Count Folke Bernadotte

Count Folke Bernadotte , 1895-1948, Swedish internationalist; nephew of King Gustavus V. He was active in the Swedish Red Cross and became its president in 1946. Early in 1945 he arranged the evacuation of Danish and Norwegian prisoners from German concentration camps and conveyed a peace offer from Heinrich Himmler to the British and U.S. authorities. Appointed (1948) United Nations mediator in Palestine, he was assassinated by Jewish extremists; Ralph Bunche succeeded him. Bernadotte wrote several autobiographical books.

Bibliography: See biography by R. Hewins (1950); K. Marton, A Death in Jerusalem (1995).

Bernadotte, Count Folke (1895–1948),a nephew of King Gustav of Sweden, whose diplomatic skills the Nazis attempted to use to avoid unconditional surrender.

As vice-president of the Swedish Red Cross, Bernadotte twice arranged for the exchange of sick and disabled prisoners-of-war. In February 1945 Himmler, without Hitler's authority, asked Bernadotte to mediate with the western Allies. Bernadotte, a skilful negotiator, agreed, provided Danish and Norwegian political prisoners were released from Sachsenhausen. On 24 April Himmler asked him to negotiate the capitulation of German forces to the western Allies, whose forces were to face the Red Army, but three days later Bernadotte informed him this proposal had been rejected. (On hearing about these negotiations Hitler ordered Himmler's arrest and had his adjutant shot.)

Bernadotte became president of the Swedish Red Cross in 1946 and was assassinated by Jewish extremists while acting as a mediator for the United Nations Security Council. See also International Red Cross Committee.