White buses

White Buses refers to a humanitarian rescue operation organised by Sweden and carried out in April/May 1945 to save Jews and other prisoners from the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. At the time, as the Nazi regime collapsed in the final months of the war, the SS were attempting to eliminate many prisoners on death marches or through targeted killings.

Folke Bernadotte, a member of the Swedish royal family and vice-president of the Swedish Red Cross at the time, played a crucial role in negotiating with the Nazis to secure the liberation of thousands of prisoners from concentration camps. The "white buses" transported the survivors out of the camps and enabled them to escape the threat of Nazi murder.

Some of the survivors from concentration camps in northern Germany, including Neuengamme, were later transported to Sweden on the "white buses".