Magnus Söderman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Magnus Söderman | |
|---|---|
| Born | Klas Magnus Söderman 9 May 1977 Solna, Sweden |
Klas Magnus Söderman (born 9 May 1977[1]) is a Swedish far-right activist, author and Christian Identity pastor.[2] He is also the former spokesman for the terror-classified by the US state department Nordic Resistance Movement.[3]
Söderman was born on May 9, 1977,[1] at Karolinska Hospital in Solna, Stockholm. He spent his childhood in Kallhäll, Järfälla municipality, north of Stockholm.[4] His engagement with nationalism began in the sixth grade.[5]
Political career
Söderman has been politically active since 1989. During the 1990s, he participated in the Engelbrektsmarschen, an event associated with the Sweden Democrats.[6] He joined the Reichsfront (Riksfronten) and later moved to Fagersta where the group had its headquarters to work with the leadership. After Riksfronten's closure, Söderman contacted the Aryan Nations and became convinced of the Christian identity doctrine. Söderman started several projects whose goal was to spread the teachings of the Aryan Nations to Sweden: Aryan Nations/Sweden, the Christian Church of Jesus Christ, the Christian Nationschurch, the Christian Renaissance Study Society. Disappointed by the lack of interest for christianity within Swedish nationalism, Söderman abandoned the projects.[7][8]
During the 2000s, Söderman was the spokesperson and chief idealogue for the Nordic Resistance Movement (then the Swedish Resistance Movement) and left the organization in 2010.[9] In March 2012, Söderman announced that he had joined the Party of the Swedes.[10] He belonged to the editorial board of the newspaper Framåt and in 2012 started Radio Framåt together with Dan Eriksson and Jonas De Geer.
Russo-Ukrainian war
Söderman organized the so-called "Svenska Ukraina Frivilliga" (Swedish Ukraine Volunteers) in 2014, a project whose goal was to encourage Swedish Nazis to go to Ukraine and participate in the Maidan uprising. With the help of contacts in the Ukrainian Svoboda Party and the Right Sector, they would ensure that the new government formation would be nationalist.[11] In May 2015, Söderman was among the eight Swedes sanctioned by Russia during the Russo-Ukrainian War.[12] Alongside Söderman were Gunnar Karlson, then head of Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service, and Prime Minister Carl Bildt.[13]