Gustaf V of Sweden Public life What was Gustaf best known for in the public? Gustaf V was considered to have German sympathies during World War I. How did the public feel about his sympathies with Germany ? Another of Gustaf V's objectives was to dispel suspicions that he wanted to bring Sweden into the war on Germany's side.
Did he side with any other countries beside Germany ?
Did Gustaf V side with any other countries besides Germany?
When he ascended the throne, Gustaf V was, at least on paper, a near-autocrat. The 1809 Instrument of Government made the king both head of state and head of government, and ministers were solely responsible to him. However, his father had been forced to accept a government chosen by the majority in Parliament in 1905. Since then, prime ministers had been chosen according to parliamentary support.  At first, Gustaf V seemed to be willing to accept parliamentary rule. After the Liberals won a massive landslide in 1911, Gustaf appointed Liberal leader Karl Staaff as Prime Minister. However, during the runup to World War I, the elites objected to Staaff's defence policy. In February 1914, a large crowd of farmers gathered at the royal palace and demanded that the country's defences be strengthened. In his reply, the so-called Courtyard Speech--which was actually written by explorer Sven Hedin, an ardent conservative--Gustaf promised to strengthen the country's defences. Staaff was outraged, telling the king parliamentary rule called for the Crown to stay out of partisan politics. He was also angered that he had not been consulted in advance of the speech. However, Gustaf retorted that he still had the right to "communicate freely with the Swedish people." The Staaff government resigned in protest, and Gustaf appointed a government of civil servants headed by Hjalmar Hammarskjold (father of Dag Hammarskjold) in its place. To date, it is the last time that a Swedish king directly intervened in the governing of the country.  The 1917 elections showed a heavy gain for the Liberals and Social Democrats. Despite this, Gustaf initially tried to appoint a Conservative government headed by Johan Widen. However, Widen was unable to form a coalition. It was now apparent that Gustaf could no longer appoint a government entirely of his own choosing, nor could he keep a government in office against the will of Parliament. With no choice but to appoint a Liberal as prime minister, he appointed a Liberal-Social Democratic coalition government headed by Staaff's successor as Liberal leader, Nils Eden. The Eden government promptly arrogated most of the king's political powers to itself and enacted numerous reforms, most notably the institution of complete (male and female) universal suffrage in 1918-1919. While Gustaf still formally appointed the ministers, they now had to have the confidence of Parliament. He was now also bound to act on the ministers' advice. Although the provision in the Instrument of Government stating that "the King alone shall govern the realm" remained unchanged, for all intents and purposes the ministers did the actual governing. Gustaf accepted his reduced role, and reigned for the rest of his life as a model limited constitutional monarch. Parliamentarianism had become a de facto reality in Sweden, even if it would not be formalized until 1974.  Gustaf V was considered to have German sympathies during World War I. His political stance during the war was highly influenced by his wife, who felt a strong connection to her German homeland. On 18 December 1914, he sponsored a meeting in Malmo with the other two kings of Scandinavia to demonstrate unity. Another of Gustaf V's objectives was to dispel suspicions that he wanted to bring Sweden into the war on Germany's side. CANNOTANSWER
On 18 December 1914, he sponsored a meeting in Malmo with the other two kings of Scandinavia to demonstrate unity.
The Bilateral Compensation Agreements for Victims of the Nazi Regime () between the Federal Republic of Germany, colloquially referred to as West Germany, which the West German government concluded between 1959 and 1964 with twelve Western European countries, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, to compensate victims of Nazi prosecution. In the bilateral agreements Germany settled on paying DM 876 million in what Germany considered voluntary compensation, without any legal obligation.

No agreements were concluded with any of the Eastern European countries which had suffered from Nazi occupation because of the political situation during the Cold War. East Germany did not participate in any of these bilateral agreements as it did not consider itself a successor state of the German Reich but it did, in the 1980s, conduct settlement agreements with Austria, Finland and Sweden.

Agreements
Germany concluded agreements with the following countries:

Aftermath
Because of these agreements Germany denied any financial liability for subsequent compensation claims by war crime victims and their family members in subsequent court cases. It also eliminated, in its view, Germany's legal obligation to extradite war criminals to countries like Italy. After repeated cases of Germany being ordered to pay compensation by Italian courts, Germany took the matter to the International Court of Justice, claiming immunity (Jurisdictional Immunities of the State). In 2012 the ICJ ruled in Germany's favour.

In 1990 the reunified Germany conducted a similar agreement with the United States.

See also
 Wiedergutmachung
 Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany

References

Holocaust charities and reparations
Treaties of West Germany
Reparations
Austria–Germany relations
Belgium–Germany relations
Denmark–Germany relations
France–Germany relations
Germany–Greece relations
Germany–Italy relations
Germany–Luxembourg relations
Germany–Netherlands relations
Germany–Norway relations
Germany–Sweden relations
Germany–Switzerland relations
Germany–United Kingdom relations The Polish–German Treaty of Good Neighbourship and Friendly Cooperation (, ) was signed between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Poland on 17 June 1991. It supplemented the German–Polish Border Treaty signed in 1990.

In the Treaty of Good Neighbourship both countries agreed to respect the rights of national minorities living on the other side of the border, and to promote cultural contacts, particularly among young people.

In 1992 Poland also signed similarly named agreements with other neighbouring countries:
With Ukraine, the Treaty of Good Neighbourship, Friendly Relations and Cooperation (Traktat o dobrym sąsiedztwie, przyjaznych stosunkach i współpracy), signed on 18 May 1992 in Warsaw;
With Russia, the Treaty of Friendly and Neighbourly Cooperation (Traktat o przyjaznej i dobrosąsiedzkiej współpracy), signed on 22 May 1992 in Moscow;
With Belarus, the Treaty of Good Neighbourship and Friendly Cooperation (Traktat o dobrym sąsiedztwie i przyjaznej współpracy), signed on 25 June 1992 in Warsaw.

References
Full text of the Polish–German treaty (in Polish)
Zeszyty Naukowe AON no. 2(51), 2003 (in Polish)

1991 in Germany
1991 in Poland
Treaties concluded in 1991
Treaties of Germany
Treaties of Poland Smoki (Serbian Cyrillic: Смоки) is a well-known snack food from the Balkans. It is made of puffed cornmeal grits and flavoured with peanuts and salt. Similar foods in other countries are Bamba in Israel and Erdnussflips in Germany.

Its popularity (specifically throughout the former Yugoslavia) is such that the name Smoki has become synonymous with any puffed corn snack (also known in these countries as flips). 

In September 2006, chocolate-covered Smoki was released, known as Čoko Smoki with the tagline of happy end with new flavours of orange and caramel.

See also
Bamba (snack)
List of brand name snack foods

References

Products introduced in 1972
Brand name snack foods
Serbian brands