page_title: Felix Kersten
section_title: Later life
hierarchical_section_title: Felix Kersten / Later life
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Collectie / Archief&#160;: Fotocollectie Anefo Reportage / Serie&#160;: [ onbekend ] Beschrijving&#160;: Dr. F. Kersten voor de Enquete-commissie Den Haag / overbelicht Datum&#160;: 15 september 1948 Trefwoorden&#160;: enquete-commissies Fotograaf&#160;: Steenkamp, […] / Anefo Auteursrechthebbende&#160;: Nationaal Archief Materiaalsoort&#160;: Glasnegatief Nummer archiefinventaris&#160;: bekijk toegang 2.24.01.09 Bestanddeelnummer&#160;: 903-0004
context_page_description: Eduard Alexander Felix Kersten was the personal physical therapist of Heinrich Himmler. Kersten used his contacts with Himmler to help people persecuted by Nazi Germany.
context_section_description: In his postwar memoirs, Kersten takes credit for saving the whole Dutch people from forced deportation to Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe. In January 1950, the Dutch monarchy awarded him the Order of Orange-Nassau on that account. However a later investigation by Dutch historian Louis de Jong concluded that the mass deportation plan had not existed and that many of Kersten's documents had been fabricated.
  The Swedish archives testify that Kersten was an intermediary between Himmler and Count Folke Bernadotte in the negotiations that led to the rescue operation 'The White Buses', saving hundreds of Norwegians and Danes from certain death in the last days of the Third Reich.
  Kersten's claims of being instrumental in saving Finland’s Jews from German hands may be exaggerated, but the Finnish government used his services in the hope of influencing Himmler.
  After the war, Kersten lived in West Germany and Sweden, taking Swedish citizenship in 1953. He died in Hamm, while he was visiting Germany, aged 61.
  Kersten's war memoirs were published in English translation in 1947 and a second edition was published in 1956 (The Kersten memoirs, 1940–1945, London 1956) with an introduction by Hugh Trevor-Roper.
caption: Kersten (1948).
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