page_title: Christian Günther
hierarchical_section_title: Christian Günther
caption_attribution_description: English: Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Sweden Christian Günther behind his desk in the Arvfurstens palats during the Winter War, January 1, 1940. Svenska: Christian Günther bakom sitt skrivbord i Arvfurstens palats under finska vinterkriget, nyårsdagen 1940.
context_page_description: Christian Ernst Günther was Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Hansson III Cabinet. This unity government was formed after the Soviet attack on Finland in November 1939, the Winter War, and was dissolved on 31 July 1945.
  Günther, whose father had been Swedish diplomat and whose grandfather briefly had been prime minister, had entered the Civil Service at the age of 30. He was eight years later transferred to the foreign ministry from the position as personal secretary of Prime Ministers Hjalmar Branting and Rickard Sandler. In the foreign ministry, he advanced in the 1930s to the position immediately beneath Foreign Minister Rickard Sandler, as under secretary of state for foreign affairs and then was accredited as ambassador to Norway, where he intended to stay until retirement.
  Günther's main achievement was to defend Sweden's neutrality during the Second World War, thus escaping the fate of the occupied Norway and the defeated Finland.
context_section_description: Christian Ernst Günther (5 December 1886, in Stockholm – 6 March 1966) was Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Hansson III Cabinet. This unity government was formed after the Soviet attack on Finland in November 1939, the Winter War, and was dissolved on 31 July 1945.
  Günther, whose father had been Swedish diplomat and whose grandfather briefly had been prime minister, had entered the Civil Service at the age of 30. He was eight years later transferred to the foreign ministry from the position as personal secretary of Prime Ministers Hjalmar Branting and Rickard Sandler. In the foreign ministry, he advanced in the 1930s to the position immediately beneath Foreign Minister Rickard Sandler, as under secretary of state for foreign affairs and then was accredited as ambassador to Norway, where he intended to stay until retirement.
  Günther's main achievement was to defend Sweden's neutrality during the Second World War, thus escaping the fate of the occupied Norway and the defeated Finland. The dominant historiography for decades after the war ignored the Holocaust and used what it called the "small state realist" argument: neutrality and co-operation with Germany were necessary for survival since Germany was vastly more powerful Concessions were limited and made only if the threat was too great, neutrality was bent but not broken, national unity was paramount, and Sweden had the neutral right of trading with Germany. Swedish iron was needed by Germany, whjch had nothing to gain and much iron to lose by an invasion.
  Sweden was run by a unity government that included all major parties in the Riksdag.
caption: Günther at his desk in 1940.
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