Jonas Arthur Engberg (1 January 1888 – 27 March 1944), was a Swedish

Social Democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

politician. He was a

Member of the Riksdag Members of Parliament (Swedish language, Swedish: ''riksdagsledamöter'', singular: ''riksdagsledamot'') in Sweden sit in the Riksdag. Description ''Members of Parliament'' refers to the elected members of the Riksdag. In Swedish, an MP is us ...

1917–1940, as well as

minister of education and ecclesiastical affairs The Minister of Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs () was a member of the government of Sweden. The minister of education and ecclesiastical affairs was the head of the Ministry of Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs from 1840 to 1967 which han ...

from September 1932 to June 1936, and from the autumn of 1936 until 1939. Engberg was accused of

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

due to a 1921 editorial where he stated Judaism's nature was to be

parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The ent ...

stating, "It resembles these mysterious plants that lack roots in the soil, but live on the juice and spirit of other plants. Judaism has been and is the mistletoe on the Indo-Aryan race. It needs a noble race as a source of nutrition, and it would be unfair to deny that it has a clear eye for the best and the most viable. Thus the Jewish race has become the greatest exploiter in history." In 1927, after moving to Stockholm, he stopped his anti-Jewish writings and later defended them and denounced Nazi Germany.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Engberg, Arthur 20th-century Swedish politicians 1888 births 1944 deaths Uppsala University alumni Antisemitism in Sweden Ministers for education of Sweden Members of the Riksdag from the Social Democrats Ministers of education and ecclesiastical affairs of Sweden