Diary of Swedish officer in Iran ready for publication

Iranian translator and writer Afshin Parto has finished translating the diary of a Swedish officer from Iran during World War I.

IBNA: The memoir of Gustaf Nystrom has been translated by Afshin Parto.

The work’s Persian translation has been handed over to Bushehr’s Art Bureau for publication.

Major Nystrom was among the Swedish officers, who came in Iran in 1911 when the Iranian government decided to create a highway gendarmerie with the aid of European instructors.

According to Iranica, in August 1911, Swedish General Harald Hjalmarsson set out for Persia, accompanied by officers Oscar Skjoldebrand and Carl Petersen. In total, thirty-eight Swedish military men would travel to Persia, the majority of whom were officers, though several non-commissioned officers and technicians were also included.

The officers signed contracts and swore an oath of allegiance to the reigning Qajar monarch, Ahmad Shah.
Shortly after his arrival, General Hjalmarsson established the Central Bureau of the Gendarmerie, with seven sections, each responsible for a different task. The gendarmerie was divided into regiments, two of which were posted in Tehran and one each in Shiraz, Kerman, Qazvin, Isfahan, and Borujerd. In October 1911, an officers’ school was opened, followed in February of 1912 by a gendarme school, designed to train the troops. Due to the unrest in southern Persia, another school for non-commissioned officers and gendarmes was opened in Shiraz in April 1912.

In addition in the autumn of 1912, five Swedish policemen were invited to Persia in order to reorganize Tehran’s police corps.

By 1914, the gendarmerie was comprised of approximately 200 officers and 7,000 soldiers and had 3,000 horses at its disposal. Several Swedish officers lost their lives while serving in Persia.

The success of the Swedes won international attention. This irritated the Russian Cossack brigade who saw the Swedes’ success as a threat to their own influence over northern Persia.

With the outbreak of World War I, Great Britain and Russia began viewing the Swedish presence in Persia with skepticism. The Swedes were considered friendly towards Germany, and it was feared that they might switch allegience and join the Central Powers.

Under British-Russian pressure, the Swedish officers were recalled home at the beginning of 1915. In February 1915, General Hjalmarsson and most of his officers left Persia. Sixteen officers and four of the non-commissioned men remained behind and contracted themselves to the German army.

Some of these officers later became involved in plans for a coup against the Russian Cossacks in November 1915.