White Buses

White Buses was a Swedish humanitarian operation with the objective of freeing Scandinavians in German concentration camps in Nazi Germany during the final stages of World War II. Although the White Buses operation was envisioned to rescue Scandinavians, one-half of those taken from the camps to Sweden were of other nationalities. The buses used to transport the prisoners were painted white with red crosses painted on the roof, side, front and back, so that the buses would not be mistaken for military targets by Allied air forces. Those allowed by the Germans to be freed from the concentration camps were transported by the white buses and trucks to the port city of Lübeck, Germany. Swedish ships took them onward to Malmö, Sweden. Danes continued on by land on the white buses to Denmark.

Swedish diplomat Folke Bernadotte and others negotiated the White Buses operation with German officials, especially Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler. Although estimates of those rescued vary, the Swedish Red Cross estimated that about 300 Swedish volunteers, mostly military personnel, removed 15,345 prisoners from concentration camps in March and April 1945. 7,795 were Norwegian and Danish prisoners and 7,550 were other nationalities. After the German capitulation on 8 May 1945, another 10,000 people were rescued in May and June 1945 by "White Boats."

The operation was a humanitarian success and saved the lives of many who would have died of deprivation or execution in the concentration camps. The operation has been criticized for being too one-sided a rescue operation for Scandinavians, for not helping prisoners of other nationalities to the same extent, and for cooperating with the German Gestapo. The number of Jews among those rescued cannot be determined as the former prisoners were registered by nationality and not ethnic group or religion.

Danish and Norwegian prisoners in Germany

Denmark and Norway were invaded by Germany on 9 April 1940. A number of Norwegians were immediately arrested, and two months later the occupying force established the first prisoners' camp at Ulven outside Bergen. As tensions intensified between the Nazi authorities and the resistance, increasing numbers of Norwegians were arrested and detained in Norwegian prisons and camps; and later deported to camps in Germany. The first groups of Norwegian prisoners arrived in Sachsenhausen camp in early 1940.

Arrests in Denmark began with the resignation of the coalition government in the summer of 1943.

The Norwegian and Danish prisoners in Germany were divided into various categories, from the so-called civil interned who lived privately and had certain freedoms, to the ''Nacht und Nebel'' (NN) or "Night and Fog" prisoners who were made to disappear without a trace. As the number of Scandinavian prisoners increased, various groups organised relief work for them. The Norwegian seamen's priests in Hamburg, Arne Berge and Conrad Vogt-Svendsen, visited prisoners, brought them food and brought letters to their families in Norway and Denmark. Vogt-Svendsen also made contact with the civilians interned at ''Gross Kreutz'', the Norwegian families Hjort and Seip. Together with other Scandinavians, the group at ''Gross Kreutz'' compiled extensive lists of prisoners and their location. The lists were then sent to the Norwegian government-in-exile in London through the Swedish embassy in Berlin. In Stockholm the Norwegian diplomat Niels Christian Ditleff engaged himself heavily with the fate of the Scandinavian prisoners. By the end of 1944, there were around 8,000 Norwegian prisoners in Germany, in addition to around 1,125 Norwegian prisoners of war.

On the Danish side, Admiral Carl Hammerich had long worked with secret plans for an expedition code-named the ''Jyllandskorps'' to save Danish and Norwegian prisoners from the German camps. Hammerich had good connections with the Norwegian seaman's priests, the ''Gross Kreutz'' group and with Niels Christian Ditleff in Stockholm. By the beginning of 1945 there were around 6,000 Danish prisoners in Germany. During 1944 the Danes made extensive planning efforts, including the registration of prisoners and plans for transporting resources and making available food, shelter and quarantine for the prisoners, if they succeeded in reaching Denmark. Hammerich visited Stockholm in February, April and July 1944 and discussed the plans with Ditleff.

Preliminary considerations

As the Allied forces approached Germany at the end of 1944, SHAEF decided what to do with Allied prisoners. Within the Norwegian government, Major Johan Koren Christie wrote a memorandum on 23 September; the Norwegian prisoners should "stay put", and wait until they were liberated by the advancing Allied forces. The ''Gross Kreutz'' group learned of this policy a month later and reacted swiftly, with Johan Bernhard Hjort writing a report advising against the proposal. His arguments were that the prisoners risked being murdered and that they had to be rescued before Germany was occupied.

He wrote:

It is therefore strongly suggested that the Norwegian government considers the possibility that the Swedish government could be induced to intervene to help at least the Norwegian and Danish civil prisoners in Germany, including those in prisons, with the aim of transporting them to Sweden, where they if feasible may stay until the war has ended.

This October 1944 report from Hjort was the first time a Swedish operation for the Scandinavian prisoners is mentioned. At first the proposal was unfavourably received. Rescue of the prisoners was seen as a Norwegian responsibility and the Norwegian government was reluctant to give the Swedes any chance to distinguish themselves at the end of the war.

Norwegian diplomat Niels Christian Ditleff in Stockholm refused to accept the guidelines from the Norwegian government and continued to implore both Swedes and the Swedish foreign department for Sweden to rescue Scandinavian prisoners. In September 1944, Ditleff raised the question with Count Folke Bernadotte of the Swedish Red Cross, who immediately supported the plan. On 30 November, Ditleff delivered his memorandum "Reasons for a Swedish operation for rescuing prisoners" to the Swedish foreign office, but still on his own initiative. On 29 December, the Norwegian government changed its position and instructed its embassy in Stockholm to discuss the possibility of a Swedish operation aimed at rescuing Scandinavian prisoners.

While Ditleff tried to influence the exiled Norwegian government, the Danes obtained a German permit to retrieve prisoners. The first ones transported back to Denmark were Danish policemen from Buchenwald, with the first transport started on 5 December. By the end of February 1945, the Danes had transported 341 prisoners home, most of them ill. These journeys gave the Danes valuable experience that later benefitted the "White Buses".

Negotiations with Germany

Felix Kersten, the personal doctor of Nazi Germany's Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, set the table for the release of internees in German concentration camps. Kersten, resident in Sweden, had previously negotiated with Himmler for the release of several internees in concentration camps and had discussed the ways and means of ensuring the safety of Danish and Norwegians internees with both Norwegian diplomat Ditleff and Himmler.

On 5 February 1945, Ditleff proposed officially that the Sweden undertake a rescue mission for people interned in German concentration camps and send a delegation to Germany to negotiate the rescue mission. The Swedish Foreign Ministry approved the plan on 10 February, designating diplomat Folke Bernadotte to initiate talks with Nazi Germany to "attempt to obtain the release of Norwegian and Danish internees in Germany and their transportation to Sweden or Denmark." As Germany faced imminent defeat by the Allied forces, the Swedes feared that the Germans might liquidate all prisoners in their concentration camps. From 17 to 21 February, Bernadotte met with senior Nazi officials including Himmler. Bernadotte alluded to the possibility that neutral Sweden might not remain neutral, implying that Sweden might enter the war on the Allied side if relations between the two countries did not improve. That argument had weight, as Sweden was the major supplier of iron ore to Germany. With defeat nearly certain for Germany, Himmler was attempting to ingratiate himself with the Allies and neutral states such as Sweden. Himmler and other German officials agreed in principle to the rescue operation which foresaw that all Norwegian and Danish prisoners of the Germans would be gathered together in one camp for their safety and meeting their humanitarian needs. Himmler estimated the Danish and Norwegian prisoners numbered 2,000 to 3,000; Bernadotte had evidence they numbered 13,000. The Germans said that all resources for the operation must come from Sweden and the Swedish Red Cross. Himmler also demanded that there be no publicity about the operation as Adolf Hitler was opposed to prisoner releases.

Parallel with Bernadotte's attempts, Danish authorities – especially the Danish ambassador in Berlin, Otto Carl Mohr – tried to secure the release of more Danish prisoners. Swedish and Danish aims differed slightly. The Swedes negotiated with Himmler and Schellenberg and concentrated on gathering the prisoners in Neuengamme. The Danes negotiated with Kaltenbrunner and tried to secure permission to have the prisoners released, or possibly interned in Denmark. On 12 March the Danes obtained permission for three transports and until 21 March a total of 262 Danish prisoners of various categories were moved back to Denmark using Danish vehicles. From 21 March there was a break in Danish transports and the Swedes took over.

Swedish aid

Sweden was the only Nordic country that remained neutral during the Second World War.

The Baltic German Felix Kersten was Himmler's personal masseur. He lived in Stockholm and acted as an intermediary between the Swedish foreign department and Himmler. Walter Schellenberg, a trusted subordinate of Himmler, had long held the view that Germany would lose the war and encouraged Himmler to explore the possibility of a separate peace treaty with the Western powers; in this Sweden could be a useful intermediary. With Kersten's assistance the Swedish foreign department was able to free 50 Norwegian students, 50 Danish policemen and 3 Swedes in December 1944. An absolute condition for the release of the prisoners was that it should be hidden from the press; if Hitler got to know about it further repatriations would be impossible.

Ditleff sent a new memorandum on 5 February 1945, this time as an official Norwegian request. Sweden was solicited for sending a Red Cross delegation to Berlin to negotiate the position of the Scandinavian prisoners, and if successful to send a Swedish relief expedition. The Swedish foreign minister Christian Günther was in favour and the Swedish government gave permission for Bernadotte, second in command of the Swedish Red Cross:

Bernadotte flew to Berlin on 16 February and met several Nazi leaders such as the foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, head of the RSHA (Reich Main Security Office), Himmler and Schellenberg. Himmler, who was one of the most powerful people in Nazi Germany, was initially negative to the transportation of prisoners to neutral Sweden. The prisoners could be trained as police troops, as Sweden already did with other Norwegians and Danes. Bernadotte had to fall back on his secondary proposal – that the prisoners should be assembled in one camp so the Swedish Red Cross could support them. Bernadotte told Himmler he estimated the number of Scandinavian prisoners to be around 13,000 while Himmler held it could not be more than two or three thousand.

During a second meeting with Schellenberg on 21 February, Bernadotte got word from Himmler that he had accepted the proposal to assemble the Scandinavian prisoners in one camp. During the visit to Berlin Bernadotte also had several meetings with the ''Gross Kreutz'' group, Didrik Arup Seip, Conrad Vogt-Svendsen, Wanda Hjort and Bjørn Heger. Bernadotte's secondary proposal to Himmler, which he accepted, was prepared by Heger.

Establishing the expedition

The foundation of the White Buses expedition was several years of planning and information collection by Danes and Norwegians. This was used by the Swedes without many alterations. The Swedish Red Cross contacted the Swedish Army who supplied the needed transport. In reality this was:

Composition of the expedition force

* 308 personnel, among them about 20 doctors and nurses, the rest were volunteers from the supply regiments T 1, T 3 and T 4; they were commanded by Colonel Gottfrid Björck as he was the inspector general for the Swedish Army Service Troops
* 36 ambulance buses
* 19 trucks
* 7 passenger cars
* 7 motorcycles
* rescue and workshop trucks and a field kitchen
* all necessary equipment, including food, fuel and spare parts, as nothing could be had once in Germany
* The vessels ''Lillie Matthiessen'' sailing to Lübeck with 350 tons of fuel and 6,000 food parcels for the prisoners, later the ''Magdalena'', both from the Salén shipping line

The force was divided into three bus platoons (each with 12 buses), one truck platoon (with 12 vehicles), and one supply platoon. Total transport capacity for the force was 1,000 personnel for longer distances or 1,200 personnel for shorter distances where the trucks could also be used. The buses used Motyl (a mixture of 50% gasoline and 50% ethanol) and had eight stretchers or seats for 30 passengers. They used 0.5 litres of fuel per kilometre (5.6 imperial mpg); with full tanks they could cover . Each bus carried two drivers.

To avoid publicity in the newspapers the Swedish state information bureau distributed so-called "grey notices" where the editors were instructed to avoid stories about the expedition.

The Danish ambassador in Stockholm had offered a larger force (40 buses, 30 trucks, 18 ambulances and other vehicles). Bernadotte had considered a mixed Swedish-Danish expedition, this offer was turned down on 23 February, due to the German requirement that the expedition force had to be Swedish.

Departure

The first section of the expedition departed Hässleholm on 8 March and boarded the ferry from Malmö to Copenhagen. The Danish resistance movement was informed and supported the idea of the expedition. On 12 March, the first part of the expedition had reached its headquarters, Friedrichsruh castle, situated 30 km southeast of Hamburg. The castle was near the Neuengamme concentration camp, where the Scandinavian prisoners were to be assembled. Friedrichsruh castle was owned by Otto von Bismarck, a friend of Bernadotte and married to a Swede. The expedition staff were lodged in the castle and a nearby pub, while the men established a tented camp in the park surrounding the castle.

The expedition had German liaison officers; the most prominent of them being Himmler's communications officer, '' SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Karl Rennau, while Franz Göring was a liaison officer with the Gestapo. The expedition had around 40 German communication, SS and Gestapo officers. The Germans demanded that every second vehicle should have a German officer on board. The "White Buses" expedition was totally dependent on cooperation with the Germans as the country under Nazi rule was a police state. Only with liaison personnel from the Gestapo and SS could the expedition move without restrictions.

Bernadotte had promised Schellenberg to have the expedition in Warnemünde on 3 March, but it was delayed by more than a week. The main reason for this was the difficulty in obtaining guarantees from the Allied forces to ensure that the expedition would not be attacked. At this stage in the war, the Allies had total air superiority and regularly attacked transport on German roads. The "White Buses" expedition would move mainly within areas controlled by the Royal Air Force. On 8 March, the British government informed the Swedish foreign department that it was informed about the expedition but that it could not give any guarantees against attacks, and that the Swedish expedition was on its own within Germany. Some of the vehicles were hit by Allied aircraft strafing the roads, killing one Swedish driver and 25 concentration camp prisoners.

Transports begin

The mission became known for its buses, which, with the exception of the Red Cross emblem on their sides, were painted entirely white so that they would not be mistaken for military vehicles. In total it included 308 personnel (about 20 medics and the rest volunteer soldiers), 36 hospital buses, 19 trucks, seven passenger cars, seven motorcycles, a tow truck, a field kitchen, and full supplies for the entire trip, including food and gasoline, none of which was permitted to be obtained in Germany. A count of 21,000 people rescued included 8,000 Danes and Norwegians, 5,911 Poles, 2,629 French, 1,615 Jews, and 1,124 Germans.
The expedition in Friedrichsruh was divided into two groups, the first being assigned the responsibility of transporting prisoners from Sachsenhausen, north of Berlin, to Neuengamme. The evacuations started on 15 March, over a distance of around 540 kilometres. During seven missions, around 2,200 Danes and Norwegians were transferred to Neuengamme.

Sven Frykman, who commanded one of the columns, wrote about the prisoners and the drive:

In general they were in relative good shape compared to other prisoners I have seen and one could not complain regarding their personal hygiene. They related that the food packs they had received from Norway and Denmark had kept their spirits up and recently the treatment had been noticeably better. They were all touching '' ic' thankful and happy. I believe that all of us that have had the option of helping these poor people in Germany have experienced such an overwhelming gratitude that it is enough for the rest of our lives.

As the prisoners were being picked up in Sachsenhausen, their names were checked with the group from ''Gross Kreutz'', to make sure no one was left behind.

The other group was responsible for collecting prisoners from southern Germany. This included Dachau to the north of Munich, Schönberg (some 80 kilometres south of Stuttgart) and Mauthausen (12 kilometres/7.5 miles east of Linz). The distances for this mission were greater, as Munich alone was away. Adding to the difficulties was the delay that the transports faced due to a lack of fuel. The first column started out on 19 March, including 35 vehicles under Colonel Björck, which returned to Neuengamme on 24 March. The journey back was difficult as most of the prisoners were in poor physical condition, as Swedish nurse Margaretha Björcke documented:

I have never in my twelve years practice as a nurse seen so much misery as I here witnessed. Legs, backs and necks full of wounds of a type that an average Swede would be on sick leave for just one of them. I counted twenty on one prisoner, and he did not complain.

This first transport collected 550 prisoners while 67 very sick prisoners were left behind. A huge problem during the transports was the prisoners' chronic diarrhoea. This situation was subsequently remedied by the Danes supplying portable toilets of a type that had been used during their transports.

Due to the Swedish transports Neuengamme received ever more prisoners, and the concentration of Scandinavian prisoners that Himmler had promised did not materialize. Swedish health personnel and the buses were not allowed to enter the camp as the Germans would not let the Swedes see the camp. Instead the prisoners had to march to the buses.

Swedes to Sweden

Early in February a small Swedish Red Cross detachment under Captain Hultgren arrived in Berlin: six men, two buses and a private car. Their mission was to transport Swedish-born women who were married to German men, and who needed to escape before the collapse of Germany, which was imminent. The evacuation started on 26 March, and 1,400 women and children of Swedish descent arrived in Malmö by 20 April, via Lübeck and Denmark.

Assisting the SS

Neuengamme concentration camp was overcrowded, and to have space for the Scandinavian prisoners, the SS insisted that prisoners of other nationalities be moved to other camps. The SS commander had no transport of his own and required that the white buses accept the transports, so the newly arrived Scandinavians could solely occupy the ''Schonungsblock'', a barrack building for prisoners not fit to work. Around 2,000 French, Belgian, Dutch, Russian and Polish prisoners were transported to other camps. Most of the transports of prisoners for the SS took place between 27 and 29 March, from Neuengamme to subcamps in Hannover and Salzgitter and to Bergen-Belsen. During the evacuations some 50 to 100 prisoners died, and many more died in the worse conditions in the new camps to which they were transported, having been moved to avoid the advancing Allied armies.

The Swedish sub-lieutenant Åke Svenson wrote:

The last transport for the SS was undertaken as late as 13 April, with around 450 so-called prominent French prisoners (senators, leading businessmen, etc.) who the Germans stated would be repatriated through Switzerland. According to the plan, the prisoners would be delivered to the concentration camp at Flossenburg. From there they should be transported to Switzerland by the Swiss Red Cross. The promise of the transport to Switzerland was a lie and that camp was full, so the prisoners were taken to Theresienstadt where the "white buses" were heading to pick up 400 Danish Jews.

Gathering in Neuengamme

Convoys on 30 March and 2 April collected Danish police and some Norwegians, 1,200 in all, from the camps at Torgau, Mühlberg and Oschatz near Leipzig. The Danish policemen were taken to Denmark in two columns between 3 and 5 April; on 23 April around 1,000 of these were sent to Sweden.

On 29 March the Swedish Red Cross personnel were finally given access to Neuengamme as well as medicine, blankets, personal hygiene articles and food. A Scandinavian block was established and the conditions there became so good that prisoners from other nations became negative about the privileged Scandinavian prisoners.

Bernadotte arrived in Berlin from Stockholm on 28 March for renewed negotiations with Himmler. He was to gain permission to transfer the Scandinavian prisoners from Neuengamme to Sweden, have access to the whole of the camp and if possible, also take Jewish prisoners to Sweden. On 30 March Bernadotte had his first chance to visit the Neuengamme camp.

A Danish prisoner, J. B. Holmgård, wrote:

By the beginning of April, most of the Scandinavian prisoners in Germany had been gathered in Neuengamme. The mission dragged out; Colonel Björck returned to Sweden and a new commander for the column was appointed, Major Sven Frykman. Some of the personnel also left, but after a promise of double daily pay, around 130 men, half of the force, stayed.

On 2 April a new Swedish column set off for the south of Germany to collect the remaining prisoners from Mauthausen and Dachau. One bus with the Norwegian doctor Bjørn Heger was assigned to search for 30 prisoners which the "Gross Kreutz" group presumed were in the area around Schömberg. The conditions were difficult, Axel Molin (one of the busdrivers) wrote:

In the subcamp at Vaihingen, only 16 of the 30 prisoners were found alive; the rest were dead. Among the survivors, all of whom were severely weak, were Trygve Bratteli and Kristian Ottosen. This column saved a total of 75 prisoners: 16 from Vaihingen, 16 female NN prisoners from Mauthausen and 43 seriously ill men from Dachau.

The Danes join

On 5 April close to half of the Swedes returned to Sweden and they were replaced by Danes. This was accepted by the Germans and the Swedish foreign department. The Danes mustered 33 buses, 14 ambulances, seven lorries and four private cars. They were led by Frants Hvass from the Danish foreign department. The Danish contingent were coordinated with the Swedish and from 8 April the "white buses" were a mixed Swedish-Danish expedition, with the Swedes in command. The Danish vehicles were also painted white, but displayed the Danish flag, (the Dannebrog), instead of the Red Cross.

Prisoners kept in ordinary jails were a separate category, and the "white buses" were only allowed to collect these prisoners in April. On 9 April a mixed Swedish-Danish column under Captain Folke travelled to Berlin to transport 200 prisoners from various jails; knowledge of their location was the result of the work of the Reverend Vogt-Svendsen. A total of 211 prisoners were collected from some 20 establishments, among them Dresden, Cottbus, Luckau, Zeithain, Groitzsch and Waldheim (east of Dresden). On the return trip to Neuengamme on 11 April, the column witnessed for the first time a German car painted white with Red Cross markings, in a similar manner to the "white buses". On April 15 a column collected 524 prisoners from jails in Mecklenburg.

Theresienstadt

The Danish Jews who had not been able to escape the arrests of 1943 had been deported to Theresienstadt, near the city of Terezín in today's Czech Republic. It required patience before the Germans gave permission to proceed, and time was short; the Allies were approaching. In the end the German liaison officer, Rennau, managed to get authorisation from the ''Gestapo'', and on 12 April a column set out under the command of Captain Folke with 23 Swedish buses, 12 private cars, motorcycles and a number of Danish ambulances with Danish doctors and nurses.

The situation in Germany was now critical, and the Swedish drivers were informed that the trip would be very dangerous. At the last minute, the Swedish foreign department tried to stop the departure, as they had been informed that Soviet forces had blocked the road, but the column departed anyway. On 15 April the column had collected 423 Scandinavian Jews from Theresienstadt and started on the perilous return journey. On the way back the column passed Dresden, which had been bombed a month before and had an overnight stop near Potsdam, which had been bombed the same night. The transport reached Padborg