Lennart Geijer | |
|---|---|
 Lennart Geijer | |
| Minister for Justice | |
| In office 14 October 1969 – 8 October 1976 | |
| Monarchs | Gustaf VI Adolf Carl XVI Gustaf |
| Prime Minister | Olof Palme |
| Preceded by | Herman Kling |
| Succeeded by | Sven Romanus |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Johan Lennart Geijer (1909-09-14)14 September 1909 |
| Died | 16 June 1999(1999-06-16) (aged 89) |
| Party | Social Democratic Party |
| Occupation | Politician, lawyer |
Johan Lennart Geijer (14 September 1909 – 16 June 1999) was a Swedish politician and lawyer.[1] He is mainly remembered for his role in the Geijer affair and for being theMinister for Justice who himself negotiated with the robbers and terrorists in theNorrmalmstorg robbery, theaircraft hijacking at Bulltofta and thebombing of the West German embassy.
Geijer was born on 14 September 1909 inYstad, Sweden, the son of Åke Geijer, a postmaster, and his wife Anna Sylvan.[2] He came from a bourgeois family in Ystad, but was radicalized in the early 1930s, when he studied law inLund and lived with Waldemar Bülow,August Strindberg's old friend.[3] Geijer passedstudentexamen inKarlskrona in 1928.[4] During the years of study in Lund in the late 1920s, early 1930s, he was a member of theSwedish Clarté League and had contacts with radicals in Lund at the time, not leastTage Erlander. Geijer's radicalism changed into a more explicitly socialist direction.[5] He received aCandidate of Law fromLund University in 1933,Licentiate of Laws in 1957 andJuris Doctor in 1958.[2]
Geijer did his clerkship in Vemmenhögs, Ljunits and Herrestad'shundred judicial district from 1933 to 1935.[4] He was the head ofHyresgästföreningen's legal bureau in 1936 andombudsman at theSwedish Union of Clerical and Technical Employees in Industry from 1939 to 1957 and lawyer at theSwedish Confederation of Professional Employees 1957 to 1966.[6]
He was then minister without portfolio from 1966 to 1969 andMinister of Justice from 1969 to 1976.[7] Geijer was known as an independent and liberal ("bizarre weirdo" according to some government colleagues) and distrusted deeply the imprisonment educational effect.[8] In February 1975 Geijer said in an interview inAftonbladet that “In the future, the prison sentence shall be something very unusual in Sweden. It is not human to deprive people of freedom”.[5] Geijer was throughout his time as minister in conflict with theNational Police CommissionerCarl Persson, relying rather onSäpo chiefHans Holmér and his press secretaryEbbe Carlsson, a notentirely successful combination. Geijer smoothly slipped away from being held responsible for theIB affair and the Hospital spy affair inGothenburg - instead his ministerial colleagueCarl Lidbom was blamed.[8]
The author Ulf Bjereld describes Geijer in his bookOch jag är fri (2015) as a willful leftist who wanted to demolish all prisons and fought for strongerlabour law and freeabortion. Carl Persson was not as inclined to let the prisoners free, which exacerbated an already tense relationship with the Minister of Justice. Geijer was on the whole quite controversial, including through the sexual crimes investigation which suggested a loosening of theconcept of rape, promptingMaria-Pia Boëthius and other feminists to go through the roof.[3] Geijer was Minister of Justice during theaircraft hijacking at Bulltofta in 1972, theNorrmalmstorg robbery in 1973 and thebombing of the West German embassy in 1975, all of which he himself negotiated with the robbers and terrorists.[9] Geijer stepped down as Minister of Justice after theSocial Democratic election defeat in 1976.[9]
Geijer was involved in the political scandal known as theGeijer affair [sv] in the 1970s, which involved exploitation of prostitutes organized by the brothel madamDoris Hopp.[10] In a secret 1976 memorandum, National Police Commissioner Carl Persson urged Prime MinisterOlof Palme to let investigate whether, and to what degree, Geijer could be a security risk because of alleged contacts with prostitutes from theEastern Bloc. In November 1977, just over a year after Geijer had left his position as Minister of Justice, the existence of the memorandum was revealed byPeter Bratt inDagens Nyheter.[11] The affair has been the subject of prostitute and criminal Lillemor Östlin's autobiographyHinsehäxan (2005)[12] as well as journalist Peter Bratt's memoirsMed rent uppsåt (2007),[13]Leif G. W. Persson's thriller novelThe Pig Party whichBo Widerberg adapted into the movieThe Man from Majorca and the movieCall Girl (2012) by Swedish director Mikael Marcimain.[14]
He was married 1934 to 1942 with Ulla Körner (born 1913), the daughter of rector Harald Körner and Ebba Hansen. In 1944 Geijer married Ninnie Löfgren (born 1915), the daughter of music director Albin Löfgren and Jenny Andersson. In his first marriage he was the father of Ann-Charlotte (born 1935), Agneta (born 1940) and in his second marriage he was the father of Christoffer (born 1944) and Bengt Johan (born 1945).[2]
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