The far-right nationalist party Swedish Democrats apologized Thursday for its past links to Naziism and antisemitism ahead of the country’s national elections next year.
The public apology, which included a study commissioned by the party that found Nazi and antisemitic views were pervasive in its publications and functions throughout the 1980s and 1990s, underscores efforts by the party to become more aligned with mainstream Swedish voters.
“That there have been clear expressions of antisemitism and support for National Socialist ideas in my party’s history I think is disgusting and reprehensible,” said Mattias Karlsson, a member of the Swedish parliament and former leader of the Swedish Democrats, at a news conference.
“I would like to reiterate the party’s apology, above all to Swedish citizens of Jewish descent who may have felt a strong sense of insecurity and fear for good reasons,” Karlsson continued.
The Swedish Jewish community estimates that there are roughly 20,000 Jews in Sweden, according to the World Jewish Congress.
The historian hired to lead the study, Tony Gustafsson, said that the far-right party had first emerged from neo-Nazi and white supremacist organizations in the 1980s, but had distanced itself from that ideology beginning in 1995, the year that current party leader Jimmie Akesson joined the Sweden Democrats.
The Swedish Democrats’ announcement comes months after the Israeli government ended its longstanding boycott of the party, along with similar parties in France and Spain, despite criticism they have drawn from Jewish groups over antisemitism and ties to Europe’s Nazi past.
In March, Amichai Chikli, the Israeli minister of Diaspora affairs, invited a member of the Swedish Democrats to speak at the International Conference on Combating Antisemitism.
“Antisemitism is a growing problem in Europe due to Muslim immigration,” Chikli said at the time, according to the Jerusalem Post. “The European right wing parties have a point, because they realize the problem and are presenting a solution… They understand the challenge of radical Islam and they are willing to take the necessary steps.”
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