Civilförsvarsstyrelsen
- Swedish Civil Defence Board
Extent and Medium
467 linear meters of mainly textual records.
Biographical History
The Swedish government established the Civil Defence Board on 1 October 1944 to exercise Sweden's central civil defense management. It also came to supervise research in civil defense, conduct civil defense training in special civil defense schools and other educational facilities, and oversee the construction of air-raid shelters.
The board replaced the previous Air Protection Inspectorate (Luftskyddsinspektionen) and the Evacuation Commission (Utrymmningskommissionen). The Evacuation Commission had previously been responsible for managing refugee camps for some categories of refugees, including refugees from the Baltic countries and Finland. The board took over the responsibility for the refugee camps from 1 oktober 1944.
The Civil Defence Board, together with The National Board of Health, became responsible for organizing the initial reception of survivors from concentration camps who arrived in Sweden with in the frames of the so-called UNRRA-action in July 1945.
From 1944 to 1968, the Swedish Civil Defence Board sorted under the Ministry of the Interior and then the Ministry of Defence.
On 1 July 1986, the Swedish Civil Defence Board and the National Fire Service Board (Statens brandnämnd) were merged into the newly established Rescue Services Agency
Scope and Content
Among the documents are letters to and from authorities, correspondence, activity reports, as well as documents relating to the operations in Lübeck and in camps in Sweden. The documents also include reports from inspections of refugee camps.
In one of the archive's series (D), there are registers of refugees (and survivors). In another series (F 7), there are a large number of documents regarding the reception and initial care of survivors from concentration camps in Nazi Germany who were evacuated to Sweden in 1945. In these documents, there are also details about the conditions in the various accommodation facilities and hospitals in Sweden, as well as information about the physical and mental states of the survivors.
System of Arrangement
The archive is organized according to the Swedish archival standard.
A = minutes B = documents generated by the authority, outgoing documents C = diaries and diary registers D = ledgers, lists, registers, inventory registers, etc. E = correspondence, incoming documents F = subject-specific documents G = accounts H = statistics J = maps and drawings K = photographs L = newspaper clippings Ö = other documents, often papers left behind by a director, etc.
Conditions Governing Access
The records are generally open and accesible for researchers.
Finding Aids
The index can be found in a binder at the archive as well as in the National Archives' on-line database NAD (Nationell Arkivdatabas): https://sok.riksarkivet.se/arkiv/uwyuCYWK0gHKB9gkc5Q1E6
Rules and Conventions
EHRI Guidelines for Description v.1.0