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IMMIGRATION

Hitler ‘supporter’ offers Sweden refugee homes

UPDATED: A man from northern Sweden who has praised Adolf Hitler on Facebook and participated in Nazi demonstrations has answered a call from Sweden's Migration Agency for volunteers willing to offer accommodation to refugees.

Hitler 'supporter' offers Sweden refugee homes
Västerbotten (left) where the man lives and and Adolf Hitler (right). Photos: TT
With Sweden currently taking in record numbers of refugees and even setting up a tent camp to deal with some of the new arrivals, Sweden's Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) recently sent out a nationwide appeal for businesses and residents who may be able to provide shelter as the winter draws in.
 
But according to an investigation by Swedish current affairs publication Expo and local newspaper Västerbotten-kuriren, the government agency has been given an offer by a surprising candidate, who has previously attended pro-Nazi protests and praised Adolf Hitler on social media.
 
The two media have not named the applicant, but describe him as “in his 50s” and write that he has offered to start three different accommodation centres for refugees in Västerbotten in northern Sweden, in which is understood to be his home town.
 
The man, who is understood to run his own business in the area told Expo that he had come round to the idea after being approached by the local officials and discovering that he could profit from the initiative.
 
“First when the municipality contacted me, I said flatly 'no', because it is contrary to my political ideology,” he explained.
 
“No, I am not that charitable,” he said.
 
He said he was aware of “people who have the same opinion as me” who he said were already making money from providing shelter for asylum seekers.
 
Migrationsverket is now understood to be considering his offer, but did not immediately respond to The Local's request for comment.
 
A number of unusual accommodation options for refugees arriving in Sweden have sprung up in recent months amid an ongoing debate about whether businesses should be profiting from the crisis.
 
Over the weekend, hundreds arrived at the world's most northerly ski resort in Lapland, while sports halls, theatres and disused schools around the country have also been transformed into temporary homes.
 
Sweden's first tent camp for refugees has just opened in Lund in southern Sweden, providing beds for 375 refugees.
 
A total of 95,430 people have launched asylum cases so far in 2015, according to fresh figures from Migrationsverket. Almost 10,000 have arrived since last Monday when Sweden surpassed a previous record set in 1992 of 84,016 people seeking sanctuary in the Nordic nation following fighting in the Balkans.