Bengt Rabaeus (4 May 1917 – 31 July 2010) was a Swedish

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or interna ...

Early life

Rabaeus was born on 4 May 1917 in

Vara Vara or VARA may refer to: Geography *Vara (river), in Liguria, Italy * Vara Parish, former municipality in Tartu County, Estonia * Vara, Estonia, village in Peipsiääre Parish, Tartu County, Estonia *Vara Municipality, municipality in western Sw ...

, Sweden, the son of the senior teacher David Ohlson and his wife Ingegärd (née Bengtson). He passed his '' studentexamen'' from Katedralskolan in

Skara Skara is a locality and the seat of Skara Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 18,580 inhabitants in 2013. Despite its small size, it is one of the oldest cities in Sweden, and has a long educational and ecclesiastical history. O ...

in 1937 and took a reserve officer exam in 1940. Rabaeus received a

Master of Philosophy The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil ...

degree from

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 during ...

in 1946 and became attaché at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1946.

Career

He served in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

from 1946 to 1949 and in

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. Si ...

from 1949 to 1950. Rabaeus was a

civil law notary Civil-law notaries, or Latin notaries, are lawyers of noncontentious private civil law who draft, take, and record legal instruments for private parties, provide legal advice and give attendance in person, and are vested as public officers wi ...

in the Committee on Foreign Affairs from 1951 to 1955, second secretary at the Foreign Ministry in 1952, secretary of the committee for the revision of the

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a legal agreement between many countries, whose overall purpose was to promote international trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs or quotas. According to its pr ...

agreement from 1954 to 1955 and was first embassy secretary of Permanent Representative of Sweden to the United Nations in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1955. Rabeus was embassy counsellor in Paris while serving in the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation delegation from 1957 to 1959. He was director at the Foreign Ministry from 1959 to 1961, embassy counsellor in Paris from 1961 to 1963 and ambassador in

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...

from 1963 to 1966. He was deputy secretary general of the

European Free Trade Association The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a regional trade organization and free trade area consisting of four European states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The organization operates in parallel with the European U ...

from 1966 and the secretary general from 1972 to 1975. Rabaeus was then deputy State Secretary for Foreign Affairs at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs from 1975 to 1978 and ambassador and head of the Swedish delegation to the

European Communities The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), and the ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

from 1978 to 1983. He was chairman of Skara Deacons Association (''Skaradjäknarnas förening'') from 1977 to 1985, deputy chairman of the Swedish Pulp and Paper Mills Association (''Svenska cellulosa- och pappersbruksföreningen'') from 1983 and chairman of the Swedish Forest Industries Federation (''Skogsindustrierna'') from 1984 to 1989.

Personal life

In 1946 Rabaeus married Birgitta Svenson (1919–1987), daughter of the director Arvid Svenson and his wife. He is the father of the actor

Johan Rabaeus Johan Rabaeus (born ''Carl Magnus Olof Johan Rabéus'' 31 July 1947) is a Swedish actor who was born in Stockholm but grew up in Paris and Geneva. He is known for portraying very unpleasant characters, such as Erik Ponti's sadistic stepfather i ...

(born 1947), Michael (born 1951) and Henrik (born 1954).

Awards and decorations

Officer of the

Order of the Black Star The Order of the Black Star (''Ordre de l'Étoile Noire'') was an order of knighthood established on 1 December 1889 at Porto-Novo by Toffa, future king of Dahomey (today the Republic of Benin). Approved and recognised by the French government ...

FIN_Order_of_the_Lion_of_Finland_4Class_BAR

Knight, First Class of the

Order of the Lion of Finland The Order of the Lion of Finland ( fi, Suomen Leijonan ritarikunta; sv, Finlands Lejons orden) is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty and the Order of the White Rose of Finland. The President ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rabaeus, Bengt 1917 births 2010 deaths Ambassadors of Sweden to Algeria Uppsala University alumni People from Vara Municipality Knights First Class of the Order of the Lion of Finland