Who we are as people is so intricately intertwined with our birth place, the ideals and values of that said country and our ability or inability to accept them as our own. Pride, statesmanship, loyalty and even honor are some of the feelings and actions that become a part of one’s self-image in relation to the enthusiasm one has for one’s country. Nonetheless, protest, disgust, criticism and distance are just as valid displays of one’s enthusiasm in a country’s values, practices and/or methods that are and have been less than ideal.
Homeland affairs are sort of like a relationship where it’s better to fix one’s own problems before involving everyone else. However, when the government acts as the parent and the main populace are the children, the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ rule can be a major cause of contention.
Last Saturday, I saw the final performance of a two-man play entitled “A Swedish Tiger”. Written by Goran Gillinger and Jens Oestberg, the somewhat avant-garde dramatization takes on the task of examining Sweden’s role in aiding Germany during the Holocaust. These two Swedish natives use irony to explain heavy topics such as the public neutrality claimed by their country, the reasons it feels privileged enough to do so, and the actuality of the matter.
The entire drama focuses on the popular slogan, that is also a cartoon tiger striped in the national colors of yellow and blue, dubbed “En Svensk Tiger” or “A Swedish Tiger”. Interestingly enough the phrase became the motto of the Second World War, as it also means “A Swede Keeps Quiet”. This double entendre became the crux of a vigilant campaign that began in November 1941 to ensure that Swedes kept quiet about all the information and secrets regarding the country.
As The Ghost, the main character played by Gillinger, articulates and illustrates through eerie humor that travels back in time either recounting stories about his grandfather who he later discovered was a Hitler supporter or by spewing off a list of guilty accounts in interrogation style, the main point is to inform the audience of a side of Sweden that is less known. The accompanying character The Tiger, played by Daniel Edwards, is the antithesis of the typical ferocious wild beast that we know. The director, however, opts to portray the tiger as somewhat effeminate, silly, empty-headed and comical.
Towards the end of the play all of the dirty family secrets are exposed and it is revealed that the Swedish government allowed Germany to use its’ railroads to transport prisoners and equipment through the country to occupied Norway. Sweden also built prison camps in the north to imprison Norwegian refugees, and most shockingly the Swedish government made important changes to its constitution in order to assist German forces.
Sweden prides itself on being a neutral country, however “En Svensk Tiger” begs the question of whether or not the ‘Ghost of History’ has ever left them…
