Den allvarsamma leken : Politisk satir i svensk skämtpress 1939–1945

Sammanfattning: This thesis is a serious study of humor – a seemingly contradictory task to wich I was drawn becasue of the possibilty of understanding society and public opinion through satire. More precisely, it explores the use of political satire in the Swedish comic magazines Söndagsnisse–Strix, Lutfisken and Joker during the Second World War. The comic press was an influential public commentator in Sweden whose satirical remarks not only shaped, but also corresponded with, the general understanding of social, political and economic conditions. Since the genre reached its pinnacle at the turn of the 20th century, and later was challenged by the daily press during the 1920s, its activity from the 1930s and onwards tends to be neglected. This thesis argues, however, that even though the number of comic magazines was radically diminished during the 1920s, those that survived continued to be influential by offering a unique type of opinion-forming satire, not least during th second world war when the Swedish government tried to restrict the freedom of the press. By understanding the satire in the comic press, mainly in the form of witty drawings, as a laughing mirror that reflects essential features of the society it comments in the form of parody, it further argues that the comic press offers a valuable insight into how political decisions and developments was understood and presented at the time. The analysis is structured around two main themes. The first one explores how the Swedish coalition-government and its domestic policies during the war was presented in satirical depictions. The study shows that the Swedish prime minister Per Albin Hansson was recurrently criticized, not least for the government's tendency to accommodate German complaints and demands during the beginning of the war, and thus deviating from Sweden's   proclaimed policy of neutrality. Apart from Per Albin Hansson, two of his goverment colleagues, minister of finance Ernst Wigforss and minister of justice KG Westman, was repeatedly criticized and ridiculed for the policies they were in charge of respectively. The government also received criticism for not taking appropiate action against domestic communist and Nazi movements, which were depicted as a menace to the Swedish society. The second part of the thesis explores how the political situation in the Nordic neighboring countries, that unlike Sweden did not manage to avoid the war, was commented and portrayed in satire. The analysis shows that it was common to express sympathy and admiration for their attempts at resisting occupation while at the same time mocking the aggressors. The thesis ends with the note that satire in general, and cartoons in particular, should be considered more often in the study of history and the shaping of public opinion. Unlike an editiorial, that demands time and effort from the reader, a satirical drawing has the potential of shaping peoples understanding of events in the blink of and eye due to its condensed message in the form of a snapshot.