Midsummer crisis

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The Midsummer crisis (Swedish: Midsommarkrisen) was a political crisis in Sweden after the beginning of Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941. Sweden's neutrality was tested when Nazi Germany and Finland demanded that Sweden allow the transit of the Wehrmacht's 163rd Infantry Division by railroad from Norway to Finland. After the 1939 German-Soviet invasion of Poland, Swedish prime minister Per Albin Hansson declared strict neutrality and called for the formation of a coalition government involving all major parties under his leadership; this was realized in December, with the exception of the Communist Party. With Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Ireland and the Vatican, Sweden maintained neutrality throughout World War II and cooperated with both sides. According to Winston Churchill, during the war Sweden ignored the greater moral issues and played both sides for profit (particularly in the German occupation of Denmark and Norway, supported by transportation through Sweden sanctioned by Hansson's cabinet).