September 17 in Swedish history

The Swedish diplomat, count Folke Bernadotte is murdered in Jerusalem. 

  • September 17, 1948—Count of Wisborg, Folke Bernadotte is murdered in Jerusalem. Above: Bernadotte with his wife Estelle and their two sons Folke and Bertil.
  • September 17 in Swedish history
    1948: Folke Bernadotte, Greve af Wisborg (Count of Wisborg) is murdered in Jerusalem by members of the Jewish nationalist Zionist group Lehi, while pursuing official duties. Bernadotte was born on January 2, 1895, the son of Count Oscar Bernadotte of Wisborg and his wife Ebba Munch af Fulkila. His grandfather was King Oscar II of Sweden.
    Folke Bernadotte was a Swedish diplomat and nobleman noted for his negotiation of the release of about 31,000 prisoners from German concentration camps during World War II. After the war, the United Nations Security Council agreed to choose Bernadotte as mediator to seek peace in the Arab-Jewish conflict in Palestine. He initiated conferences with Arab and Jewish leaders in Palestine and Arab leaders in Cairo, Egypt and Amman, Jordan, and succeeded in obtaining agreement to a four-week truce commencing June 11, 1948. On June 28 he submitted to the Arab League and the Israeli government a peace plan that both sides rejected in part. On July 12 he made a report to the United Nations Security Council, in session in New York, and shortly thereafter returned to Palestine.

  • On September 17, Count Bernadotte and Colonel Andre P. Serot of the French air force were assassinated in Jerusalem by members of Lehi, who had committed numerous attacks over a period of years against the British and Arabs. Three days after his death, Count Bernadotte's final report on his peace efforts was published in Paris. It gave the United Nations General Assembly his suggested terms for a peace that was to be imposed by the United Nations, and won the immediate support of the United States and Britain.