If_the_war_comes
If the war comes
Swedish emergency information pamphlet
"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 With the end of the Cold War the publication was deemed to be outdated and distribution ceased in 1991.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).