Winner of the August Prize, the story of the complicated long-distance relationship between a Jewish child and his forlorn Viennese parents after he was sent to Sweden in 1939, and the unexpected friendship the boy developed with the future founder of IKEA, a Nazi activist.
Otto Ullmann, a Jewish boy, was sent from Austria to Sweden right before the outbreak of World War II. Despite the huge Swedish resistance to Jewish refugees, thirteen-year-old Otto was granted permission to enter the country—all in accordance with the Swedish archbishop’s secret plan to save Jews on condition that they convert to Christianity. Otto found work at the Kamprad family’s farm in the province of Småland and there became close friends with Ingvar Kamprad, who would grow up to be the founder of IKEA. At the same time, however, Ingvar was actively engaged in Nazi organizations and a great supporter of the fascist Per Engdahl. Meanwhile, Otto’s parents remained trapped in Vienna, and the last letters he received were sent from Theresienstadt.
With thorough research, including personal files initiated by the predecessor to today’s Swedish Security Service (SÄPO) and more than 500 letters, Elisabeth Åsbrink illustrates how Swedish society was infused with anti-Semitism, and how families are shattered by war and asylum politics.
Winner of the August Prize, the story of the complicated long-distance relationship between a Jewish child and his forlorn Viennese parents after he was sent to Sweden in 1939, and the unexpected friendship the boy developed with the future founder of IKEA, a Nazi activist.
Otto Ullmann, a Jewish boy, was sent from Austria to Sweden right before the outbreak of World War II. Despite the huge Swedish resistance to Jewish refugees, thirteen-year-old Otto was granted permission to enter the country—all in accordance with the Swedish archbishop’s secret plan to save Jews on condition that they convert to Christianity. Otto found work at the Kamprad family’s farm in the province of Småland and there became close friends with Ingvar Kamprad, who would grow up to be the founder of IKEA. At the same time, however, Ingvar was actively engaged in Nazi organizations and a great supporter of the fascist Per Engdahl. Meanwhile, Otto’s parents remained trapped in Vienna, and the last letters he received were sent from Theresienstadt.
With thorough research, including personal files initiated by the predecessor to today’s Swedish Security Service (SÄPO) and more than 500 letters, Elisabeth Åsbrink illustrates how Swedish society was infused with anti-Semitism, and how families are shattered by war and asylum politics.
Reviews-
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Starred review from November 1, 2019
Swedish journalist Åsbrink (1947: Where Now Begins, 2018, etc.) offers new information about the founder of IKEA's Nazi ties, but that is secondary to the engrossing tale of a young Jew in Sweden during World War II. At first rejecting Otto Ullmann's daughter's request to write his story, the author found it as compelling as readers will. Eva Ullmann gave her an IKEA box filled with letters from Otto's parents dating from 1939, when the 13-year-old was one of 100 children sent to Sweden. The program that enabled him to escape was part of the Swedish Israel Mission, led by Birger Pernow, a pastor who was devoted to converting the Jews and felt that his child relief program would be effective. The plan was to bring 100 children whose parents had good reputations. Otto embarked on Feb. 1, 1939, on the train to Sweden. At first, he and 21 children were taken to a children's home in Tollarp, and it would be years before he was finally sent out as a farm hand and found friendship. The author then introduces IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad, who grew up the son of a wealthy farmer whose family had immigrated some years before. Otto and Ingvar met and became friends even as Ingvar participated in Nazi causes. Åsbrink expertly exposes Sweden's tendency toward Nazism at the time, with geographical proximity as well as threats pushing the inclination. Her book, she writes is "an account of Sweden before the country became a 'good' one." Ingvar's grandmother and father were both devoted Nazis and were thrilled when Hitler took over their former home in the Sudetenland. Meanwhile, Otto was a lost young boy trying to survive and learn a new language. His only support and encouragement came in the form of the more than 500 letters from his family, which the author seamlessly weaves into the narrative. Just as important were the letters they received (now lost) from their son, knowing he was safe. Top-notch microcosmic World War II history and an excellent illustration of the immense power of the written word.COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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February 10, 2020
Journalist Åsbrink (1947: Where Now Begins) sets one family’s Holocaust tragedy against the legacy of WWII in Sweden in this multilayered history based on hundreds of letters between a young refugee and his parents back in Vienna. Opening with Hitler’s 1938 annexation of Austria, Åsbrink documents the closing of the Swedish border to “non-Aryan” refugees, and efforts by the Church of Sweden to help Jewish converts to Christianity escape Nazi Germany. In 1939, Josef and Elise Ullmann arranged for their only son, Otto, to be baptized and sent to a children’s home in Sweden until they could be reunited. Åsbrink quotes extensively from the family’s correspondence, revealing Otto’s homesickness and his parents’ anguish as they’re denied emigration papers, evicted from their home, and deported to the Theresienstadt Ghetto. Meanwhile, Otto gets placed on a farm owned by the father of future IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad. Åsbrink’s investigation into Kamprad’s pro-Nazi activities during the same period he befriended and worked alongside Otto raises more questions than it answers, though she carefully documents the influence of anti-Semitism and xenophobia on Sweden’s immigration policies. This devastating account has the lyricism and complexity of a finely wrought novel. Agent: Magdalena Hedlund, Hedlund Agency. -
November 15, 2019
Examining the years leading up to and including WWII, �sbrink (1947, 2018) explores the depths to which a human mind can bifurcate: to hate a group of people but to develop a deep friendship with a member of that group. She details the slow unfurling of Hitler's plans and the steps that a Christian group took to save Jews, if only to convert them. Twelve-year-old Viennese Jew Otto Ullmann was sent to a Swedish orphanage by his parents, who promised they'd reunite as soon as they could secure their own passage from Nazi-occupied Austria, but the necessary papers never materialized. Ullman eventually found work with Ingvar Kamprad, who later founded IKEA. Kamprad regarded Ullman like a brother, even though he remained committed to Nazi ideals, as sifted through Swedish sympathizer Per Engdahl's rhetoric. �sbrink's historic timeline of Christianity's long scourge-and-purge tactics against Jews is chilling, as are the parallels readers will note to today's immigration discussions. Intermingled with �sbrink's unsettling questions in this must-read are Ullman's parents' letters, an interview with Kamprad, and other archival documents.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.) -
Starred review from November 1, 2019
Swedish journalist �sbrink (1947: Where Now Begins, 2018, etc.) offers new information about the founder of IKEA's Nazi ties, but that is secondary to the engrossing tale of a young Jew in Sweden during World War II. At first rejecting Otto Ullmann's daughter's request to write his story, the author found it as compelling as readers will. Eva Ullmann gave her an IKEA box filled with letters from Otto's parents dating from 1939, when the 13-year-old was one of 100 children sent to Sweden. The program that enabled him to escape was part of the Swedish Israel Mission, led by Birger Pernow, a pastor who was devoted to converting the Jews and felt that his child relief program would be effective. The plan was to bring 100 children whose parents had good reputations. Otto embarked on Feb. 1, 1939, on the train to Sweden. At first, he and 21 children were taken to a children's home in Tollarp, and it would be years before he was finally sent out as a farm hand and found friendship. The author then introduces IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad, who grew up the son of a wealthy farmer whose family had immigrated some years before. Otto and Ingvar met and became friends even as Ingvar participated in Nazi causes. �sbrink expertly exposes Sweden's tendency toward Nazism at the time, with geographical proximity as well as threats pushing the inclination. Her book, she writes is "an account of Sweden before the country became a 'good' one." Ingvar's grandmother and father were both devoted Nazis and were thrilled when Hitler took over their former home in the Sudetenland. Meanwhile, Otto was a lost young boy trying to survive and learn a new language. His only support and encouragement came in the form of the more than 500 letters from his family, which the author seamlessly weaves into the narrative. Just as important were the letters they received (now lost) from their son, knowing he was safe. Top-notch microcosmic World War II history and an excellent illustration of the immense power of the written word.COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Engrossing...compelling...Top-notch microcosmic World War II history and an excellent illustration of the immense power of the written word."
- Publishers Weekly "[A] multilayered history...This devastating account has the lyricism and complexity of a finely wrought novel."
- Times Literary Supplement "[A] touching book."
- Booklist "Åsbrink's historic timeline of Christianity's long scourge-and-purge tactics against Jews is chilling, as are the parallels readers will note to today's immigration discussions...[a] must-read."
- Francine Klagsbrun, author of Lioness: Golda Meir and the Nation of Israel "And in the Vienna Woods the Trees Remain is a gripping saga of love, friendship, betrayal, and, above all, courage--the courage of parents trapped in the Nazi inferno who yet never waver in their devotion to their son. This is one of the most moving books I have ever read about that dark period in history."
- New York Times Book Review "An extraordinary achievement."
- Kirkus Reviews "A skillful and illuminating way of presenting, to wonderful effect, the cultural, political, and personal history of a year that changed the world."
- Sydney Morning Herald "Åsbrink writes sentences that make one gasp in admiration...[1947] should be read for its poetry, its insights, and the interweaving of personal and political judgments."
