Swedish artist's wartime plea for peace and goodwill to everyone
It was a wartime Christmas card that captured the zeitgeist of a haunted but hopeful Europe, with a cover illustration that featured four winged angels sawing a swastika into a Christian cross. What's more, the story behind this artefact is a veritable Christmas story in itself - one full of hope and faith.
The card's creator, Hugo Gehlin, was a nationally renowned Swedish artist, who in 1943 lived in the southern Swedish city of Helsingborg. At the time he was a bald, rather overweight 54-year-old, and according to those who knew him, 'always with a twinkle in his eye'. He was known as a garrulous and warm individual, with a large network of friends and admirers.
Helsingborg is the closest Swedish city to Denmark, and during the summer of 1943, Gehlin was one of a number of Helsingborgers who actively participated in the evacuation of almost 8,000 Danish Jews from Nazi-occupied Denmark.
Over the course of several weeks the Gehlin home became refuge to a large number of evacuees making their way to Sweden. And despite Sweden's neutrality, the actions of activists like Gehlin were perilous, especially given the ease with which Nazi agents crossed the Oresund straits, and the ever-present threat of invasion.
It was after this long, hot and anxious summer that Gehlin set about making his annual Christmas card. For many years the artist had printed a limited edition of about 600 Christmas cards that traditionally featured his yuletide woodblock carving of the year.
