Editing Olof Palme (section)

== Early life ==
Sven Olof Joachim Palme<ref>{{harvnb|Vivekanandan|2016|p=14}}</ref> was born on 30 January 1927<ref name=":Qureshi1">{{harvnb|Qureshi|2023|p=1}}</ref> into an upper class, conservative [[Lutheran]] family in the [[Östermalm]] district of [[Stockholm]]. The progenitor of the [[Palme family]] was skipper Palme Lydert of [[Ystad]] of either [[Dutch people|Dutch]] or German ancestry. His sons adopted the surname Palme. Many of the early Palmes were vicars and judges in [[Scania]]. One branch of the family, of which Olof Palme was part, and which became more affluent, relocated to [[Kalmar]]; that branch is related to several other prominent Swedish families such as the Kreugers, [[von Sydow]]s and the [[Wallenberg family|Wallenbergs]]. His father, {{ill|Gunnar Palme|sv}} (1886–1934), was a businessman, son of {{ill|Sven Palme|sv|lt=Sven Theodore Palme}} (1854–1934) and [[Swedish-speaking Finn]]ish Baroness {{ill|Hanna Palme|fi|lt=Hanna Maria von Born-Sarvilahti}} (1861–1959).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://seura.fi/ilmiot/historia/antisemitisti-tahtonainen-hanna-von-born-olof-palmen-suomalainen-isoaiti/ |title=Antisemitisti ja tahtonainen: Hanna von Born oli Olof Palmen suomalainen isoäiti |last=Ollikainen|first=Milla |date=29 May 2016 |website=[[Seura]] |language=fi |access-date=22 September 2021}}</ref> Through her, Olof Palme claimed ancestry from King [[Johan III]] of Sweden, his father King [[Gustav Vasa]] of Sweden and King [[Frederick I of Denmark]] and [[Norway]]. His mother, Elisabeth von Knieriem (1890–1972),<ref name="ruin352">Olof Ruin: ''Olof Palme.'' In: David Wilsford: ''Political Leaders of Contemporary Western Europe: A Biographical Dictionary.'' Greenwood Press, Westport, CT 1995</ref> of the Knieriem family who originated from [[Quedlinburg]],<ref>{{cite web |title=von Knieriem genealogy |url=https://gedbas.genealogy.net/person/ancestors/1144031280 |website=gedbas.genealogy.net/}}</ref> descended from [[Baltic Germans|Baltic German]] burghers and clergy and had arrived in Sweden from Russia as a refugee in 1915. Elisabeth's great-great-great grandfather Johann Melchior von Knieriem (1758–1817) had been ennobled by the Emperor [[Alexander I of Russia]] in 1814. The von Knieriem family does not count as members of any of the [[Baltic knighthoods]].{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} Palme's father died when he was seven years old.<ref name=":Qureshi1" /> Despite his background, his political orientation came to be influenced by [[Social democracy|Social Democratic]] attitudes. His travels in the [[Third World]], as well as the United States, where he saw deep [[economic inequality]] and [[Racial segregation in the United States|racial segregation]], helped to develop these views.

A sickly child, Olof Palme received his education from private tutors. Even as a child he gained knowledge of two foreign languages — German and English. He studied at [[Sigtunaskolan Humanistiska Läroverket]], one of Sweden's few residential high schools, and passed the university entrance examination with high marks at the age of 17. He was called up into the Army in January 1945 and did his [[Conscription|compulsory military service]] at [[Svea Artillery Regiment]] between 1945 and 1947, becoming in 1956 a reserve officer with the rank of [[Kapten|Captain]] in the Artillery. After he was discharged from military service in March 1947, he enrolled at [[Stockholm University]].<ref name="Httpwwwunostampsnlperson_palmehtm">{{cite web|url=http://www.unostamps.nl/person_palme.htm|title=Olof Palme|work=Uno Stamps|access-date=3 February 2015|archive-date=20 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020153610/http://www.unostamps.nl/person_palme.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=February 2021}}

[[File:Palme student 1944.jpg|thumb|left|Palme as a student in 1944]]
On a scholarship, he studied at [[Kenyon College]], a small liberal arts school in central [[Ohio]] from 1947 to 1948, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree;
extensive academic credit from Sweden enabled him to finish at Kenyon in such a short time.
<ref>Bill Mayr: [http://bulletin-archive.kenyon.edu/x3901.html ''Remembering Olof Palme.''] In: ''Kenyon College Alumni Bulletin'' Vol. 34, No. 2, Winter 2012.</ref> Inspired by radical debate in the student community, he wrote a critical essay on [[Friedrich Hayek]]'s ''[[The Road to Serfdom]]''. Palme wrote his senior honour thesis on the [[United Auto Workers]] union, led at the time by [[Walter Reuther]]. After graduation, he traveled throughout the country and eventually ended up in Detroit, where his hero Reuther agreed to an interview which lasted several hours. In later years, Palme regularly remarked during his many subsequent American visits, that the United States had made him a socialist, a remark that often has caused confusion. Within the context of his American experience, it was not that Palme was repelled by what he found in America, but rather that he was inspired by it.<ref>[[Hendrik Hertzberg]], "Death of a Patriot", in: Idem: ''Politics. Observations and Arguments, 1966–2004'' (New York: The Penguin Press, 2004) pp. 263–266, there 264</ref>

After [[hitchhiking]] through the U.S. and Mexico, he returned to Sweden to study law at [[Stockholm University]]. In 1949 he became a member of the [[Swedish Social Democratic Party]]. During his time at university, Palme became involved in student politics, working with the [[Swedish National Union of Students]]. In 1951, he became a member of the social democratic student association in Stockholm, although it is asserted he did not attend their political meetings at the time. The following year he was elected President of the Swedish National Union of Students. As a student politician, he concentrated on international affairs and travelled across Europe.<ref name="Httpwwwunostampsnlperson_palmehtm" />{{unreliable source?|date=February 2021}}

[[File:Olof och Lisbet Palme 1960-tal.jpg|thumb|right|Palme and his wife [[Lisbeth Palme|Lisbeth]] on their honeymoon in 1956]]

Palme attributed his becoming a social democrat to three major influences:
* In 1947, he attended a debate on taxes between the Social Democrat [[Ernst Wigforss]], the conservative [[Jarl Hjalmarson]] and the liberal [[Elon Andersson]].
* The time he spent in the United States in the 1940s made him realise how wide the class divide was in America, and the extent of [[Racism in the United States|racism]] against [[African Americans|black people]].
* A trip to Asia, specifically India, [[Sri Lanka]], [[Myanmar|Burma]], [[Thailand]], Singapore, [[Indonesia]], and Japan in 1953 had opened his eyes to the consequences of [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]].

In 1956, Palme married children's psychologist [[Lisbeth Palme|Lisbeth Beck-Friis]], and together they had three sons: [[Joakim Palme|Joakim]], [[Mårten Palme|Mårten]], and Mattias Palme.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lisbeth Palme, Witness to an Assassination, Dies at 87|date=19 October 2018|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/obituaries/lisbeth-palme-dead.html|accessdate=27 August 2023}}</ref>

Palme was an [[Atheism|atheist]].<ref>"He was an atheist and saw war as the greatest threat to mankind. The popularity of the Swedish model society probably peaked in the early seventies, but Olof Palme tirelessly continued his development toward a society as he saw it." Jens Moe, My America: The Culture of Giving, page 155.</ref>