The Stay Behinds

Sweden’s Cold War Guardians
Packed with first-hand accounts and previously classified government documents, this book reveals the secrets of Sweden’s resistance network, created to deter a potential Soviet occupation.

Packed with first-hand accounts and previously classified government documents, this book reveals the secrets of Sweden’s resistance network, created to deter a potential Soviet occupation.

Following World War II, Sweden faced the looming threat of the Soviet Union and its drive to spread communism. This led to the formation of a resistance movement involving Sweden’s intelligence service, the employers’ association and the labour movement. The stay-behind network was fully legalised in 1955 and continued its clandestine work until the mid-1990s, with the mission of keeping communism and the Soviets out of Sweden.

Drawing on extensive archival research and interviews with k