An Ordinary Citizen

November 6, 2023 11:54 AM

This is Europe's JFK Mystery is a half-hour documentary by Harry Clennon and Philip Brain about the 1986 murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme. It gives context for who Palme was, sets out the events as clearly as is possible, and presents the three leading theories for who killed him.
posted by Kattullus (11 comments total)

It has a transcript, but for whatever reason it only seems to show up as a button you can press on desktop. It's below the "Chapters" section.
posted by Kattullus at 12:07 PM on November 6, 2023

Y'know? Western Europe's still a civilized place
Despite those Americans all over the place
But just the other week, i saw it take a little dive

I have always believed that if you're lucky enough
To have a leader who is friendly, decent, honest and just
And not a Tory, You'd better keep him alive

So why'd they go and shoot Olof Palme
Why'd they go and gun that good man down.

- The Jazz Butcher (rip) - Olof Palme (lyrics)
posted by Catblack at 12:31 PM on November 6, 2023 [9 favorites]

Another European PM's mysterious death
posted by chavenet at 12:58 PM on November 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

The question of who did it has really haunted the whole country since it happened.

This is one of my most vivid memories growing up in Sweden. I was walking down to breakfast, coming down the stairs into the foyer. Right then my mom walked in the front door with the morning newspaper, unfolding it to the front page while taking off her shoes. She yelled "Oh my god, he's dead!" and sank down to sit on the last stair right in front of me, absolutely stunned. It was shocking, for sure. The aftermath and the false accusations, etc. made it even more of a terrible event.
posted by gemmy at 1:17 PM on November 6, 2023 [10 favorites]

Eleven years ago the Guardian ran a very interesting story about the Palme assassination:

Eva Rausing, who was found dead in July at the London home she shared with her husband, an heir to the TetraPak fortune, had passed on information about the unsolved 1986 murder of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, Swedish prosecutors have revealed.

Scotland Yard confirmed on Tuesday night that it had given information to authorities in Sweden, where investigators are now reported as wanting to question Hans Kristian Rausing as a possible witness about the information his wife claimed to have obtained.

A Swedish author who has written two books on the Palme killing said Mrs Rausing first contacted him in June 2011. She claimed she had learned that Palme had been killed by an entrepreneur who feared the politician was a threat to his business.

The author, Gunnar Wall, said he had engaged in email correspondence with Rausing, who told him she had written to the businessman on three occasions about the allegations. In one email to Wall she wrote: "Don't forget to investigate if I should suddenly die! Just joking, I hope."

Wall told the Guardian: "When her emails stopped, I did not think too much about it, until I heard that she had died in circumstances that were unclear."

"She also told me that she was going to inform the prosectors in Sweden and it seemed like she had some arrangement to meet them."

Hans Kristian Rausing was given a 10-month suspended custodial sentence earlier this month after admitting preventing the lawful burial of his wife, a fellow drug addict. Rausing kept her body hidden at their home in Belgravia, London, for two months under a pile of clothing and bin bags.

Sweden's Dagens Nyheter newspaper says British police found information regarding Palme's murder when they searched Eva's computer.

Kerstin Skarp, Sweden's deputy prosecutor general, said: "I can confirm that Eva Rausing contacted the Palme investigators and that we have received information from the British authorities. I cannot disclose any other information about the status of the investigation."

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We are in the possession of information that we have sent on to the Swedish authorities."

As I recall from some other reading at the time, Eva Rausing said she got the information while doing cocaine at a party with rich friends. The entrepreneur in question was a weapons manufacturer, but I don’t remember whether Rausing claimed she got the information directly from him.
posted by jamjam at 1:53 PM on November 6, 2023 [6 favorites]

The Bunker did a great podcast on this a few months back with Jan Stocklassa who has written books around the case. It was a really interesting Podcast.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 2:49 PM on November 6, 2023

It's a fascinating murder, even if you don't like people being fascinated by murders. I wonder how much of the police malfeasance was incompetence or not really caring to find the killer of a Center-Left politician.

I feel that the video turned 10 minutes of information into an overly-dramatic (hard to say that about an assassination!) 39 minutes, but that's YouTube for you (and I searched around a bit and couldn't find anything better, so, *shrug*).
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:56 PM on November 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

The entrepreneur in question was a weapons manufacture

The Bofors thing is quite interesting.
I remember his assassination, our school had an exchange student from Sweden, quite shocked as Palme was a brave person. no Google in those days but the CIA? I doubt it. Though I'm sure they spied on him. This was done in public though JFK was killed in public, the shooter was up close. The amount of dead witnesses and suspects is quite alarming though.
posted by clavdivs at 2:58 PM on November 6, 2023

I thought this was very well written, especially for what looks like a podcast done by two 20-somethings. However, the decision to film in front of the Aero theatre in Santa Monica was a very strange choice.
posted by dobbs at 3:56 PM on November 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

Yeah, I was also fairly surprised by how well done this was. The one thing I wish they’d mentioned was the “if I did it” interview Engström did in 1992. If he didn’t do it, he would be almost comically suspicious, if this wasn’t an actual murder.
posted by Kattullus at 11:04 PM on November 6, 2023

GenjiandProust: I wonder how much of the police malfeasance was incompetence or not really caring to find the killer of a Center-Left politician.

The police did have some political hobbyhorses, but it had mostly to do with the fact that they were convinced a far-left organization had been involved, despite there never being a shred of evidence pointing that way. As far as I’ve been able to tell, Hans Holmér, the original lead detective, just reflexively blamed left-wing immigrants for the shooting, for the simple reason that he didn’t like left-wing immigrants, and therefore focused on the best organized left-wing immigrant political organization in Sweden, the Kurdish PKK.

For what it’s worth, Holmér and Palme were involved in spying on far-left organizations in the 70s, so at least as far as Holmér was concerned, he seems to have thought of Palme as a political fellow-traveler.

Oh, and by the way, I wasn’t joking about the “if I did it” interview. Here’s what Stig Engström said about the murder in 1992, in an interview with an acquaintance who was a journalist. First Swedish text, then a slightly altered Google Translation.

Det var kanske inte alls överlagt och planerat. Inte mord utan dråp, eller som ett vådaskott under en älgjakt…

Paret tilltalas av en man som kanske känt igen dom och vill säga hej till en livs levande världskändis som plötsligt kommer knallandes på Sveavägen från bion. Många har hälsat på Palme, han hade inte bara fiender. Tänk om den beundrade Statsministern snäser av vederbörande på ett föraktfullt sätt?

Avvisade och vända ryggen åt blir några av oss förbannade. Om då någon av oss går runt med ett vapen… så kanske vi tar till det vid ett sådant tillfälle. Sinnet rinner till, vi tar några steg efter mannen, lägger handen på hans axel för att stoppa honom. Din jävel-pang. Det är tyvärr mänskligt. Eller omänskligt.

Kanske mördaren är en solitär, en ensamvarg. Kanske råkade någon ut för det här på Sveavägen och råkade ha ett vapen med sig. Kanske är Statsministerns död en slump, ett misstag eller något åt det hållet. Jag tror det. Det är den enda förklaring jag har.

ENGLISH:

Perhaps it was not premeditated and planned at all. Not murder but killing, or like an accidental shot during an elk hunt…

The couple is addressed by a man who may have recognized them and wants to say hello to a living world celebrity who suddenly comes hurrying down Sveavägen from the cinema. Many have greeted Palme, he didn't just have enemies. What if the admired Prime Minister snubs the person concerned in a contemptuous way?

Rejected and turned away, some of us become cursed. If then one of us walks around with a weapon… then maybe we will resort to it on such an occasion. Mind flowing, we take a few steps after the man, put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. You bastard – bang! Unfortunately, it is human. Or inhuman.

Maybe the killer is a loner, a loner. Maybe someone came across this on Sveavägen and happened to have a weapon with them. Maybe the Prime Minister's death is a coincidence, a mistake or something like that. I think so. That is the only explanation I have.

I’ll note that his description of what might’ve happened fits with the description initially given by Anders Björkman, who was one of two eyewitnesses to the shooting.
posted by Kattullus at 11:48 PM on November 6, 2023 [3 favorites]