En svensk tiger



En svensk tiger was a slogan and an image that became part of a propaganda campaign in Sweden during World War II, aiming to prevent espionage by encouraging secrecy towards foreigners.

Explanation
In Swedish, svensk can mean both the adjective "Swedish" and the noun "Swede" while tiger can mean either the noun for the animal or the present tense of the verb tiga ("to keep silent"), giving the poster the double meaning "a Swedish tiger" or "a Swede keeps silent". The phrase is comparable in use to "loose lips sink ships" in the United States.

Commission and use
The famous poster for the propaganda campaign was created by Bertil Almqvist in 1941, commissioned by the Swedish National Board of Information (Statens informationsstyrelse, SIS). The poster became the main slogan of the Vaksamhetskampanjen (Swedish Vigilance Campaign) that was started in the same year to encourage secrecy towards foreigners about information that may damage Swedish military defence.

Legal battle
Upon Almqvist's death in 1972, the copyright of the poster/logo was transferred to the Beredskapsmuseet (Military Preparedness Museum). After eleven years of legal battle, the Swedish Armed Forces, who had been using the image without permission, paid SEK 400 000 in damages to the copyright owners in 2008, a.