Evening star., 1948-07-01

put It, as If he had been suddenly dragged lnto
the vortex. When, three years later, he re-
ceived Mr. Trygve Lies cable inviting him to
90 to Palestine, he must have felt that the
vortex was at work again.
Count Folke Bernadotte of Wisborg, nephew
Of King Gustav v Of Sweden, has never been
attributed with brilliance or profundity, but
he has gifts which are more manageable than
these-a clear mind, the faculty OF listening
and getting things straight, deal OF ad-
ministrative skill, and, most important OF all,
an itch to do some good in torn and tousled
world. It is important, perhaps, to remember
that. with his sons Oscar QD and Bertil d0),
he is jealous Boy Scout. AS leader OF the
Scouting movement in Sweden he Is often seen
in Rover garb amid the smoky jollity OF camp
fires and international rallies.
He is equally earnest about the YMCA,
especially on the international level. And, as
the son of his father he is an attentive Luther
an. When he was leaving Malmo Tor the
battlefield of Germany shortly before the emu
of the war, the late Prince Oscar Bernadotte
gave him a Bible, with the injunction to reao
it daily. It may be taken for granted that the
paternal wish was obeyed.
In Stockholm Folke Bernadotte is usually to
be found throughout the working day In the
head quarters of the Swedish Red Gross on
the Artlerigatan: he has clean, shiny ONCE
with knick- -knacks in pewter and bronze ana
wall maps bristling with flags that denote
the relief camps, travelling hospitals ana otnef
works of mercy which his organization MAN.
tains in Germany Poland and Hungary. with
his well-marked eyebrows and general bland
ness of feature he has refined appearance.
His English, German and French are fluent.
His tolerably good Estonian is d reminder OF
remote days when he was canvassed as the
possible King of a hypothetical union OF
Baltic States.
Socially Active as Youth.
Dragonsgarden, his home, is long, low-built
house. labeled Charles XII by the experts,
which means that it must be more than two
centuries old Among family portraits ana
other ancestral tokens Dragonsgafden mas
many reminders of the romantic founder OF
Swedens reigning dynasty, Jean Baptiste
Bernadotte, a Gascon sergeant-maJor unoer
Louis XVI and later one OF Napoleons mar
shals. who mounted the throne OF sweden oy
election when we'll beyond middle age 1t Is
because of Jean Baptste's career that the
Swedes say jokingly that no Bernadotte As
any good till he's over So"
The saving is particularly apt in the case
of Count Folke Born on January 2, 1895, he
u
cause he happened to be the son of non
royal though noble mother. Boyhood, youth
and early manhood are summed up by the
sequence of high school baccalaureat, the Karl
berg training school for officers from which
he graduated in 1879, service with the Royal
Horse Guards with whom he attained majors
rank and Stockholm S social round: Dancing,
house parties, bridge, skating, skiing, riding,
shooting and the rest
During those formative years he was widely
regarded as just another social playboy. In
1928 wearing the sky-blue and silver uniform
of his regiment, he married Estelle Romano
Manville daughter of an American asbestos
magnate at Pleasantville, N. Y. Fifteen
detectives guarded the wedding presents, which
included, as from bridegroom to bride.
platinum and diamond crown which she was
to wear on presentation at the Swedish court.
Pleasantville talks admiringly about the we'd
ding to this day.
Thereafter life was tinged with duty. Chi
cago held Century of Progress exhibition.
The Count looked after Sweden's interests
there He discovered a taste for organizing
things At the New York Worlds Fair of
1939-40, he rejoiced in the rank OF Commits
sioner-General of the Swedish Pavilion. Mean
time, he had put in six years as aide de camp
to the Crown Prince of Sweden, and had fol-
lowed Uncle Carl's presidential footsteps into
the world of the Red Cross. 1t was in this
world that his faculties and talents found
their appropriate medium.
In 1943 he had the administrative supervision
of the exchange via Gothenburg of disabled
prisoners of war, so many British for SO many
Germans. The men were collected and de-
livered in the liner Gripsholm. 1t was the
Gripsholm which, Is years earlier, had carried
him and his sky-blue uniform to America and
marriage Anthony Eden, then Foreign Secre-
tary. described the Gothenburg exchanges as
"a major humanitarian effort Bernadotte
had suddenly become phenomenon transcend
ing frontiers. With the Red Cross brassard on
his Swedish uniform, he paid visits Of inspec-
ton to prisoner -of-war camps; here and in
enemy lands; he was an impeccably discreet
missionary, shutting between hell and heaven,
between wars elect and damned. Was his
neutrality too icy? Did he balance too evil
IDENTIFY on a razor edge? There were some
who thought so. His anxiety to be impartial
and correct at all costs gave certain Allied
sympathizers the impression, i'll founded as it
later appeared, that it was of little concern
to him which side won the war.
Rescue of Scandinavians.
His story of the 1945 meetings with Himmler,
Ribbentrop, Kaltenbrunner and Schellenberg
when the Third Reich was toppling about their
deluded heads has been serialized in dozen
tongues and need not detain us here In any
case, Himmler's abortive capitulation offer
through Bernadotte is merely one Of history's
marginal notes. OF much greater importance
was an achievement of which less has been
heard, namely, his timely rescue of Scandi-
navians from North German concentration
camps. Heading a relief column of white
painted buses and cars, each stencilied with
the blue and yellow flag of his country. he
evacuated 10000 Norwegians, Danes and others
from collection point at Neuengamme imme-
diately before the wars end, and the ensuing
chaos which would otherwise have trapped
them. ~
The negotiations with S. S. chiefs in Berlin,
which paved the way for this feat, are evidence
of Bernadottes level headedness and f-mness
of purpose So is the calm with which, during