Kraftakte im Dienste des Volks- und Eigennutzens: Die „Schwedische Jugendbereitschaft“ 1942–1945

Sweden’s roll during World War II has recently been paid increasing attention to, since its proclaimed neutrality seems rather doubtful in some respects. The ambition of the following paper is not to shed more light on these questions. The focus is instead on the domestic organization of Swedish society under the condition of war in the surrounding environment. Taking the example of Sveriges ungdomsberedskap (Swedish Youth Service) it will be shown, how Sweden adopted to the wartime need of spiritual and moral as well as of resource- and labor-force-related mobilization in a democratic fashion