This February, 25 years have passed since the murder of Olof Palme. Palme had been the brightest political star in the Swedish politics since the 1970’s. Palme, then the Prime Minister he was a passionate politician, both strongly adored and loathed, inside as well as outside of Sweden. The murderer has yet to be found, and the Swedish police have been strongly criticized. As a phenomenon, the murder of Palme can be compared with that one of John F. Kennedy’s.
However, the murder of Olof Palme is not a unique incident in Sweden. The first significant political murder was the assassination of King Gustav III, back in 1792. The latest and maybe the most tragic incident was the stabbing of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh in 2003. The murderer is known but the motive is not. The killer heard voices speaking to him and when he suddenly saw Anna Lindh, he went to attack.
Sweden is a country well known for its welfare system and for giving asylum for people in need of shelter. It is ironic that the same country has a dark history of political murders. The leading newspaper Dagens Nyheter wrote this week that there is still no sufficient awareness of the fact that the murder of Swedish Prime Minister and Foreign Minister makes the country unique in the world. Nowhere else, leading politicians have been subjected to lethal violence in the street in such a short period of time. The political trademark of Sweden being a safe haven obliges to do more.
PM Olof Palme congratulates Anna Lindh 1984 for becoming the new chairman of the Socialist Youth League.
Northernwille’s Blog 