The Old Country Newsletter – A Nation in Shock

Your Weekly Newsletter from Sweden!

Author

Philip Hannes
February 07, 2025

Good morning! 
It’s Friday, February 7.

We began last week’s newsletter on a solemn note, and sadly, it would be unthinkable not to do the same today.

On Tuesday, Sweden became the latest country forced to experience a school shooting. Although school attacks have occurred before – in Trollhättan in 2015 and in Malmö in 2022 – this week’s tragic event in Örebro was unique because it involved firearms. By evening, police and government officials confirmed that it was the worst mass shooting in the nation’s history.

In Sweden, many people hold licenses for firearms—most of which are owned by hunters. Strict regulations govern their manufacture to prevent the creation of big automatic weapons with large magazines. To obtain a firearm license, one must undergo extensive testing and training. The approval of licenses for handheld firearms are very rare.

Experts credit these stringent rules for the, at least historically, low number of shootings in Sweden, especially mass shootings. In contrast, much of the gang-related violence today is perpetrated with illegal weapons smuggled into the country.

Now, Örebro and the rest of Sweden are still trying to understand how this happened and are working tirelessly to care for all those affected.

Please keep the victims and their families in your thoughts. May those injured make a full recovery, and may those who lost their lives rest in peace.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Philip & Hannes

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Mass Shooting at Örebro Adult School Leaves 11 Dead, Suspected Shooter Found on Scene

Attribution: Viktoria Bank, TT Nyhetsbyrån

A tragic mass shooting at Campus Risbergska in Örebro on Tuesday has claimed 11 lives, including that of the suspected gunman, sending shockwaves through the community and the nation.

The incident unfolded shortly after 12:30 PM when police received reports of gunfire at Campus Risbergska—a facility offering adult education and Swedish for Immigrants (SFI) classes—located in a neighborhood surrounded by several schools for children and youth. When officers arrived at the scene, they found a man in his 40s suffering multiple gunshot wounds on the balcony of the building. Emergency services rushed him to Örebro University Hospital, but despite valiant efforts, he was later pronounced dead. Authorities have since confirmed that a total of 11 people lost their lives, with one of the fatalities identified as the suspected perpetrator.

Investigations have pointed to 35-year-old Rickard Andersson as the lone gunman. Andersson, a figure unknown to police prior to the incident and described by acquaintances as a reclusive individual who had previously changed his name, is believed to have used licensed hunting rifles during the attack. Initial findings indicate that he may have taken his own life after carrying out the shooting. While the precise motive remains unclear, police have ruled out connections to criminal gangs or ideological extremism—though they caution that the evolving investigation could yet reveal additional insights.

In the aftermath of the shooting, six adults remain hospitalized, with five suffering from severe injuries that, while now stable, were initially life-threatening. Compounding the tragedy, misinformation about the incident has been circulating on social media. Notably, billionaire Elon Musk has been spreading misleading details about the shooting on his X-account, asserting that traditional media underreported the event—claims that stand in stark contrast to the extensive national and international coverage already in place.

In response to the catastrophe, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson convened an emergency meeting with all party leaders on Thursday. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday evening, Kristersson said: “We must come together as a united country and address the security challenges that our communities face. […] Our discussion on Thursday will focus on strengthening safety protocols, supporting the affected families, and ensuring that our public spaces are secure.” His call for unity was met with broad support across the political spectrum.

In response to the tragedy, national mourning has been declared with flags lowered to half-mast across the country, and a moment of silence is planned. Reflecting the national grief and a call for unity, Queen Silvia remarked, "It is mine and the King’s heartfelt desire that we all come together to rebuild the beautiful Sweden we cherish."

Word of the week

SVÅRGREPPBART [SVOR-grepp-bart]

incomprehensible.

In other news

🕯️Following the mass shooting at Risbergska School in Örebro, Education Minister and Liberal Party leader Johan Pehrson visited the site, describing the incident as a traumatic and dark day for both Örebro and Sweden. Reflecting on his personal connection to the school as a former student, Pehrson criticized the current level of school security and called for enhanced measures to identify and prevent potential threats.

🛂 According to an ICE list reported by Fox News, 120 Swedes are among the 1.4 million non-American residents scheduled for deportation from the United States. The Swedish government is currently investigating the issue and consulting with the US embassy to determine the legal basis for these deportations, which also affect other Nordic countries.

👩‍⚕️ Swedish Healthcare Minister Acko Ankarberg Johansson has received the final report from a special investigation recommending major reforms to the 50-year-old abortion law, including allowing medical abortions to be completed entirely at home rather than requiring an initial in-clinic dose. The report also proposes modernizing the law’s language, extending the legal right to abortion until the end of the 18th week, and granting midwives the authority to prescribe abortion medication to foster a more flexible and non-judgmental abortion care system.

Your Weekly Swede-ish

Attribution: Wikimedia Commons

Josh Allen: The Swede-ish Quarterback

Did you know that Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (likely) has a Swedish connection? Born in Firebaugh, California, Josh grew up on a family farm that—according to some genealogical insights—includes roots tracing back to Swedish immigrants. While he’s renowned for his rocket arm and game-changing plays, his off-field life tells a quieter story of hard work, community, and a humble upbringing. It seems that the determination and grit often attributed to Swedish pioneers might just run in his blood.

Statistics you didn’t ask for

Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, has experienced significant population growth over the past decades. In 1950, the city's population was approximately 741,000. By 2024, this number had more than doubled, reaching an estimated 1,720,000 residents. This growth represents an annual increase of about 1.15% in recent years.

The broader metropolitan area, encompassing surrounding municipalities, has also seen substantial expansion, with the population rising from 1,679,000 in 2022 to 1,700,000 in 2023. Notably, approximately 27% of Stockholm's residents are immigrants or of non-Swedish background, making it the Nordic city with the highest proportion of foreign-born inhabitants. The largest foreign-born groups include individuals from Finland, Iraq, and Iran.

Would you like to feel closer to Sweden? A perfect way to do that would be to have a look at Swedish broadcasts, either current or past. SVT Play is an online streaming service provided by Sveriges Television (SVT), the Swedish national public television broadcaster.

To watch it, one has to be in Sweden – or have access to a VPN provider that can connect to a remote server located in Sweden. Like NordVPN, which sponsors this segment of the newsletter.

By using NordVPN, you can access what SVT Play has to offer – including current news, documentaries about emigrants, live broadcasts from nature events, and much more – by simply connecting to a server in Sweden. Follow the link here to get 74 % off for your first two years and three months (!) of usage. By doing so, you also help support the distribution of this newsletter.

Swedish Weapons, Old and New, Prove Vital on Ukraine’s Front Lines

Attribution: SVT

While Sweden has supplied Ukraine with modern weaponry, many of its older arms—some dating back to World War II—are still proving their worth on the battlefield. Their reliability and simplicity have made them indispensable in the fight against Russia.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Sweden has sent military aid to Ukraine in multiple packages. The latest, announced in September 2024, brought Sweden’s total contribution to approximately 48.4 billion SEK ($4.7 billion). While this aid includes advanced systems, Ukrainian forces have also found great value in older Swedish weapons, which continue to play a key role in combat.

“These weapons are extremely reliable, even though they were designed in another era,” said Major Roger Djupsjö. Some of them—like the Kulspruta 58 (a Swedish FN MAG variant), Pansarskott 86 (a disposable anti-tank weapon), Kpist m/45 (a submachine gun from the 1940s), and Granatgevär 48 (an early recoilless rifle)—have been effectively used by Ukrainian troops. Some were donated directly by Sweden, while others arrived via Baltic states.

Unlike some of the high-tech Western weapons that have struggled in Ukraine’s muddy, cold, and dusty conditions, Sweden’s arms are built for tough environments. “Many advanced systems from various countries have turned out to be too sensitive to dirt, moisture, and freezing temperatures,” Djupsjö explained.

Sweden’s long-standing neutrality during World War II led to an emphasis on self-sufficiency in weapons production, with 15-20% of the defense budget dedicated to research and development. This focus on making durable, easy-to-use weapons has made Swedish arms highly regarded in international conflicts.

“We’ve always designed weapons from our own perspective,” said Andreas Ohlsson, curator at the Swedish Army Museum. “The hallmark of Swedish arms has been their ability to be operated by soldiers with minimal training—even in high-stress situations when they are exhausted and scared.”

As Ukraine continues to defend itself, both Sweden’s cutting-edge and decades-old weapons are proving that reliability can sometimes trump complexity in modern warfare.

Legacy Lanterns – shedding light on the stories of the past

Swedish emigrants in Charnute, Kansas, USA, 1889

The Old Language in the New Country

Between 1830 and 1930, 1.3 million Swedes left behind family members, friends, their homeland, as well as poverty and religious oppression to seek a better life in America. They brought their language and culture with them. At the turn of the last century, nearly one-fifth of all Swedish speakers in the world lived in America. This led to the emergence of the so-called "American Swedish”.

A large portion of the emigrated Swedes settled in areas where many other Swedes already lived, allowing the Swedish language to maintain a strong position. Until the 1920s, Swedish was the primary language in many of these communities—for example, school lessons and church services were conducted in Swedish, and there were Swedish newspapers.

In these Swedish settlements, people from different parts of Sweden came together, and although they shared the same mother tongue, their dialects could be very different. To facilitate communication among the residents, a unique variety of Swedish known as American Swedish emerged. It developed through the interaction of various Swedish dialects and influences from English.

Development and decline over the years

American Swedish is primarily characterized by dialect mixing, simplification, and borrowed words and expressions from English. The various traditional Swedish dialects in Swedish settlements quickly adapted to each other, and particularly dialectal pronunciations, words, and expressions were gradually smoothed out in the common spoken language.

A phenomenon typical of American Swedish is the swedishification of English words, like "digga", where the English verb "dig" has been conjugated according to Swedish patterns. Some words were borrowed (and swedishified) because they simply didn't exist in Swedish, such as "riper" (Eng. "reaper," meaning 'harvesting machine') and "rällråden"(the railroad). Other typical loanwords are "travla" (Eng. "travel," meaning 'to travel'), "renta" (Eng. "rent," meaning 'to rent'), and "hunta" (Eng. "hunt," meaning 'to hunt').

Since the 1920s, Swedish in the Swedish-American communities has been in decline in favor of English. Some descendants of the early emigrants, however, grew up in Swedish-speaking enclaves and in some cases did not speak English until they started school. During a research trip to the Swedish-American communities in the U.S. in 2011, several such Swedish-speaking descendants were still found, although all were over 80 years old. Only in some cases has Swedish been passed on to the fourth generation.

Recordings

The Swedish in America project conducted trips to the old Swedish settlements in the United States and interviewed American-born descendants of Swedish immigrants whose parents or grandparents had emigrated to America. The recordings showed that traditional American Swedish still exists in the old Swedish settlements, for example, among children of Swedish-speaking emigrants.

Below, you can listen to Ellen Sundin (born 1885). Ellen was interviewed in her home in Minneapolis in 1962. She was born in Gävle, Sweden and emigrated to America with her husband in 1908. Below is also a transcription, words marked in red are in English, while those marked in blue are in Swedish.

Yes, he got a stroke, (and)... And they had an awful big funeral (a woman in the background can be heard saying: speak Swedish!) on him and Augustana on the church there. And they were such a big funeral. I recognize them them all, 'one here Pettersson, the one who runs eh South Chapel. And when my brother and his wife, they- when they died, they died, they eh went to Vilander's West Chapel. Well, it is so magnificent, so they- when my brother's wife died, and she had- they were there all morning. People came and went all the time, so she was all covered with flowers everywhere, and it was just like a big wedding, it couldn't be more magnificent. Come and go all the time. And we were invited over to her sister over the North East, we were there and ate dinner there. And then back to Funeral Parlor again. My brother was there to about ten, eleven o'clock at night even.

Pratstund i svenskbygderna

Despite the decline of Swedish speakers in the United States over the past century, there are still associations and enthusiasts who preserve the language. Sven Sjostedt at Friends of the Karl Oskar House regularly hosts meetings where people are invited to speak the old language in the new country.

These meetings are held on Zoom on the second Monday of each month from 7 to 8 PM (Minnesota time). There is no specific topic, just a friendly chat among friends. You don’t need to be fluent in Swedish. This is mainly for second- and third-generation Swedes, but you don’t have to be Swedish at all, just interested in speaking Swedish.

Follow the information below to join!

Zoom meeting details:

Do you have a story from the past that could be worth sharing? I bet you do! Or would you like to see something else in the newsletter and have suggestions for topics? If so, please reach out!