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Historisk tidskrift 128:3 • 2008

Innehåll (Contents) 2008:3

Uppsatser (Articles)

Utrymning i folkhemmet. Kalla kriget, välfärdsidyllen och den svenska civilförsvarskulturen 1961

Marie Cronqvist

Fulltext (pdf)

Summary

Evacuating the people’s home. Cold war, warm welfare and the Swedish culture of civil defence

On April 23 1961, a large civil defense exercise took place in the Swedish capital of Stockholm. About 30,000 participating civilians were swiftly evacuated from the city centre to the countryside by cars, buses and trains. The aim of the exer- cise was very serious: to test the civil defense organization in a time of nuclear threat. The event was ultimately evaluated as successful and educationally con- structive; however, contemporary media provided a different interpretation. The article analyzes the media framing of the evacuation from the perspective of Cold War cultural studies and in particular the study of the culture of civil defense. Three key frames are identified in the press coverage: the calm order, the joyful fiesta, and the welfare monarchy. All three could be considered examples of a surprisingly dominant idyllic framing of the event as a cheerful and carefree Sunday picnic. This is discussed by contrasting the dark warfare narrative of the Cold War to the welfare narrative of the folkhem, literally people s home. The question is raised whether the idyllic framing is an answer to an all-encompassing fear of nuclear annihilation or, on the contrary, if the Cold War at this time was in fact too distant to engage the neutral Swedes.

Keywords

Cold War culture, civil defense, urban evacuation, culture of civil defense, folkhem, welfare state, media framing