:02:34
There are times when it's not pleasantto see your picture in the paper.
:02:38
This was one of them.
:02:39
The article was directand to the point.
:02:41
It said that Cordell Hull, the secretaryof state for the United States,
:02:45
had released a listof certain Swedish citizens
:02:47
who had been giving economic aidand comfort to the Axis powers.
:02:51
In other words, I was considereda Nazi collaborator.
:02:55
I had been trading with Germany.
:02:57
There was no secret about it.
:02:59
I'd been importing oil for yearsfrom all over the world.
:03:02
That was my business.
:03:03
And even now with the war on,there was nothing illegal about it.
:03:07
Sweden was neutraland traded with both sides.
:03:14
When I went to my office thatmorning, I received a call
:03:17
from a friend of my brother's whowas in Stockholm on business.
:03:20
He was staying at the Grand Hotel.I went over.
:03:23
I knew the blacklist would beprinted in the American papers,
:03:26
and it was sure to embarrass mybrother and parents
:03:29
who lived in New York.
:03:31
I wanted to explaina few things to this man
:03:33
so that he could takeback my side of the story.
:03:36
The lobby of the Grandwas a busy place.
:03:39
Like Lisbon and Istanbuland other neutral cities,
:03:42
Stockholm was crowded with whatwere euphemistically called "visitors".
:03:47
They camefrom every country
:03:48
and babbled awayin a dozen different tongues.
:03:51
Some were there to buy Swedishball bearings and Bofors guns,
:03:54
and the rest were espionageagents trying their best
:03:57
to see that the shipmentsnever reached their destinations.
prev.