Eric Salomon Hallgren (20 October 1880 – 17 October 1956) was a Swedish police and civil servant. He was the first chief of the General Security Service (''Allmänna säkerhetstjänsten''), the predecessor of the

Swedish Security Service The Swedish Security Service ( sv, Säkerhetspolisen , abbreviated SÄPO ; until 1989 ''Rikspolisstyrelsens säkerhetsavdelning'', abbreviated RPS/Säk) is a Swedish government agency organised under the Ministry of Justice. It operates as a s ...

(Säpo), serving from 1938 to 1945.

Early life and education

Hallgren was born 20 October 1880 in

Hedvig Eleonora Parish Hedvig Eleonora Parish ( sv, Hedvig Eleonora församling) is a parish in Östermalm's church district (''kontrakt'') in the Diocese of Stockholm, Sweden. The parish is located in Stockholm Municipality in Stockholm County. The parish forms its own ...

, Stockholm, Sweden the son of And. Salomon Hallgren, a police inspector, and his wife Fanny (née Strömmers). He completed his civil service degree in law (''hovrättsexamen'') at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. The university rose to significance durin ...

in 1905.

Career

Following his graduation Hallgren served as notary at the Office of the Governor of Stockholm for police matters in 1910. Hallgren was acting police inspector and director of the Detective Department in 1917 and was 3rd Superintendent and director of the Criminal Department the same year. He was also a member of the police force in

Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ...

during the

1920 Schleswig plebiscites The Schleswig plebiscites were two plebiscites, organized according to section XII, articles 100 to 115 of the Treaty of Versailles of 28 June 1919, in order to determine the future border between Denmark and Germany through the former Duchy of S ...

. Hallgren conducted study trips to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

in 1920 and participated in international police congresses in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

in 1923,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in 1923,

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

in 1926, Antwerp in 1930,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

in 1931,

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

in 1935, and Belgrade in 1936. Hallgren served as chief superintendent from 1930 to 1936 and deputy governor of Stockholm (''Underståthållare'') from 1937 Between 1931 and 1938 he served as the Swedish commissioner of the

International Criminal Police Commission The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

(today Interpol), an organization initiated in 1923 by several European and non-European countries. His tenure ended in 1938 when Erik Ros was named as the commissioner to the organization. Hallgren became chairman of the ''Stockholms luftskyddsförbund'' ("Stockholm Air Protection Association") in 1938. When the Swedish civil security service, ''Hemliga statspolisen'' ("Secret State Police") or General Security Service (''Allmänna säkerhetstjänsten'') was established after a government decision on 10 June 1938, the operations was led by Hallgren. It was first organized as a secret department around the 6th Division within the Criminal Police (''Kriminalpolisen'') and was for a long time called Svestapo or Hestapo (after

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one or ...

) by those concerned. Hallgren left the position in 1945 and was succeeded by Georg Thulin.

Personal life

In 1909 he married Ellen Hildur Boqvist (born 1876), the daughter of Per Ad. Boqvist and Hilda Nyström. Hallgren died on 17 October 1956 in the same parish he was born.

Awards and decorations

Hallgren's awards: *Commander Grand Cross of the

Order of the Polar Star The Royal Order of the Polar Star (Swedish: ''Kungliga Nordstjärneorden'') is a Swedish order of chivalry created by King Frederick I on 23 February 1748, together with the Order of the Sword and the Order of the Seraphim. The Order of ...

*Knight of the

Order of Vasa The Royal Order of Vasa () is a Swedish order of chivalry, awarded to citizens of Sweden for service to state and society especially in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce. It was instituted on 29 May 1772 by King Gustav III. It was ...

*Grand Officer of the

Order of Leopold II The Order of Leopold II is an order of Belgium and is named in honor of King Leopold II. The decoration was established on 24 August 1900 by Leopold II as Sovereign of the Congo Free State and was in 1908, upon Congo being handed over to Belgium ...

*Commander First Class of the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known ...

*Commander First Class of the

Order of the White Star The Order of the White Star ( et, Valgetähe teenetemärk; french: Ordre de l'Etoile Blanche) was instituted in 1936. The Order of the White Star is bestowed on Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Balti ...

*Commander of the

Order of the White Rose of Finland The Order of the White Rose of Finland ( fi, Suomen Valkoisen Ruusun ritarikunta; sv, Finlands Vita Ros’ orden) is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty, and the Order of the Lion of Finland. ...

*Knight of the Order of St. Olav *Commander Second Class of the

Order of Civil Merit The Order of Civil Merit ( es, Orden del Mérito Civil) was established by King Alfonso XIII of Spain in 1926. The order recognizes "the civic virtue of officers in the service of the Nation, as well as extraordinary service by Spanish and fore ...

* Officier de l'Instruction Publique

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hallgren, Eric 1880 births 1956 deaths Swedish police officers Swedish civil servants People from Stockholm Uppsala University alumni Commanders Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star Knights of the Order of Vasa Swedish people of World War II