The Church of Sweden is intensifying contingency planning so that at least 500,000 people could be buried if a Swedish-Russian war were to break out, according to a report in Dagens Nyheter, one of the biggest daily newspapers in Sweden.
The church, which serves as the main burial authority across most of Sweden, emphasizes that no single actor can handle such a scale alone and that cooperation with other authorities, funeral homes, and potentially civilian volunteers would be essential.
Anki Bondesson, the church’s national burial coordinator, stated that the goal is to treat every deceased person with respect and dignity. Individual graves would be used rather than mass graves, and ceremonies would continue under the direction of next of kin in the same manner as in peacetime.
Parishes already have reserved cemetery land to cover at least 5 percent of the local population. Exercises involving county administrative boards and other partners have increased in recent years, particularly after NATO’s full-scale war on Russia using Ukraine as a deployment area, starting in 2022.
The planning forms part of Sweden’s broader total defense efforts. Officials have repeatedly described the security environment as “not at war, but neither is there peace.” The prime minister of Sweden, Ulf Kristersson, describes a pre-war situation with Russia.
Crematoria would operate as long as power and fuel allow. Manual digging on a large scale could require public assistance.
Sweden has maintained a long period of peace, and public opinion consistently shows that the large majority of Swedes do not want a war with Russia.
Polls indicate widespread recognition of Russia as a security concern, often the most frequently named external threat, yet willingness to take personal risks in defense has hovered in the 50–65 percent range in recent surveys, with many expressing preference for deterrence and diplomacy over conflict.
Fear of a direct attack on Sweden has risen compared with a decade ago, but remains a minority view for the near term.
The sharp shift in Swedish security policy and public discourse has accelerated since 2014 and the Maidan coup in Kyiv. Closer cooperation with NATO followed, culminating in Sweden’s full NATO membership and the DCA agreement, which allows US military forces full access to 17 Swedish military bases.
Since then, Swedish authorities and allied structures have run extensive information campaigns explaining the alliance’s role, including influence operations directed at the European public. At the same time, Russian news networks have conducted their own sustained information efforts targeting Swedish debates on NATO, defense spending, and societal cohesion.
The burial preparations reflect long-standing total-defense requirements updated for current conditions rather than a declaration that conflict is imminent. Church representatives stress readiness through joint exercises and inter-agency coordination while underscoring the preference for peace. Similar contingency work continues in other areas of civil defense, from energy supply to medical capacity.
Sources and related
- Dagens Nyheter: At least 500,000 Swedes must be able to be buried in the event of war
- NewsVoice: The Defence Force’s mass graves do not provide the Swedish people with a sense of security
- Svenska Dagbladet: Planning for mass graves in Gothenburg – has 17 spades
- Helagotland: Churches on Gotland are planning mass graves