Monument to Danute Danielsson⁠⁠ in Swedish city of Växjö

In the Swedish city of Växjö. A woman hit a skinhead with a bag during a procession of a column of neo-Nazis in 1985. Her mother was a Polish Jew, she went through the concentration camp and miraculously survived.

On that day, April 13, 1985, a column of the Northern Imperial Party, an ultra-right party supporting the ideas of Nazi Germany, was walking along the streets of Växjö. During the Second World War, Sweden remained neutral, and therefore almost did not suffer from the anti-Semitic actions of the Nazis. Moreover, on the eve of the German occupation, neighboring Denmark transported almost all of its Jews to Sweden, and thus saved their lives in neutral territory. Sweden has positioned itself as a tolerant country where everyone is welcome and no one’s rights are infringed – including the Nazis. That is why a procession like this one, impossible in other European countries, in Sweden passed without obstacles.

Danuta Danielsson was the first to decide not to stand aside. She ran up to one of the participants in the column and hit him with her bag. Following her, the rest of the inhabitants of Växjö attacked the neo-Nazis – they drove them from the main square towards the station, and the demonstrators had to lock themselves in the toilet and wait for the police to appear.

Immediately after the publication of the photo, rumors spread about who this woman was. It was said that she was 54 years old, and that she was in a concentration camp, and her father was killed by the Gestapo. In fact, Danuta was originally from Poland – it was there that she met her future husband, Bjorn Danielsson, at a jazz festival. Danuta’s mother miraculously survived within the walls of the Auschwitz concentration camp, but her mental health was destroyed. She was never able to adequately take care of her daughter, and therefore Danuta was eventually taken away by relatives and she was brought up without a mother. Later, mental problems overtook Danuta herself – people often heard her muttering to herself or screaming at her imaginary interlocutors. Several times she was also treated in a hospital at the local psychiatric hospital of St. Siegfried.

Two years after this event, in 1988, Danuta took her camera with her and took the elevator to the very top of the water tower in Växjö. She insisted that the staff open the door to the premises for her so that she could photograph the city from above. Instead, Danuta jumped out of the window. She was 41 years old.