Swedes under Stalin
The Stalinist Terror and Mapping of the Swedish Diaspora in the Interwar Soviet Union
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36368/jns.v17i2.1405Keywords:
Swedes in the interwar Soviet Union, Kiruna‑Swedes, Great Terror, diaspora mapping, quantitative analysis, micro‑historical approachAbstract
The article examines the Swedish diaspora in the interwar Soviet Union, focusing on dimensions that earlier research has treated only tangentially: the fate of Soviet-Swedes during the state‑run terror against representatives of the so‑called Western minorities. Combining quantitative analysis with a micro‑historical approach, we refine knowledge not only of the composition of the Swedish diaspora but also of the individual trajectories of Soviet-Swedes during the period of mass repression. We argue that a systematic mapping of the Swedish diaspora is essential for understanding the nature and direction of Soviet terror against Nordic minorities: Who became victims and why, and who managed to survive and/or leave the country? Our principal finding is that the so‑called Kiruna‑Swedes were not a majority of Swedish residents in the Soviet Union. At the same time, this group was over‑represented among Swedish victims of the Great Terror.
References
Archival sources
The National Archives of Sweden in Stockholm (Riksarkivet Stockholm).
Avdelning HP 514. Grupp 1. M l: Er. Politisk allm nt. Ryssland: vol. LXI juni 1937–september 1937; vol. LXII. 1938.
Beskickningsarkiv Moskva 1918–1989. Nationalitetsmatriklar 1924–1938. Medborgarskap 1937–1940. Inkommande diarium för 1937,1938.
Konsulatarkiv Leningrad 1875–1939. Nationalitetsmatrikel 1931–1938. Inkommande diarium för 1937, 1938.
Rättsavdelningen, 1918–1969 R 67. Utvisningar från Ryssland.
The Archives of the Executive Committee of the Communist International 1919–1943 in the Russian State Archives of Political History (RGASPI), Moscow.
Communist Party of Sweden (Коммунистическая партия Швеции). Fond 495, opis 275.
Printed Sources
Polyakov, Y. (1992). Всесоюзная перепись населения 1939 года. Основные итоги [‘All-union population census of 1939. The basic results’], Moscow: Nauka.
TsSU SSSR = Tsentral’noe Statisticheskoye Upravlenie SSSR (1928). Всесоюзная перепись населения 17 Декабря 1926 г. Краткие сводки выпуск IV. Народность и родной язык населения СССР. [‘All-union population census of 17 December 1926. Part IV. Ethnicity and mother language of the population of the USSR’], Moscow: Tsentral’noe Statisticheskoye Upravlenie SSSR.
Zhiromskaya, V. & Polyakov, Y. (2007). Всесоюзная Перепись Населения 1937 года. Общие итоги. Сборник документов и материалов [‘All-union population census of 1937. Collection of documents and materials’], Moscow: ROSSPEN.
Digital Databases
All-Soviet censuses database, http://demoscope.ru
Memory book of the Murmansk region. Книга памяти Мурманской области; https://ru.openlist.wiki; accessed on 13 Feb. 2026.
Restored names. Возвращенные имена; https://visz.nlr.ru; accessed on 13 Feb. 2026.
Victims of the political terror in the USSR [1]. Жертвы политического террора в СССР; https://lists.memo.ru; accessed on 13 Feb. 2026.
Victims of the political terror in the USSR [2]. Жертвы политического террора в СССР; https://base.memo.ru; accessed on 13 Feb. 2026.
Literature
Dönninghaus, V. (2009). Minderheiten in Bedrängnis. Sowjetische Politik gegenüber Deutschen, Polen und anderen Diaspora-Nationalitäten 1917–1938, Munich: Oldenbourg Verlag.
Eneberg, K. (2003). Förnekelsens barn. Svenskarna som drog österut [‘Children of denial. The Swedes who headed east’] Stockholm: Hjalmarson & Högberg bokförlag.
Eneberg K. (2004). “Recruitment of Swedish immigrants to Soviet Karelia,” in Karelian Exodus. Finnish Communities in North America and Soviet Karelia during the Depression Era. Special Issue of the Journal of Finnish Studies, 8:1, eds. R. Harpelle, V. Lindström & A.E. Pogorelskin, pp. 189–200.
Gardberg, A. & Kaihovirta, M. (2022). Brandtal för världsrevolution. Allan Wallenius och hans röda resor [‘Fiery speech for world revolution. Allan Wallenius and his red journeys’], Helsinki: Svenska folkskolans vänner.
Golubev, A. & Takala, I. (2014). The Search for a Socialist El Dorado. Finnish Immigration to Soviet Karelia from the United States and Canada in the 1930s, East Lansing: Michigan State University Press.
Grimlund, O. (1919). ”Mannerheim den blodige” eller ”Den vite djävulen”? [‘“Mannerheim the Bloody” or “The White Devil”’?], Stockholm: Fram.
Gustafson, A. (2006). Svenska sovjetemigranter. Om de svenska kommunisterna och emigrationen till Sovjetunionen på 1920- och 1930-talen [‘Swedish Soviet emigrants. The Swedish communists and their emigration to the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s’], Linköping: Nixon.
Holquist, P. (2001). “To count, to extract, and to exterminate. Population statistics and population politics in late imperial and Soviet Russia,” in A State of Nations. Empire and Nation-Making in the Age of Lenin and Stalin, eds. R.G. Suny & T. Martin, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 111–144.
Ilic, M. (2000). “The Great Terror in Leningrad. A quantitative analysis,” Europe-Asia Studies, 52:8, pp. 1515–1534.
Jangfeldt, B. (1998). Svenska vägar till S:t Petersburg. Kapitel ur historien om svenskarna vid Nevans stränder [‘Swedish paths to St. Petersburg. Chapters from the history of Swedes on the banks of the Neva’], Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand.
Kangaspuro, M. (2004). “The Soviet depression and Finnish immigrants in Soviet Karelia,” R. Harpelle et al. (eds.), in Karelian Exodus. Finnish Communities in North America and Soviet Karelia during the Depression Era. Special Issue of the Journal of Finnish Studies, 8:1, eds. R. Harpelle, V. Lindström & A.E. Pogorelskin, pp. 132–140.
Kennerström, B. (1976). “Sprängningen av Sveriges Kommunistiska Parti 1929” [‘The 1929 split of the Communist Party of Sweden’], in Från SKP till VPK. En antologi, ed. S. Olsson, Lund: Zenit, pp. 82–105.
Kostiainen, A. (1996). “Genocide in Soviet Karelia. Stalin’s terror and the Finns of Soviet Karelia,” Scandinavian Journal of History, 21:4, pp. 331–342.
Kotliartchouk, A. (2024). “Understanding Stalin’s terror against western minorities. The national operations of the NKVD in contemporary academic research,” The Historical Journal, 68:1, pp. 239–257.
Kotljarchuk, A. (2012). “Kola Sami in the Stalinist terror. A quantitative analysis,” Journal of Northern Studies, 6:2, pp. 59–82.
Kotljarchuk, A. (2014a). In the Forge of Stalin. Swedish Colonists of Ukraine in Totalitarian Experiments of the Twentieth Century, Stockholm: Stockholm University Press.
Kotljarchuk, A. (2014b). “The Nordic threat. Soviet ethnic cleansing on the Kola Peninsula,” in The Sea of Identities. A Century of Baltic and East European Experiences with Nationality, Class, and Gender, ed. N. Götz, Stockholm: Elanders, pp. 53–83.
Kotljarchuk, A. (2014c). “Little Red Sweden in Ukraine. The 1930s Comintern project in Gammalsvenskby,” in The Lost Swedish Tribe. Reapproaching the History of Gammalsvenskby in Ukraine, eds. P. Wawrzeniuk & J. Malitska, Huddinge: Södertörn University, pp. 111–149.
Kotljarchuk, A. (2019). “Indigenous people, vulnerability and security dilemma. The Sami school education on the Kola Peninsula, ca 1880–1990,” in Sámi Educational History in a Comparative International Perspective, eds. O. Kortekangas et al., Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 63–82.
Kotljarchuk, A. & Nilsson, T. (2021). “Finland Swedes, Sweden Finns and the Great Terror in Karelia. Issues of nationality, citizenship and diplomatic assistance,” Nordic and Baltic Studies Review, 6, pp. 177–197.
Kott, M. (2007). “Soviet genocide in Latvia. Stalin’s Great Terror (1937–38) as antecedent and other aspects of the recent historiography,” in Latvijas Okupācijas Muzeja Gadagramāta, 2007, Riga: Latvijas 50 gadu okupācijas muzeja fonds, pp. 42–54.
Martin, T. (1998). “The origins of Soviet ethnic cleansing,” The Journal of Modern History, 70:4, pp. 813–861.
Morris, J. (2004). “The Polish terror. Spy mania and ethnic cleansing in the Great Terror,” Europe-Asia Studies, 50:5, pp. 751–766.
Mustelin, O. (1984). “Allan Wallenius. Biblioteksman, publicist och revolutionär i 1910-talets Finland” [‘Allan Wallenius. Librarian, publicist, and revolutionary in Finland of the 1910s’], in Historiska och litteraturhistoriska studier, 59, Helsinki: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland, pp. 269–389.
Nikolskiy, B. (2001). “Національні аспекти політичних репресій 1937 року в Україні” [‘Ethnic aspects of the 1937 political repressions in the Ukraine’], Ukrayinsky Istoricheskyy Zhurnal, 2, pp. 74–89.
Nilsson, T. (2024). “Rescued from terror. The unknown Swedish operation in the 1930s,” Baltic Worlds, 12:1–2, pp. 35–48.
Nilsson, T. & Kotljarchuk, A. (2022). “Svenskt och finskt i mörkt sovjetiskt 1930-tal” [‘Swedish and Finnish in the dark Soviet 1930s’], Historisk tidskrift för Finland, 107:4, pp. 454–482.
Schafranek, H. & Musienko, N. (2003). “The fictitious ‘Hitler-Jugend’ conspiracy of the Moscow NKVD,” in Stalin’s Terror. High Politics and Mass Repression in the Soviet Union, eds. B. McLoughlin & K. McDermott, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp 208–224.
Semystyaha, V. & Tatarinov, I. (2015). “The Great Purge in Ukraine. The German оperation of the NKVD (1937–38),” in The Routledge History of Genocide, eds. C. Carmichael & R.C. Maguire, London: Routledge, pp. 55–76.
Takala, I. (1998). “Национальные операции ОГПУ/НКВД в Карелии” [‘National operations of OGPU/NKVD in Karelia’], in В семье единой. Национальная политика партии большевиков и её осуществление на Северо-Западе России в 1920–1950-е годы [‘In a single family. The national policy of the Bolshevik party and its realisation in Northwestern Russia in the 1920s–1950s’], Petrozavodsk: Petrozavodsk University Press, pp. 161–206.
Takala, I. (2018). “Большой террор в Карелии” [‘Great Terror in Karelia’], Nordic and Baltic Studies Review, 3, pp. 143–207.
Vatlin, A. (2011). Ну и нечисть. Немецкая Операция НКВД в Москве и Московской Области, 1936–1941 гг. [‘Scums. The German operation of the NKVD in Moscow and Moscow region, 1936–1941’], Moscow: ROSSPEN.
Werth, N. (2003). “The mechanism of a mass crime. The Great Terror in the Soviet Union, 1937–1938,” in The Specter of Genocide. Mass Murder in Historical Perspective, eds. R. Gellately & B. Kiernan, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 215–239.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Andrej Kotliartchouk, Koert Janssen
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
