that Enquist established a Swedish war trauma that was not self-evident in the social imagination before his novel”, and that the film “changes the focus of the trauma by downplaying the bad conscience of the Swedes”. However, these lines of thought were not followed up, and the authors did not take the opportunity to discuss what could have been a logical continuation. Namely, the possible post-factum application by Enquist of a rhetorical strategy known as playing the victim. This is when an aggressor pretends to be a victim to justify his or her own aggression. In conclusion, the present results suggest that deviations from facts, omissions, and errors may seriously distort the description of the actual event and lead to conclusions not supported by evidence.