Carl-Ehrenfried Carlberg (24 February 1889 – 22 January 1962) was a Swedish

gymnast Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

who competed in the

1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics ( sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1912), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad ( sv, Den V olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, be ...

Early life and Olympics

Carlberg was born in Stockholm and served in the Royal Guards Regiment Göta of the

Swedish army The Swedish Army ( sv, svenska armén) is the land force of the Swedish Armed Forces. History Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1521, when the men of Dalarna chose 16 young able men as body guards for the insurgent nobleman Gusta ...

, whilst also training to be an engineer. A keen sportsman during his army service he was part of the Swedish team, which won the gold medal in the gymnastics men's team, Swedish system event. Following this triumph he founded a gymnastics institute at Lillsved, whilst also building a successful career in construction.

Politics

In his post-gymnastic career Carlberg formed his own ''Gymniska Förbundet'' in 1928. Publishing the magazine ''Gymn'', the society underlined what it saw as the decadence of Western society, drawing heavily from Elof Eriksson. This group fizzled out by 1932 although Carlberg was a founder and the main financial supporter of the

anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

Manhem Association, a study group which he helped set up in 1934. The group's membership was cross party, involving members of the Nationalsocialistiska Arbetarpartiet, Per Engdahl's ''Riksförbundet Det nya Sverige'' and the ''Riksförbundet Sverige-Tyskland'', amongst others. A strong supporter of

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

, he recruited men for both military and civilian service for the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. By this time he had become a very rich man due to his business interests and used his money to disseminate

Nazi propaganda The propaganda used by the German Nazi Party in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's dictatorship of Germany from 1933 to 1945 was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation of Nazi polici ...

and to fund the ''Svensk Opposition'' of Per Engdahl. Following the war his ''Hjälpkommittén för Tysklands barn'' worked as a relief organisation for German officers, whilst his ''Svea Rike'' publishing house, originally set up in the 1930s, was turned over to Neo-Nazism. He also became the largest shareholder in ''

Nation Europa ''Nation Europa'' (also called ''Nation und Europa'') was a far-right monthly magazine, published in Germany. It was founded in 1951 and was based in Coburg until its closure in 2009. It is also the name of the publishing house that developed t ...

'', and set up a Carlberg Foundation aimed at youth. After his death in Stockholm he left his apartment to the Foundation and in 1965 it was raided by police due to a tip-off that the groups using it had stashed weapons there.

Bibliography

Philip Rees Philip Rees (born 1941) is a British writer and librarian formerly in charge of acquisitions at the J. B. Morrell Library, University of York. He has written books on fascism and the extreme right. Works *''Fascism in Britain'' (Harvester Pres ...

, ''

Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890 The ''Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890'' is a reference book by Philip Rees, on leading people in the various far right movements since 1890. It contains entries for what the author regards as "the 500 major figures on the r ...

'', p. 54

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Carlberg, Carl-Ehrenfried 1889 births 1962 deaths Sportspeople from Stockholm Swedish male artistic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 1912 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts of Sweden Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Swedish collaborators with Nazi Germany Swedish Nazis Olympic medalists in gymnastics Medalists at the 1912 Summer Olympics 20th-century Swedish people