Phase II
Norden International has been used as a platform for the extension of the Ludvika-method with the support of Kungliga Patriotiska Sällskapet and Olof Palmes Minnesfond.
In Ludvika, at the time Sweden’s strongest Nazi stronghold in Sweden, a group of democracy promoters in 2017-2018 managed to create thousands of democracy activists in order to strengthen the local community against the forces of neo-Nazis in the area. Through open and closed meetings with supporters and activists, including Holocaust survivors, from other areas in Sweden, the method used contributed to strengthening local activists and thereby the whole community against neo-Nazis and its forces. Hédi Fried and her sister Livia Fränkel, Holocaust survivors from Auschwits, Minister of Democracy, Alice Bah, Minister of Rural Affairs, Sven-Erik Bucht, Annie Lööf, Leader of the Center Party, and other activists participated in the meetings.
The second phase of the project aimed to identify if the method could be used in other exposed areas of Sweden, in order strengthen democracy activists against neo-Nazism. The project also supports the Ludvika Scholarship, which was initiated in 2022, an annual scholarship in the memory of Hédi Fried (1924-2022), awarded to outstanding democracy activists in Ludvika.
In Remembrance of the Holocaust: The Search for Truth and What Follows
On the 24th of January 2023, Norden International and Föreningen Norden held a seminar hosted by the Europahuset, the European Commission Representation in Sweden: In Remembrance of the Holocaust: The Search for Truth and What Follows.
A discussion was initiated by Julie Lindahl and Inga-Britt Ahlenius around Julies book “The Pendulum. A Granddaughter’s Search for Her Family’s Forbidden Nazi Past.”
Julie Lindahl is an author, educator and activist living in Sweden. Her 2018 memoir The Pendulum (Swedish: Pendeln, Norstedts, 2019) reveals her 6-year journey through Europe and Latin America to discover the role her grandparents played in the Third Reich. She speaks widely in Sweden and beyond and has been engaged in projects to counteract violent extremism. She is the founder of Stories for Society, a Swedish non-profit dedicated to renewing the art of storytelling for social transformation.
The seminar was moderated by Inga-Britt Ahlenius, a former Swedish Auditor, public servant and Under-Secretary General for the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services.
Ingrid Bellander Todino, Head of Unit in the European Commission- Fundamental Rights Policy, was a further discussant.