Svahnström, Bertil

Born Aug. 18, 1907, in Byarum; died July 16, 1972, in Stockholm. Swedish public figure and journalist.

After graduating from a secondary school in Stockholm, Svahnström studied at the University of Berlin from 1931 to 1933. From 1928 to 1936 he worked for the Swedish Telegraph Bureau. Later he worked as a correspondent for several Swedish newspapers and in 1959 began contributing to the pacifist magazine Freden. Svahnström was cofounder of the Action Group Against the Swedish Nuclear Bomb, of which he became chairman in 1961. In 1967 he was instrumental in founding and organizing the Stockholm Conference on Vietnam and was elected chairman of the International Liaison Committee on Vietnam. He was a member of the International Commission for Inquiry Into US Crimes in Indochina in 1970. Svahnström was awarded the International Lenin Prize for Strengthening Peace Among Nations in 1970.