The author analyses the operation by Swedish diplomatsin the Soviet Union during the peak of the Stalinist Terror. Although Swedish communists living in the USSR have beenin the spotlight of some journalists and historians, the extent ofthe different Swedish groups and the complicated diplomaticactions to help them are nearly unknown. Who could besaved? Who disappeared in the Gulag? The context is the Soviet actions against all foreigners in the Great Terror from 1937,forcing them to either become Soviet citizens or immediatelyleave the country. Comparisons are made with Finnish peoplein the Soviet Union, a group much harder hit by the terror thanthe small groups of Swedes.