With the help of collected material from the Swedish people, producers Kristina Lindström and Henrik Stockare depict World War II in "Sweden and the War", premiering on SVT on May 11.
SVT requested films and diaries for the series – and received over 3,000 responses.
We have received boxes of letter exchanges, diaries, bags with films. It has been incredible, says Henrik Stockare.
A family can have sent their parents' history, and then it has sometimes come with a large police file that one has received and not quite been able to handle. It is family secrets, but also a desire to pass on to a new generation, says Kristina Lindström.
Ordinary people
The series does not focus on the battlefields but tells about how life was in the cities, in the countryside, and at the border. All films are colored with new technique – maybe a change for those who have seen the war depicted through old black and white newsreels.
There will surely be different opinions about this, I am convinced of that. But when one filmed in black and white once upon a time, the world was in color. Then it was not black and white. So it is not even a really correct representation of reality in that way, says Henrik Stockare.
"The toughest interview"
Many stories are strong. The experienced documentary filmmaker Kristina Lindström particularly remembers the meeting with Janina, a survivor from Auschwitz, who after the war came to Sweden with the white buses.
It is almost impossible to convey if you do not see it. She hardly hears anything and sees hardly anything. But she has these memories and it becomes so enormously strong. When I came home, I thought it was the toughest interview I have done.
The interviewed who have memories of World War II are advanced in years and this may be the last time they can tell. Several interviewed have passed away during the one and a half years the series has taken to record, including Auschwitz survivor Janina, who recently passed away.
This is the last moment for them. It is very sad. Of the 120 people we have interviewed, 25 percent have died. In 5 years, it may only be 20 percent left, says Henrik Stockare and adds:
Then there are no left who can tell, who actually experienced this with their own eyes.
"Sweden and the War" is broadcast in five parts and is based on submitted films, memories, and diaries, interwoven with newsreels and other documentary material from SVT's archives. The story begins at the outbreak of the war and is told chronologically.
