A far more interesting book on the subject of the way Sweden-the-country and many Swedes handled in the years before and during the second world war is Aron Flam's <i>Det här är en Svensk Tiger!</i> which is the written-down version of his netcast essay series under the same name [2]. In it the author lays out the way the Swedish social democratic party together with the farmer's union (Bondeförbundet, the predecessor to the current 'Centerpartiet') set the country on a course of racial purification which ended up being a source of inspiration to the German national socialist party. The country denied the Norwegian royal family passage when they tried to flee the invading Germans while allowing those same Germans to use the Swedish railway network to transport troops to Norway. How Swedish iron but also Swedish technology in the form of SKF ball bearings were instrumental in building the German invasion forces. The allies tried to buy up the whole supply of SKF bearings to keep them out of the hands of Germany but SKF found a way around that as well through a German subsidiary.<p>Sweden has never really made up with this part of its past like Germany has. It is very likely that this hidden past is one of the driving factors behind the way the country tries to portray itself as a 'humanitarian superpower' with a self-assigned responsibility to spread its particular brand of morality to those considered to be in need and an often reckless obliviousness in the way these policies do harm both at home and abroad.<p>The book is thus far only available in Swedish, as is the netcast series. It will be translated eventually for those who do not read Swedish but since many of the subjects it touches were already known outside of Sweden it is less of an eye-opener outside of the country.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.aronflam.com/merchandise/det-hr-r-en-svensk-tiger-av-aron-flam-1" rel="nofollow">https://www.aronflam.com/merchandise/det-hr-r-en-svensk-tige...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://soundcloud.com/aronflam/" rel="nofollow">https://soundcloud.com/aronflam/</a> (search for 'svensk tiger')
so that's why Ikea are being so blue-and-yellow all the time. Rather interesting origin story considering their very swedish branding. All the other Nazi-complicit companies at least bothered to hide this aspect. No german imaging from Hugo Boss (named after the founder, a Nazi). Ikea hid in plain sight by going all in on the nationalism.