Dag Hammarskjöld
1905-1961.
Official, Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Dag Hammarskjöld grew up in Uppsala, where his father, Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, was governor. From 1936 to 1945, Hammarskjöld was State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, moving to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1946.
In 1947-1948 he was a Swedish delegate to the OEEC negotiations, Cabinet Secretary in 1949-1951, and Consultative Minister in 1951-1953. Hammarskjöld was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1953 and the following year succeeded his father as a member of the Swedish Academy.
Hammarskjöld's leadership skills were necessary to streamline the complex UN organization, and his personal integrity, diplomatic skills and commitment to the UN idea gave authority to his role as Secretary-General.
Dag Hammarskjöld died in 1961 in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the same year.
In 1963 his diary entries were published under the title Vägmärken. In the Peace Chapel in Uppsala Cathedral there is a memorial stone with the inscription:
Not I but God in me Dag Hammarskjöld 1905-1961.
Burial site: 0116-0834C
Image description: Dag Hammarskjöld, 1959 New York, USA. Photo: United NationsThe image is cropped]
Click here for an uncropped image
