76GD.61/309: Telegram
The Chargé in Germany (Kirk) to the Secretary of State
[Received 2:05 p.m.]
1740. The announcement in the Berlin press that the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin was received by the Fuehrer has started rumors that Hedin, known to be in the good graces of the National Socialist Party and Government circles, has come to Berlin on a mission which is either instigated or at least known to the Swedish Government of placing before Hitler the predicament in which the Nordic and Baltic States find themselves in the face of Soviet Russian designs in the Baltic.47
This rumor was denied by a member of the Swedish Legation here who insists that Hedin has no official mission or any connection with the Swedish Government. He added his personal opinion that it would probably be better from every point of view if Hedin had not undertaken his private trip to Germany. According to this source the Swedish Government does not believe that Russia will make any definite demands upon Sweden or Norway at this time, but if intensified warfare develops between Germany and its opponents Russia might take advantage of the situation to attempt at least to extend its influence to the western Scandinavian countries. In any case the informant thought that Russia was determined to obtain control of the Baltic and, given the independent spirit of the Finns, this might result in war between Russia and Finland,48 an eventuality which would presumably result in the defeat of the latter because of its inferiority in planes and armored motorized equipment.
In connection with the foregoing a rumor has reached the Embassy to the effect that the German Government is in obligation to carry out a further demand from the Soviet Government that in return for a maintenance of German-Soviet relations on their present cooperative basis the Germans grant Russia special opportunities with regard to the Baltic and ultimately the Nordic States with the exception of Lithuania and Denmark which, because of their contiguity to Germany, are recognized to be the latter’s special concern and according [Page 488] to this rumor an immediate aim of the Soviet Government is to obtain participation in the control or ownership of the Aaland Islands. Furthermore, it is said that the Russians are pressing for an urgent reply and that Hitler is despatching an emissary to Moscow in connection with this matter.
- For pressure by the Soviet Union upon Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to conclude pacts of mutual assistance, see Foreign Relations. The Soviet Union, 1933–1939, pp. 934 ff.↩
- For the Soviet demands made upon Finland, their rejection, and the ensuing attack by the Soviet Union upon Finland, see pp. 952 ff. Regarding the position in which Germany found itself in this matter, see Nazi-Soviet Relations, 1989–1941, pp. 111, 121–123, 127–131.↩