Coincidence, or a trick of history? At the
very moment when the UN appears caught
in confrontation with a superpower member
and overwhelmed by tectonic geopolitical
shifts in the developing world, Dag has
returned to the headlines.
Dag Hammarskjöld is a large figure – maybe
the largest – on the UN horizon. High-minded,
dynamic, charismatic, he personified the Charter’s
ideals. As the 1960s dawned, he combined
politics and a memorable personality in the
eyes of world opinion.
His sudden death on an African mission in
1961 hit people in his native Sweden “like the
Kennedy assassination”, and was as dramatic for
UN staff in general as, say, the 2003 death of Sergio
Vieira de Mello in Iraq was for UN Geneva –
in the field, in action, at core of world conflict.
Hammarskjöld was the only Secretary-General
to inspire dramatic biographical accounts,
works with titles highlighting the “secret life”
and “mysterious death” of Dag.
He remains the model Secretary-General,
one whose work inspires the question, when
making difficult decisions, as Kofi Annan has
stressed: What would Dag do?
Markers proliferate
But, is Dag Hammarskjöld lost in time for younger
staff members? What remains of his legacy?
The year 2005 marks the hundredth
anniversary of his birth, and, as every year,
September 18th marks the date his plane
crashed in central Africa, killing him and 16
others, in 1961. An audiovisual exhibit at
Porte 40 of the Palais des Nations’ E building
from June through August, called “Peace in
Mind – Dag Hammarskjöld, 1905-2005”, highlighted
his life and achievements – dashing
diplomacy, home life and family heritage in
Uppsala, Sweden, along with his literary and
artistic vocations – as well as the public and
private diplomacy that made him a UN icon.
As well, the New York Times recently signaled
a new controversy regarding translation
issues in Dag’s Vagmarken, a posthumous
collection of philosophical / poetic
musings whose very title is called into question
by some critics in Sweden and elsewhere.
Translated into English as Markings by eminent poet W.H. Auden, the collection
expressed the private, ruminative side of
Dag; it was found at his New York bedside
after he died. In the 1960s, Markings became
a best-seller in the United States. Today,
some Swedish critics call the English text
Auden’s work, not Hammarskjöld’s, and even
the title, which originates in the book of Jeremiah
in the King James version of the Old
Testament, is said to be badly translated.
Alone among Secretaries-General, Hammarskjöld
has had an enduring literary
vocation: translations from German, English
and French texts, including works of
poet Saint-John Perse, novelist Djuna
Barnes and philosopher Martin Buber. A
formidable ear and an eagerness to communicate
moved him.
Public sector star
The core of Dag Hammarskjöld’s career
was not literary, however, but public service,
and this was bred in his Swedish
family. His father was both a governor and
prime minister in Sweden, one who was
criticized sharply for perceived economic
failures in the 1930s. Still, his four sons
mostly followed his path in the civil service,
none more fervently than Dag.
A young star, he gravitated quickly to
the top ranks of Swedish administration
and politics, running the finance ministry
while still in his 30s. An economics PhD,
Dag coined the term “planned economy”
at the Swedish Central Bank, and in concert
with brother Bo, in a similar role at
the social welfare ministry, they together
are credited with helping launch the
Swedish welfare state. Personally, Dag
was austere, serious, extremely well read, a workhorse, ascetic, rigorous, and
unflagging. But he was also astute politically,
able to sidestep blasts from opponents
and reconcile opposites.
Like the Canadian Lester Pearson, later a
Nobel winner for the UN’s 1956 Suez mission,
Hammarskjöld was an overachiever in his
country’s foreign affairs ministry. However,
Pearson faced the Soviet veto in 1953, so the
British urged the French to forward Hammarskjöld
as a compromise candidate. His
predecessor as SG, Trygve Lie, proved too wilful
for some Security Council members.
Today, Lie is actually a Trivial Pursuit question
(Q. Who was the first Secretary-General
of the United Nations?), while the
supposedly “neutral” Hammarskjöld
proved too daring for the Council’s
permanent members.
He coined the term “preventive
diplomacy” while at UN secretariat,
and his activism was strongly
opposed by Soviet leader Khrushchev,
who loudly proposed turning the
Secretary-General’s office into a
three-man operation.
Crescendo of career
The context of Dag’s prime in
the mid-1950s to early 1960s has
a very contemporary feel: with
the independence movement
surging in Africa, the interference
of foreign actors in the
Congo was alleged, bringing a
civil war that involved the first
major UN troop deployment to a
live combat area. This proved to
be the endgame.
Hammarskjöld’s UN career and
life work came to a head in August-September 1961, with the war of
secession tearing apart the newly
independent Congo in ways similar
to the Yugoslav wars that bedeviled
the UN in the mid-1990s.
In exasperation at the war-torn
deadlock, a secret agreement
reached in September 1961 to meet
the secessionist rebel leader in
Ndola, now Zambia. To avoid drawing
any attention to the mission, the
Swedish UN pilot filed a false flight
plan, for a night flight close to rebelheld
zone, with the constant danger
of a fighter plane detecting them.
Its approach to Ndola around midnight
was confirmed by the airport
control tower, then … nothing.
The next morning, September 19, 1961,
it was battle stations for international
staff, and after half a day on the forest
floor, 16 dead crew and passengers,
including the Secretary-General, were discovered
by searchers in the forest among
the burnt ruins.
One security agent for UNOC (UN Operation
in the Congo), Sgt. Julien, a former
Marine, survived for a few days and coherently
described to investigators a sudden
decision by Hammarskjöld to change course
and not land. — For what reason? A sense of
imminent danger? Technical reasons? Political
news?
Daring flight
Today, some legacies of Hammarskjöld
remain: aggressive UN peacekeeping forces, a
broad outsized personal role for the SG, and a
mix of thorough high-mindedness, practicality
and political savvy.
But the man and his era ended in a daring
night flight. The Mysterious Death of Dag
Hammarskjöld remains in the UN library,
and is still full of question marks, which
remain compelling even today.
