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'[[File:Diplomat_Raoul_Nordling.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Raoul Nordling]] {{short description|Swedish businessman and diplomat}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2012}} '''Raoul Nordling''' ({{IPA-fr|ʁaul nɔʁdliŋ|lang}}, {{IPA-sv|ˈrɑ̌ːʊl ˈnûːɖlɪŋ|lang}}; 11 November 1882 – 1 October 1962) was a [[Sweden|Swedish]] businessman and [[diplomat]]. He was born in [[Paris]] and spent most of his life there. == Biography == Nordling's father, Carl Gustav Nordling, arrived in Paris from Sweden at the end of the 1870s, and established the paper-paste firm "Gustav Nordling". Born in Paris, Raoul studied at the [[lycée]] Janson-de-Sailly, and then joined his father's company, eventually succeeding him at its helm.<ref>{{cite web|date=19 August 2014|language=French|title=Qui est Raoul Nordling, l'homme qui sauva Paris ?|url=http://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle=18631319.html|publisher=ALLOCINE|author=Olivier Pallaruelo}}</ref> He was appointed as Swedish vice-[[consul (representative)|consul]] in Paris in 1905 at the age of 24, becoming consul in 1917 and consul-general in 1926, on the death of his father. Although Nordling was Swedish by nationality, he felt himself to be above all a "citizen of Paris". He spoke French much more often than Swedish, having to virtually learn his national language when he went to Sweden as a young man to complete his [[Swedish Armed Forces|military service]]. Throughout his working life, Nordling played an important role in mediating between Sweden and France, but he is best remembered for his efforts to mediate between [[Free France|French]] and [[Wehrmacht|German forces]] during the occupation and [[Liberation of Paris]] during the [[Second World War]]. He played an important role in ensuring [[Red Cross]] access to [[prisoners of war]], and during the uprising of the [[French resistance]] in August 1944 he negotiated with the German commander General [[Dietrich von Choltitz]], to try to limit the bloodshed and damage to the city. Many accounts of these events attribute him a major role in doing so, and he was honoured by France after the [[Liberation of France|Liberation]] with the highest available medal, the ''[[Croix de guerre]] avec palme''. A play area in the [[11th arrondissement of Paris|11th Arrondissement]], the "Square Raoul Nordling" is named in his honour, as is a street in [[Neuilly]]. He continued to play an active role in Parisian social life after the end of the war. He lived in a house called "Le Mas du Gay Savoir" in [[Sainte-Maxime]], which made him an honorary citizen. During the late 1940s, he intervened with the [[Danish Security and Intelligence Service|Danish]] and French security services to secure more lenient treatment for the writer [[Louis-Ferdinand Céline]], who had been imprisoned in Denmark while the French authorities sought his extradition because his openly expressed [[antisemitism]] led to charges of collaboration with the occupying Germans and the [[Vichy France|Vichy]] régime during the war.<ref>Hewitt, N. (1999).''The Life of Céline: A critical biography''. Oxford: Blackwell, p. 250</ref> ==In popular culture== Nordling is played by [[Orson Welles]] in the film ''[[Is Paris Burning? (film)|Is Paris Burning?]]'' (1966) and by [[André Dussollier]] in the film ''[[Diplomacy (2014 film)|Diplomacy]]'' (2014). ==References== *Material from the French and Swedish Wikipedia articles {{reflist}} ==External links== {{Wikiquote}} *[http://www.delpla.org/IMG/jpg/nordling-3.jpg Picture of Nordling] in front of the Arc de Triomphe during the 1950s *[http://www.swedenabroad.com/fr-FR/Embassies/Paris/A-propos-de-la-Suede/Histoire-des-relations-franco-suedoises/Raoul-Nordling/ article on the life of Nordling from the website of the Swedish embassy in Paris] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120211192204/http://www.cercle-suedois.com/historik/nordling.html Svenska klubben i Paris - Raoul Nordling] *[http://louisferdinandceline.free.fr/indexthe/nordling/nordling.htm Description of Nordling's intervention in favour of Louis-Ferdinand Céline] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Nordling Raoul}} [[Category:1881 births]] [[Category:1962 deaths]] [[Category:People from Paris]] [[Category:Swedish people of French descent]] [[Category:Swedish diplomats]] [[Category:Consuls-general of Sweden]] [[Category:Swedish expatriates in France]]'