Karl Ivan Westman (5 August 1889 – 24 April 1970) was a Swedish diplomat who served as

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

's minister to Switzerland in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

between 1928 and 1938 and at the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

, in connection with the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...

Sweden's minister to

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

between March 1941 and October 1942, and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Sweden's ambassador to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

from 1947 to 1956. Westman had, as the highly intelligent man he was, done a fast career in Sweden's foreign ministry. His analyses of the host countries, and the power play at the League of Nations, were considered outstanding—a judgement that holds also in retrospect. The mission at the League of Nations was considered central to Sweden's foreign policy during the

interbellum In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

; and when appointed to Helsinki, that was at a moment when it was considered the most crucial of Sweden's embassies. For a diplomat, he was however also extraordinarily outspoken, often with a significant amount of sarcasm and unveiled criticism. Karl Ivan Westman was the brother of

Karl Gustaf Westman Karl Gustaf Westman (18 August 1876 – 24 January 1944) was a Swedish historian and political leader. Biography Westman attended Uppsala University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1897, Licentiate of Philosophy in 1904 and a Ph.D. 1905. ...

, Sweden's Justice Minister during

Finland and Operation Barbarossa

In his youth, Westman had been involved in the Nationalist Activism movement, which provided him both with relevant contacts and a good understanding for contemporary thinking in independent Finland. But he was also critical of its political development, from the bloody aftermath of the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

and forth, and particularly suspicious against the

fennoman The Fennoman movement or Fennomania was a Finnish nationalist movement in the 19th-century Grand Duchy of Finland, built on the work of the ''fennophile'' interests of the 18th and early-19th centuries. History After the Crimean War, Fennoman ...

school of thoughts that dominated outside of the

Finland-Swedish Finland Swedish or Fenno-Swedish (; ) is a Variety (linguistics), variety of the Swedish language and a closely related group of Swedish dialects spoken in Finland by the Swedish-speaking population of Finland, Swedish-speaking population, common ...

circles, and what he perceived as their strong anti-

Nordic Nordic most commonly refers to: * Nordic countries, the northern European countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, and their North Atlantic territories * Scandinavia, a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern ...

undercurrent. His outspoken opposition against the host country's increasing cooperation with

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, in the run up to and during the

, led to an unfortunate failure of his mission to Helsinki. His reports to Stockholm were factually correct, but he was unsuited to reestablish a Finnish feeling of trust for the Swedes after the trauma of the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

, and what in Finland was widely perceived as Sweden's betrayal; and in Helsinki the suspicion grew that his reports were in fact unfavorable. Most crucially, he never came on speaking terms with Finland's foreign minister

Rolf Witting Rolf Johan Witting (30 September 1879 in Viipuri – 11 October 1944 in Porvoon maalaiskunta) was a Finnish oceanographist and politician, member of four of Finland's cabinets 1924–1943. Scientific career Witting graduated as Abitur in 1897, ...

, despite their shared mother tongue. This contributed to the abortion of close

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

cooperation between the two countries, and resulted among other things in a total failure for the Swedish attempts to improve the relations with the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

be means of some kind of cooperation in

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

—executed as "support for Finland's heroic struggle against

Bolshevism Bolshevism (derived from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Leninist and later Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined p ...

"—at the same time intending to ease Finland's emotional dependency on Germany. Westman argued, not without some merit, that his views truly represented those of the Swedish government and civil service in general, and specifically the views of the cabinet. The

realpolitik ''Realpolitik'' ( ; ) is the approach of conducting diplomatic or political policies based primarily on considerations of given circumstances and factors, rather than strictly following ideological, moral, or ethical premises. In this respect, ...

policies of Foreign Minister Günther were not as popular in the

left-leaning Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commonl ...

majority of the Cabinet now, when a clash between

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

and

Communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

was on the agenda, as it had been during the zenith of the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and also known as the Hitler–Stalin Pact and the Nazi–Soviet Pact, was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Ge ...

. What he said in Helsinki, he was convinced, was totally in accordance with the views of influential

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

Östen Undén Bo Östen Undén (25 August 1886 – 14 January 1974) was a Swedish academic ( J.D.), civil servant and Social Democratic politician who served as acting Prime Minister of Sweden 6–11 October 1946, following the death of Per Albin Hansson (188 ...

and Ernst Wigforss, and also with the generally neutralist Liberals and Agrarians. After Finland's re-conquest of

Vyborg Vyborg (; , ; , ; , ) is a town and the administrative center of Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of Vyborg Bay, northwest of St. Petersburg, east of the Finnish capital H ...

, that had been a key castle of the

Swedish Empire The Swedish Empire or the Great Power era () was the period in Swedish history spanning much of the 17th and early 18th centuries during which Sweden became a European great power that exercised territorial control over much of the Baltic regi ...

from 1293–1721, a general display of flags was proclaimed for August 30. In an unprecedented move, Sweden's embassy did not fly the flags, and soon Finland's Foreign Minister requested his removal. It would however last yet a year, and require the request of President Ryti, until Westman was recalled to Stockholm and replaced by a less controversial diplomat. Westman felt the recall from Helsinki to be a humiliating reprimand, for which some kind of compensation was to be expected. When Westman's friend Östen Undén after the world war became Sweden's foreign minister, Westman was promptly given the prestigious position as State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and soon one of the most prestigious embassies, that in Paris.

Awards and decorations

* Commander Grand Cross of the

Order of the Polar Star The Royal Order of the Polar Star (Swedish language, Swedish: ''Kungliga Nordstjärneorden''), sometimes translated as the Royal Order of the North Star, is a Swedish order of chivalry created by Frederick I of Sweden, King Frederick I on 23 F ...

(6 June 1936) * Seraphimerorden_ribbon

King Gustaf V's Jubilee Commemorative Medal (1928) * Knight Grand Cross of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau () is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has performed acts of special merits for ...

FIN Order of the Lion of Finland 1Class BAR

Commander Grand Cross of the

Order of the Lion of Finland Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

(1942)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Westman 1889 births 1970 deaths Ambassadors of Sweden to France Ambassadors of Sweden to Finland Ambassadors of Sweden to Spain Ambassadors of Sweden to Switzerland Westman family Commanders Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star People from Linköping