Table of Contents.

Chicago, 1976-1977.

When I in the spring of 1976 told Sixten that I was offered a job at the Swedish Trade Commissioner in Chicago, he became very concerned. He tried to get me to abandon this mission. He felt that it was an excessive risk-taking to work in Chicago. The city was known as gangster town no. 1 in the U.S.! I dismissed this as nonsense because I had completely different information. I had got hold of the number and name of a person who recently worked at the Swedish Trade in Chicago. I did an in-depth interview of the person over the phone. The reassuring answer I got regarding the security meant that I didn't experience any problems in accepting the job. I informed Sixten about this and then heard no further arguments. I have recapitulated this event. It has been documented that the CIA has been very active in Sweden in the 70's . The reason was of course the Vietnam War. They wanted full control of all left-wing opponents. Sixten, who usually was well informed, didn't want (of course) to say that he was registered with the CIA - but that was the real reason why he wanted me to refrain Chicago.

During my stay, I lived in a condominium at 65 East Scott Street. The area was regarded as safe. As usual in such buildings there was always a doorman at place around the clock. The building manager was a parant lady in her 40's . When I met her the first time for checking the apartment it was immediately clear to me that strong credentials were required to rent in this building. I left my credentials and after about a week everything was cleared. As early as day one, I got clear information about which regulations were in force. If one couldn't obey it there was only one way to go, i.e. OUT. I had a good relationship to the doormen who worked there. The manager I didn't see that often but now and then we met at the entrance. Mostly she wanted to get a confirmation that I enjoyed with my accommodation. Everything worked fine and I had nothing to complain about. One night in April -77 I awoke to the smell of smoke inside the apartment. When I looked closer, I saw heavy smoke emission from a smaller building located about 50 yards from my apartment (photo below). My air cond sucked smoke into the apartment. I turned off the conditioner and could see that the Fire Department was already in place. I had previously noted that the building seemed discarded and uninhabited. I didn't think closer about this event because fires were commonplace in this city.


Fully developed fire at 55 East Scott St., Chicago. Photo: Per Westerlund.

About two weeks later, I woke up one night as the fire alarm was triggered in my building. I went down to the entrance to check with our doorman. He immediately gave the message that it concerned a false alarm. There was nothing to worry about so it was just to go to sleep again. In the morning when I took the stairs down, I happened to see that a wall was damaged by fire a few stories below my apartment. The damage wasn't big, no more than 12 sq. in. I reported this to our doorman immediately. To my surprise, I received no feedback from the manager on this notification. Suddenly it seemed like I was "persona non grata" in the building. None of our doormen greeted me anymore. The manager showed off her most acidic mine. When I was preparing to move back to Stockholm , I had parked my car at a loading dock at the building's backyard. I knew that there was no parking at this location . Since I had a considerable amount of boxes that I would take up to the apartment I chose to park anyway. When I came down to the loading dock again, after about 20 minutes, the car was gone. I contacted the manager immediately. She confirmed that she had ordered off towing.

As early as the first week in Chicago, I was told a lot of stories from my colleagues about employees who got into trouble on other Swedish Trade offices around the United States. This was obviously meant as the classic warning "watch your back". I still felt safe in existence right from the start. At Scott Street I avoided consistently to familiarize myself with others tenants. I noticed that others behaved in much the same way. In the spring of 1977, probably sometime in March, I heard someone knocking on my door in the late afternoon. When I opened two girls were standing there. I estimated they were about 25 years old. They said they lived in an apartment a little further away on the floor. They seemed excited - but certainly sober. They had brought a cup with them and said they wanted to borrow sugar. I gave OK for this and filled the cup while they were waiting at the door. They thanked, but before they left I got their apartment number and they said I could knock on " if there was anything I wanted “. Afterwards, I thought it was odd that they knocked on at just my door as I've never seen the girls before. After this event I never saw them again. I returned to Stockholm in June, 1977.

In the summer of 1978 I received a letter from my colleague and successor at the Swedish Trade, LH ( MBA ). I had helped LH to get started in Chicago. I helped when he sought for an apartment. His choice fell on a high rise building at 2 East Oak Street, about 40 stories high .


2 East Oak St. Chicago. Photo: Google.

By joining forces, we checked that we were dealing with a "safe area". LH got an apartment almost exactly in the middle of the building. He now announced that the building had suffered a major fire . He argued that it was only luck that no one died in the fire. The Police indicated suspected arson. Many tenants, including LH, were forced to move because of extensive smoke damages in the building. LH was shaken but chose to remain in Chicago. Obviously, I felt discomfort over this incident but I made no direct connection to the events at Scott Street. When LH returned to Stockholm I met him in a brief meeting. He was still upset about the fire but grateful to have survived. He gave me a feeling of reproach. I had some sympathy for this position as I had helped him in his choice of the apartment. However, I reminded LH of that we had thoroughly checked the safety. After this meeting our ways parted. LH is deceased during 2010 (61 years old). He became a victim in the war on semen.

Throughout my stay  I never had any feeling of being monitored. Sure, I noticed that our doormen carefully noted those people that came with me to the apartment. I regarded this as a natural part of their job and let not be disturbed. At work  I was occasionally called by various telephone companies who offered me to test their service for free for a short period. As I knew there was a risk of eavesdropping I always turned these offers down. Basically we worked as a Swedish mission which meant the operator hired was approved by the Consulate.

My research has given me strong evidence that the CIA carefully planned my recruitment to Chicago. In the interests of a third party I refrain from revealing the circumstances. My understanding is that the CIA planned to assassinate Mr. Palme already in the 70's. That the assassination was delayed until 1986 could partly be explained by the political development in Sweden during the period 1976 - 1986.



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