Karin Olofsdotter | |
---|---|
Ambassador of Sweden to the United States | |
In office 2017 –14 August 2023 | |
Preceded by | Björn Lyrvall |
Succeeded by | Urban Ahlin |
Ambassador of Sweden to Hungary | |
In office 2011–2014 | |
Preceded by | Cecilia Björner |
Succeeded by | Niclas Trouvé |
Personal details | |
Born | Sweden | June 16,1966
Parent(s) | Olle and Eivor Svensson |
Alma mater | Lund University (BA,1994) University of California,Los Angeles |
[1] | |
Karin Ulrika Olofsdotter (born June 16,1966) is a Swedish diplomat and Swedish Ambassador to the Russian Federation. She was Swedish Ambassador to the United States from 2017 to 2023. [2] She started her role as Ambassador of Sweden to the United States on September 1,2017.
Karin Olofsdotter entered the Foreign Service in 1994,and served as Chief of Staff to several Swedish Foreign Ministers and as Director of the Ministers Office in Stockholm before joining the Embassy in Washington. [3] [4]
Before her assignment to Washington,D.C.,Olofsdotter served as Director-General for Trade at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Sweden from September 1,2016. Olofsdotter has also held the position of Deputy Director-General and Head of the Department for Promotion of Sweden,Trade and CSR in Stockholm in the two years prior. [5]
From 2011 to August 2014,Olofsdotter was Swedish Ambassador to Hungary. [6] While in Hungary,on 9 September 2012,Olofsdotter attend the "dedication ceremony yesterday of the Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Park,which was held in the courtyard of the Dohany Street Synagogue in Budapest". [7] From 2008 and 2011,Olofsdotter was Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington,D.C. [8]
She has also served at the Swedish EU Representation in Brussels,Belgium,working with European security policy and defense issues. She chaired the EU's Political-Military Group during the Swedish Presidency of the EU in 2001. Prior to this she worked at the Swedish delegation to NATO. [9] Her first posting was in Moscow,Russia,where she was mainly responsible for covering Belarus.
As a part of diplomatic outreach,Olofsdotter,with Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg was part of a town hall style meeting in Peters Township,south of Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania. [10]
Ambassador Olofsdotter has a B.A. in psychology,economics and Russian. She studied at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and speaks Swedish,Russian,French and English.
The foreign policy of Sweden was formerly based on the premise that national security is best served by staying free of alliances in peacetime in order to remain a neutral country in the event of war,with this policy lasting from 1814 in the context of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars until the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine. In 2002,Sweden revised its security doctrine. The security doctrine at that point still stated that "Sweden pursues a policy of non-participation in military alliances," but permitted cooperation in response to threats against peace and security. The government also seeks to maintain Sweden's high standard of living. These two objectives required heavy expenditures for social welfare,defence spending at rates considered low by Western European standards,and close attention to foreign trade opportunities and world economic cooperation. In 2024,Sweden formally became part of a military alliance for the first time since the end of the War of the Sixth Coalition by joining NATO.
Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg was a Swedish architect,businessman,diplomat,and humanitarian. He saved thousands of Jews in German-occupied Hungary during the Holocaust from German Nazis and Hungarian fascists during the later stages of World War II. While serving as Sweden's special envoy in Budapest between July and December 1944,Wallenberg issued protective passports and sheltered Jews in buildings which he declared as Swedish territory.
Thomas Peter Lantos was a Hungarian- American politician who served as a U.S. representative from California from 1981 until his death in 2008. A member of the Democratic Party,he represented the state's 11th congressional district until 1993. After redistricting,he served from the 12th congressional district,which included both the northern two-thirds of San Mateo County and a portion of the southwestern part of San Francisco.
Ángel Sanz-Briz was a Spanish diplomat and humanitarian. Sanz - Briz is credited with saving more than 5,200 Jews in German-occupied Hungary from the Holocaust in the later stages of World War II.
Per Johan Valentin Anger was a Swedish diplomat. Anger was Raoul Wallenberg's co-worker at the Swedish legation in Budapest during World War II when many Jews were saved because they were supplied with Swedish passports. After the war,he spent a lot of time trying to clarify Wallenberg's fate.
Lars Ernster was a professor of biochemistry,and a member of the Board of the Nobel Foundation.
The Raoul Wallenberg Award is bestowed by The Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States on "individuals,organizations,and communities whose courage,selflessness and success against great odds personified those of Raoul Wallenberg himself." It has been awarded periodically since 1985,when the inaugural award was given to Wallenberg himself.
Károly Szabó was an employee of the Swedish Embassy in Budapest from 1944 to 1945 when he rescued Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust. He was a supporter of Raoul Wallenberg and had a significant role in making contact with the representatives of the Hungarian police and other state officials. He was arrested without legal proceedings in 1953 in Budapest,in a secret trial.
Angelo Rotta was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. As the Apostolic Nuncio in Budapest at the end of World War II,he was involved in the rescue of the Jews of Budapest from the Nazi Holocaust. He is a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism.
Russia–Sweden relations date back to the 10th century;when Vikings called Varangians participated in the founding new states that later evolved into Russia,Ukraine and Belarus.
Hungary–Sweden relations are foreign relations between Hungary and Sweden. Sweden has an embassy in Budapest,and in Stockholm there is a Hungarian embassy. Diplomatic relations between the two countries started on 28 December 1945. These relations developed to a higher ambassador level. Both countries are members of the Council of Europe,European Union,NATO and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
British–Hungarian are foreign relations between Hungary and the United Kingdom. Hungary was a part of the Austrian Empire until 1918 when it became independent. Both countries established diplomatic relations in 1920.
Imre Varga was a Hungarian sculptor,painter,designer and graphic artist. He was regarded as one of Hungary's most important living artists,and he has been called one of the "most skilled sculptors in Hungary."
Otto Fleischmann was a Hungarian-born Freudian psychoanalyst.
Nina Viveka Maria Lagergren was a Swedish businesswoman and the half-sister of Raoul Wallenberg,and the leading force to find out what happened to him after his disappearance. She was the founder of the Raoul Wallenberg Academy. She also presented Sommar i P1 in 2014 on Swedish Radio. She was the mother-in-law of Kofi Annan.
Sweden's unique response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been the subject of significant controversy in both domestic and international circles. Unlike most countries,which strongly recommended or introduced widespread sector closures,quarantining,and lockdown measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019,the government of Sweden took a more lenient approach to the pandemic,prioritizing the economy and only pursuing social distancing measures such as bans on large gatherings and limited travel restrictions.
Paul A. Levine was an American–Swedish Holocaust and genocide historian,co-author of a widely used Swedish textbook on the subject.
Barbro Elm is a Swedish diplomat of Iraqi–Iranian descent who formerly became the ambassador to Argentina from 2016 to 2019,and North Korea from 2010 to 2012. She has been assigned to Swedish embassies in several countries which include Dhaka,Havana,Athens,Madrid and Bratislava.