This article analyzes Swedish–German interactions with focus on Nazi-Germany's methods of infiltrating Swedish–German associations, based on sources in German and Swedish archives. German university teachers in the Deutsche Akademie, and the Deutscher Akademischer Austauchdienst were sent to Sweden as agents by Nazi Germany. Parallel to their work as language teachers they should "secretly conquer the Swedish soul". Because they were obliged to send regular reports from Sweden there is a huge amount of documents in German archives revealing not only Swedish attitudes to Nazism, but also how for example Swedish-German associations became special targets for the infiltration. The analyses reveal differences between the associations: In Göteborg and Uppsala they did not want to cooperate. When John Holmberg, professor of German in Uppsala, criticized the anti-Semitic ideology and rector Curt Weibull in Göteborg defended the university against the Nazi infiltration they were reported to Berlin as dangerous enemies. In Stockholm however speakers as representatives for the Nazi regime were welcomed. One of the invited speakers 1935 was Rudolf Hess who spoke of "The New Germany". After the fall of the Nazi regime there was no self reflection what so ever in the written programs of the Association in Stockholm.One explanation why many in Sweden did not resist the Nazi propaganda was that the Nazis worked under the cloak of traditional German culture and rhetoric. Glorification of the Nordic ideal and traditional values were recommended propaganda tools. The semantic changes of the words were not always observed in Sweden, but documents in German archives show that there were strong critical voices.

The response to legislation passed in France in 1912 and Sweden in 1917 increasing the father's responsibility for his illegitimate children is contrasted. In France, one side maintained that the threat of being a single mother kept women from sexually using men for economic or social gain, while the other regarded women as victims of men's sexuality. In Sweden, the single mother was viewed with suspicion, and her suitability as a mother was questioned.

Early Modern warships are sometimes compared to floating palaces. The sculptural decoration on their transoms, galleries and beakheads follow a carefully thought out symbolic language that aimed to legitimize royal ambitions and claims to power. But merchant ships also carried elegantly carved ornaments and figures. However, the message conveyed by these sculptures was different from that of contemporary warships. Among early modern merchant ships the so-called fluyts hold a prominent position. Originating in the Netherlands, thousands of more or less identical ships were built during the 1600s and ensuing centuries. But despite the large number of ships built, surprisingly little information about their decoration has survived in our time. In recent years, several archaeological investigations of fluyts, have been carried out in the Baltic Sea which has resulted in new knowledge about the ships. It has been found that the decoration of the fluyts, just as on contemporary naval vessels, follow a clear pattern. The ship´s home port was communicated by its city coat of arms. Ships’ names such as the White Swan, The Rose or Crescent as well as familiar characters from the Bible were also represented by sculptures on the ship´s transom. But the sculptures served not only a practical purpose. Like the contemporary warships, they expressed their owners’ ideology and societal ambitions. Fluyts should perhaps not be compared to floating palaces; they are rather a counterpart to the merchants’neck-gabled houses in cities like Amsterdam.In the Swedish context, the vessels appear as a kind of billboard for a Dutch attitude towards trade. This article aims to discuss the message communicated by the fluyts’ exteriors against this fond. How did these ships affect the urban environment in which they were moored?