"If the war comes" (Swedish: Om kriget kommer) is a pamphlet originally prepared by the Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces' office. If the war comes has been delivered to every household in Sweden from 1943 to 1991 and again from 2018. The most important parts of the publication were also inserted at the end of all Swedish phone books. The publication contained information about how to act in a situation of national crisis and most notably, nuclear war. Between the 1950s and 1970s Sweden went through a period with extraordinary high economic growth called the "record years" (Swedish: rekordåren). This made it possible to invest in civil defense and to have a plan to save the entire population even in the event of a superpower invasion. If the war comes was a way to inform the public about these plans. With the end of the Cold War the publication was deemed to be outdated and distribution ceased in 1991. The most basic information was kept in the phone book until the early 21st century. In 2018 the pamphlet was renewed and distributed under the name "If crisis or war comes" (Swedish: Om krisen eller kriget kommer).

2018 reprint

Due to the unstable international political situation, the Swedish government decided to distribute a new version of the pamphlet to 4.7 million Swedish households between May and June 2018.^[1][2] The 2018 version was titled If crisis or war comes (Swedish: Om krisen eller kriget kommer) and included information on modern situations such as terrorism, fake news and cell phone usage during a crisis.^[3]

Content

If the war comes was a short publication and contained the basic information that the Government of Sweden considered necessary to know in the event of war. The chapter about civil defense contains the exhortation, "Every statement that the resistance is to cease is FALSE!" (Swedish: Varje meddelande om att motståndet skall uppges är FALSKT!). The publication also contained information about civil defense sirens, how to act in an air-raid shelter, and what belongings to bring in the case of a refugee situation.

Editions

• Om kriget kommer – vägledning för rikets medborgare i händelse av krig (If the war comes – guidance to the citizens of the nation in case of war), Statens Informationsstyrelse, 1943 (16 pages)
• Om kriget kommer – vägledning för Sveriges medborgare (If the war comes – guidance for the citizens of Sweden), Kungliga Civilförsvarsstyrelsen, 1952 (33 pages)
• Om kriget kommer – vägledning för Sveriges medborgare (If the war comes – guidance for the citizens of Sweden), Kungliga Civilförsvarsstyrelsen, 1961 (48 pages)
• Om kriget kommer – vad du bör veta (If the war comes – what you should know), Beredskapsnämnden för psykologiskt försvar, 1983 (39 pages)
• Om kriget kommer (If the war comes), Styrelsen för psykologiskt försvar (SPF), 1987 (31 pages)
• Om kriget eller katastrofen kommer – vad gör vi med barnen? (If war or catastrophe comes – what do we do with the children), Socialstyrelsen, 1991 (49 pages)
• Om krisen eller kriget kommer – viktig information till Sveriges invånare (If crisis or war comes – important information for the population of Sweden), Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap, 2018 (20 pages)