Allan Vougt

Allan Georg Fredrik Vougt (28 April 1895 – 24 January 1953) was a Swedish Social Democratic politician and minister for defence 1945 - 1951.[1] He was also the Social Democratic group leader in the Second House.[2] He remained minister until the Social Democratic-Agrarian Union coalition government was formed despite criticism from Tage Erlander, the prime minister.[3] He was the Governor of Malmöhus County from 1951 to his death in 1953.

Vougt was also a journalist and served as the editor-in-chief for the daily newspaper Arbetet during Hitler's occupation of Denmark and Norway, where he stated that Germany seemed "predestined to occupy a dominant position in a united Europe", a position which he claimed "no reasonable man, here in Scandinavia, would contest.".[4] He was sent to Denmark on behalf of the Social Democrats and wondered if the party should move in a new direction, as had the Danes and Norwegians, in cooperation with Nazi Germany based on pragmatic considerations rather than Nazi sympathies.[2] However this view was largely rejected; Vougt, alongside other "men of 1940", was attacked for his defeatism and appeasing attitude that characterized the Social Democrats in the years around 1940.[5] Vought's term as editor-in-chief of Arbetet ended in 1944 when he was replaced by Gösta Netzén.[6]

As the editor-in-chief, a suit was brought against Vougt for libeling Benito Mussolini, who had been described by Arbetet as a madman. The Swedish press initially believed the suit had been brought by the Italian government as a demand for redress; it was later revealed that the proceedings commenced entirely at the initiative of the Swedish government.[7] An anthology of Vougt's wartime articles was published by Arbetet under the title The Swedish Perspective.

Vougt was interviewed by journalist C. L. Sulzberger as defense minister and was described as "a man with a reputation for sticking his neck out.". Sulzberger noted that Vougt was unpopular with his American counterparts who believed he gave permission to Germany to send troops across Sweden during the war.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "918 (Vem är det : Svensk biografisk handbok / 1943)". runeberg.org (in Swedish). Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  2. 1 2 Misgeld, Klaus; Molin, Karl (2010-11-01). Creating Social Democracy: A Century of the Social Democratic Labor Party in Sweden. Penn State Press. p. 354. ISBN 978-0-271-04344-9.
  3. ↑ Ruin, Olof (1989-04-15). Tage Erlander: Serving the Welfare State, 1946-1969. University of Pittsburgh Pre. pp. 113–114. ISBN 978-0-8229-7667-7.
  4. ↑ Witoszek, Nina; Trägårdh, Lars (2002). Culture and Crisis: The Case of Germany and Sweden. Berghahn Books. p. 148. ISBN 978-1-57181-270-4.
  5. ↑ Östling, Johan (2016-06-01). Sweden after Nazism: Politics and Culture in the Wake of the Second World War. Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-1-78533-143-5.
  6. ↑ "K Gösta Netzén". Riksarkivet (in Swedish). Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  7. ↑ VINCENT, JOHN MARTIN (1927). "Spain Concludes Moroccan Campaign". Current History. 26 (6): 983–985. ISSN 2641-080X. JSTOR 45332537.
  8. ↑ SULZBERGER, C. L. (1969). A LONG ROW OF CANDLES: MEMOIRS AND DIARIES (1934-1954). p. 446.


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