C-byrån

Plaque on Sibyllegatan 49 in Stockholm: "C-byrån operated in this building 1942-1945. The Swedish Armed Forces honor the women and men in the intelligence service who here, in silence, made great efforts for Sweden."

C-byrån ("C bureau") was a Swedish secret intelligence agency established in 1939 under the Swedish Armed Forces. It was headed by Major Carl Petersén. During World War II, C-byrån organized intelligence operations in German-occupied Norway[1] and participated in Operation Stella Polaris in Finland.[2]

History

When World War II broke out in 1939, Sweden lacked a modern military intelligence service. Major Carl Petersén was tasked with establishing one.[3] C-byrån (known as G-sektionen until 1942[4]) was founded a few months after the outbreak of the war following a joint initiative by the Supreme Commander, General Olof Thörnell, and the head of the Defence Staff's Intelligence Department, Colonel Carlos Adlercreutz.

Carl Petersén and his deputy, Helmuth Ternberg, shared responsibility for intelligence-gathering operations. Petersén focused on obtaining information from the Allied powers, while Ternberg concentrated on Finland, Germany, Hungary, and Switzerland. According to Ternberg, his primary source of information was Wilhelm Canaris, head of the German Abwehr.[5] Ternberg was generally sympathetic to Germany but was not a Nazi supporter. He was, however, deeply conservative and nationalist. Like Petersén, he was regarded as an adventurer.[3]

One of the first people recruited to the agency was Gunnar Jarring, who was responsible for attracting as many academics as possible to the organization, an effort that began in earnest in 1942. One such recruit was Thede Palm, who held a PhD and was a friend of future Prime Minister Tage Erlander from their time at Lund University.[3] Ternberg maintained close contacts with Wilhelm Canaris and the Abwehr's Stockholm branch, the so-called Wagner Agency. He also recruited one of its employees, Erika Schwarze, as a secret agent working against the Germans on behalf of Sweden.[3]

Other individuals associated with C-byrån included the art historian Stig Roth and the artist Algot Törneman. By the end of World War II, 149 people were listed as serving in C-byrån. The agency was headquartered in an apartment at Sibyllegatan 49 in Stockholm, in a building known as Centralen.[3]

In 1946, C-byrån was dissolved, and both Petersén and Ternberg were forced to leave their positions.[3] The agency ceased operations following allegations of irregularities, although these allegations were never proven. Its activities were investigated by the so-called C-byrån Investigation (C-byråutredningen), led by Judge Erik Tammelin.[4]

The successor organization, T-kontoret ("T Office"), was established in 1946 under the leadership of Thede Palm and continued many of C-byrån's activities.[3] In 1967, Palm transferred C-byrån's archives to the Military Archives. According to Palm, the archives had been heavily purged by that time. For example, records concerning both Swedish and foreign individuals who had participated in or come into contact with the agency's operations had been destroyed. This account was later confirmed by other former C-byrån employees.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Pryser, Tore (1995). "C-byrån". In Dahl; Hjeltnes; Nøkleby; Ringdal; Sørensen (eds.). Norsk krigsleksikon 1940-45 (in Norwegian). Oslo: Cappelen. ISBN 82-02-14138-9. Archived from the original on 29 September 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  2. ↑ Helgegren, Carl-Magnus (10 November 2013). "Operation Stella Polaris och signalspaningen" (MP3). P3 Dokumentär (in Swedish). Sveriges Radio. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Bratt, Peter (21 June 1998). "Svensk kupp gav nazisternas ryska koder till USA" [Swedish coup gave the Nazi's Russian codes to the US]. Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 Wallberg, Evabritta (1998). "Övervakningssverige eller den svenska rädslan: militär underrättelse- och säkerhetstjänst i hetluften och i arkiven : presentation av en arkivinventering" (PDF). Arkiv, samhälle och forskning (in Swedish) (2). Stockholm: Svenska arkivsamfundet: 19. ISSN 0349-0505. SELIBR 9422186.
  5. ↑ Rydeberg, Göran (August 2002). "Raoul Wallenberg - Historik och nya forskningsfält" (PDF) (in Swedish). Raoul-wallenberg.eu. p. 24. Retrieved 17 March 2016.

Further reading

  • Bergman, Jan (2014). Sekreterarklubben: C-byråns kvinnliga agenter under andra världskriget : en dokumentär spionberättelse [The Secretarial Club: C-byrån's female agents in World War II: a documentary spy story] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Norstedt. ISBN 9789113052892. SELIBR 16508055.
  • Hardi-Kovacs, Gellert (2022). C-byrån hemligast av alla: berättelsen om Sveriges hemliga underrättelse under andra världskriget [C-byrån most secret of all: the story of Sweden's secret intelligence during World War II] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Carlssons. ISBN 9789189065284. SELIBR 0dnfgs4nx3p9vdbb.
  • Svensson, Rune (1998). Sveriges hemliga vapen?: C-byråns verksamhet under andra världskriget : en analys av mål, medel, organisation och verksamhet i stort [Sweden's secret weapon?: C-byrån's operations during World War II: an analysis of objectives, resources, organization and operations at large] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Försvarshögskolan. SELIBR 10234901.
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