Chaldeans in Europe Part IV – Sweden

By Dr. Adhid Miri

Some 12,000 Chaldeans/Assyrians/Syriacs from Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran immigrated to Sweden in the latter part of the 1970s. They considered themselves persecuted for religious reasons, yet they were never acknowledged as refugees. Those who had already lived in Sweden for some time were finally granted residency permits for humanitarian reasons. 

Södertälje, Sweden, 30km south of Stockholm, is often seen as the unofficial Chaldean capital of Europe due to the city’s high percentage of Chaldeans. The international TV-channels Suryoyo is based in Södertälje. 

In 2007, Iraqi citizens claimed asylum in 89 countries, almost half those claims (18,600) were reported in Sweden, according to the U.N. refugee agency. Södertälje, a city of 83,000 people, took in more Iraqis than the United States and Canada combined.

Change has come to Sweden because of the Iraq war, driven by an open-arms refugee policy and word of mouth in Iraq.  Most of the 2 million externally displaced Iraqis are living in Syria and Jordan, but Sweden tops the list of Western nations that have offered a haven.

The welcome approach to the refugees has been a point of pride to Swedes, who were opposed to the Iraq war. But the unyielding flow is taking its toll and the country is slashing the number of asylum approvals.

According to Sweden’s Minister for Migration and Asylum Tobias Billstrom “Iraq is the worst refugee disaster in the Middle East since 1948,” “We want to do as much as we can, but we can’t help everybody.” Since the start of the war in March 2003, Iraqi Christians fleeing persecution from Islamic militants have set out with Sodertalje in mind, with around 100 arriving each month, according to officials.

A community of Assyrians (a Christian ethnic group mostly based in Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Turkey) has existed here since the late 1960s, but its numbers increased rapidly as more Iraqis sought protection among friends and relatives.

“Everyone in Iraq knows it’s the country of refuge, safety and kindness,” said Nagiba Daud, who spoke after prayers at Johannes Chaldean Catholic Church, explaining why she had chosen to escape to Sodertalje with her two children.

In July 2007, Sweden’s Supreme Court decided that armed conflict had ended in Iraq. Since then, asylum has only been granted to those who can prove that they were singled out for persecution, not by the region they hail from or their religion. Since the law changed, “the approval rate has dropped from about 80 percent to 20 percent,” said Mikael Ribbenvik, head of Asylum Reception and Detention at the Migration Board, a government agency.

“When we deny people, we have the responsibility to return the people to their country — and we are currently returning people to Iraq”.

Those who accept a “voluntary return” are given a plane ticket and re-establishment funds. Those who do not are forcefully returned by the police.

In 2007, 854 Iraqis were “voluntarily returned” to Iraq, up from 197 the previous year. Figures are not available for involuntary returns.

Meantime, Sweden has stepped up its appeals, urging the United States to accept more responsibility for Iraqi refugees; in April 2008 Sodertalje’s Mayor, Anders Lago, spoke before the Congressional Helsinki Commission in Washington, and in May 2008, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt raised the subject with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

“Every country has a humanitarian obligation to respond to the situation apart from the politics, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the (Iraq war) coalition partners bear special responsibility in this,” said Kathleen Newland, co-founder of the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., adding that, “more assistance should also be given to the Middle Eastern countries shouldering the heaviest refugee burden.”

Under fire for its response to the crisis, the United States took in a record number of Iraqis in   2008 more than 1,000, according to the Bush administration. However even if the US meets its goal to increase its yearly intake to 12,000, from just 1,608 in 2007, the US will have taken in just two-thirds of the number who applied for asylum in Sweden.

The Iraqi congregation of Johannes Church has increased from around 650 families before the war to around 1000 families, forcing Sunday worshippers to watch the packed service on television screens set up in the basement. Additionally, dozens come daily to pray, kneeling before a statue of the Virgin Mary, and holding prayer beads as they recite verses in Aramaic and Arabic. Many have painful memories of violence and intimidation in Iraq.

In December 2017, with the help of the Archdiocese of Cologne, Germany, a new church opened in Södertälje, 30KM south of Stockholm for the estimated 5,000-6,000 Chaldean Catholics who resettled there after fleeing their homes in the Middle East. The majority immigrated to Sweden from Iraq after the fall of Saddam in 2003.

The newly build Chaldean Church of Our Lady was inaugurated by the Swedish Cardinal Andres Aborelius and the Chaldean Patriarch Raphael Louis Sako. This is the first Chaldean church to be built in Sweden. The new church building was financed from Christian Institutions and privates.

Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne, Germany, who participated in the inaugural service of Johannes Chaldean Catholic Church, explained to German radio that Chaldean Catholics form the largest Christian refugee group in Sweden. His archdiocese helped to pay for the new church in the southern Swedish town, where more than 40 per cent of the current population is from the Middle East, having migrated in large numbers since 2003. The archdiocese of Cologne contributed 500,000 euros (£440,000) towards the new church in Södertälje and the Cologne archdiocese’s master-builder, Martin Struck, provided the necessary architectural advice.

The churches are a haven in immigrant neighborhoods that offer a startling contrast to the chaotic street life of Baghdad and Mosul, even before the destruction and violence of the war. 

Many have painful memories of violence and intimidation in Iraq. “Someone I don’t know put a letter under my door, saying we had to leave the house in 24 hours or all the people in the house would be killed,” said Daud, a former seamstress, as she described her family’s flight from Baghdad.

While the consecration was performed by the Catholic Bishop of Stockholm, Cardinal Anders Aborelius, the service was ecumenical. The Chaldean Catholics, who are the largest Christian refugee group in Sweden, invited Armenian, Syrian Catholics, Syrian Orthodox, Melkites and Maronites. The mass was celebrated in the Latin rite but as Arabic was the mother tongue of most of the parish members; the liturgy was interwoven with their own, familiar hymns from Syria, Mosul, or Baghdad.

The Church in Sweden is committed to integrating refugees, offering language courses, advertising jobs, and providing worship space for immigrants to hold services at in their own rites and languages.

As there was no religious instruction in Swedish state schools, priests and catechists gave religious instruction to young Catholics on Saturday mornings. Up to 500 young Catholics were receiving instruction in the Chaldean parish in Södertälje which now had a new church.

A community of Assyrians has existed there since the late 1960s, but its numbers increased rapidly as more Iraqis sought protection among friends and relatives.

According to Assyrian/Syriac Organization, there are approximately 150,000 Assyrians/Syriacs in Sweden. The Syriac Orthodox Christians number an estimated 30,000–40,000 people (2016), with higher estimations of 70–80,000, out of which an estimated 18,000 live in Södertälje.

Södertälje is an industrial city 19 miles from Stockholm with a population of 86,000. But the interesting aspect of this Swedish city is that 44 per cent of Södertälje residents have a foreign background – the top five being Iraq, Finland, Syria, Turkey, and Lebanon, many taking advantage of the rapidly growing need for a workforce in yesteryear at the Swedish commercial truck manufacturer Scania AB and the multinational pharmaceutical firm, Astra Zeneca.

Their expertise ranged from commodities and retail to hair salons and restaurants, in addition to occupying top positions at Scania and Astra Zeneca. A few had also reached the parliament – namely Ibrahim Baylan, a Turkish-born Assyrian who between 2005 and 2006, served in the Swedish government as the Minister of Energy. 

Assyrians, few in Iraq and many in the diaspora, have a deep-rooted habit of political confrontation; Chaldeans, many in Iraq and lesser abroad, only now, after the fall of the regime and the passing of the previous Baathists appointed patriarch, are free to express their own claims on the political scene.

The differences between Chaldeans and Assyrians, most of the latter belonging to the Assyrian Church of the East, exist. The biggest difference being that the Chaldean Church recognizes the authority of the Roman Pope, while the Church of the East does not.

Chaldeans represent the majority of the Christians in Iraq, and attitude towards different ruling powers in Iraq have seen greater acceptance when compared to those held by the Assyrians. Now Chaldeans believe it is the right time to have distinct and more equitable political representation.” Currently, there is no clear future prospect for Christians in Iraq. 

Some of the Chaldeans in Sweden still hold onto the hope that one day they will be able to return home. Most Christian refugees were convinced that, since Christians continued to be persecuted in the Middle East, they would not be able to return. 

Overall, the vast majority of Iraqis who have arrived in Sweden since 2003 hope to return home, but no-one can say when it will be safe, and many remain anxious about the future.

A deacon at St. John’s Church, Slewa Kalka, believes, “Iraq will be a free land, but we don’t know when. t was very beautiful, we had a very good life in Iraq, but wars destroyed it all,” as he recounted the deadly conflicts with Iran, Kuwait, and the U.S.-led invasion. 

As a sign of our times, His Eminence Saad Hanna, Apostolic Vicar of the Chaldean Church of Babylon in Europe, tested positive for Covid-19 and was hospitalized in Stockholm where he is based. His Eminence was kidnapped in 2006 by Al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq, tortured and pressured to convert to Islam. His Facebook page reads “I am currently in isolation and receive treatment. I ask that you pray for me, as I pray for all patients. May God bless you all.”

His words of faith say, “We pray every day for peace in Iraq.” 

Special acknowledgement for edits by Mrs. Jacqueline Raxter.