Fascismens Kontaktbok : En studie av Per Engdahls nätverk vid grundandet av Malmörörelsen

Sammanfattning: The atrocities committed by the Nazis during the second world war meant that the public view of Nazism and fascism in the late 1940s and early 1950s was at a record low. In many countries the government actively sought to combat organizations professing a loyalty to fascism and many groups all over Europe struggled to find new followers and support in the post-war era. In wake of this there were an interesting development within post-war fascist organisations. As a result of their inability to gain support in their nations they began cooperating more with other groups across the borders. One interesting expression of this trend was the formation of a fascist international in 1951. Formed as a result of two international conferences, one in Rome 1950 and one in Malmö 1951, the movement sought to create a federal European state of nationalist states with the purpose of establishing Europe as a third power in the cold war, ideologically independent from the liberal USA and communist Soviet bloc. At Malmö it was decided to form an umbrella organisation named Europäische Soziale Bewegung (ESB), the European social movement. Furthermore, it was decided that the organisation would have permanent secretariat in Malmö which would be organized and led by a commission composed of Per Engdahl, the former SS-officer Karl-Heinz Priester, the French revisionist Maurice Bardéche and the secretary of the MSI Augusto de Marsanich. This study focuses on the correspondence of Per Engdahl during the years of the congresses in order to examine how the personal networks of fascist leaders helped create, form and maintain the international cooperation of ESB. Using the social network perspective argued by Ylva Hasselberg, Leos Müller and Niklas Stenlås, the study found that Engdahl’s connections with key figures in the extreme right played a key part in planning and organizing the congress as well as formulating the ideological programme and the organisations operation. Furthermore, the study found that Engdahl’s network was frequently used to share information and news from the various movements. The study thereafter concludes that Engdahl’s network is good example of how the post-war fascist organisation intertwined and helped develop the international currents of fascism. In doing so, the study contributes to the research of entangled history in transnational fascism studies.