In 1942, State Secretary Erlander together with then Minister for Social Affairs Gustav Möller initiated a nationwide registration of the Swedish Travelers, a branch of the Romani people that has been resident in Sweden for 500 years. The purpose of the registration was, according to a newspaper article, to make the base for "radical measures" against this "bottom layer of the Swedish population". In Norway, similar lists were established that were handed over to the Nazis during the German occupation of Norway.