January 2: Count Folke Bernadotte

Folke Bernadotte, a Swedish nobleman who negotiated the release of some 31,000 prisoners from German concentration camps during the struggle against Nazism, was born on this date in 1895. Those he rescued were primarily Danes and Norwegians, but included nearly 2,000 Jews. After World War II, Bernadotte was selected by the United Nations Security Council to mediate an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict, which had erupted into full-scale war with the invasion of Israel following its declaration of statehood in 1948. After proposing two armistice agreements that included the right of return for Arab refugees and Arab control of an internationalized Jerusalem, Bernadotte was assassinated in that city on September 17, 1948 by the Lehi group (the Stern Gang), a killing approved by future Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. Ralph Bunche succeeded Count Bernadotte as UN mediator and succeeded at winning an armistice in 1949, for which he received a Nobel Peace Prize. “The exodus of Palestinian Arabs resulted from panic created by fighting in their communities, by rumors concerning real or alleged acts of terrorism, or expulsion. It would be an offense against the principles of elemental justice if these innocent victims of the conflict were denied the right to return to their homes while Jewish immigrants flow into Palestine, and, indeed, at least offer the threat of permanent replacement of the Arab refugees who have been rooted in the land for centuries.” —Count Folke Bernadotte, September 16, 1948