Sterilization case rocks Sweden

Militant, Vol.61 no.31, 15 September 1997

Margot Wallstrom, Sweden's social affairs minister, announced August 28 that a special commission will investigate allegations that up to 60,000 women were forcibly sterilized through government programs for over 40 years to create a stronger Swedish race. Stockholm admitted that a policy of ethnic cleansing was launched in 1935 and involved women with learning difficulties or from non-Nordic ethnic backgrounds. The Swedish government paid $6,289 in compensation to 16 victims in the past 10 years.

In Norway, meanwhile, the health ministry acknowledged some 2,000 men and women who had mental illnesses or were poor went through a forced sterilization program between 1934 and 1976. Oslo denied charges that 40,000 women were forced to undergo sterilization experiments of racial cleansing sciences.