Search JTA's historical archive dating back to 1923

Scandinavian Diplomat Who Rescued Jews from Nazis Dies in Accident

June 20, 1956
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
Advertisement

Niels Christian Ditleff, wartime Norwegian Minister to Stockholm and one of the leading initiators of a Swedish rescue mission to Germany in 1945 which managed to save the lives of hundreds of Jews, died in a car crash in Oslo Sunday night, it was reported here today. His wife died with him.

A modest man, Mr. Ditleff never spoke of his activities in behalf of the Jews, but his role in the matter was made public recently with the publication of a White Paper by the Swedish Government presenting in detail the history of the rescue mission. In a lecture last year, the Norwegian diplomat revealed that the Norwegian Government-in-Exile, which spent the war years in London, never supported the plan for the rescue of Jews.

Recommended from JTA

Advertisement