The testimonies from the inside: Sexual abuse and harassment within the Young Swedes

For many, it is the draw of politics. A reason to get involved at all. A few times a year, conferences are held where young Swedes from all over the country meet for training, team building, speeches - and parties.

The youth association can book entire hotels. Sports bags are packed full of bottles of alcohol.

- From nine o'clock to three it's blazers and politics. From four to six in the morning there are prostitutes and fornication, says a former local union leader.

Ellen was on a conference trip in Lund in 2024. The second day she woke up with red strangulation marks on her neck.

- I regret so much that I joined the Young Swedes. If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't have been so traumatized.

The Young Swedes are not like other youth associations.

More than a decade ago, the Sweden Democrats cut ties with the SDU, which was considered too extreme. In their place, a loyal party body of young members was formed. The Young Swedes report directly to the party leadership, which also appoints their chairman.

For two years now, it has been Denice Westerberg.

When the Riksdag opened after the election, she entered her new workplace wearing a blue and yellow Swedish dress. Despite SD losing the most mandates of all parties, several new members with a background in Ungsvenskarna won a seat.

On social media, Westerberg was delighted that they are such a large group in the Riksdag that were "formed and nurtured in the Ungsvenskarna".

The gang consists of eight men and two women.

So in what environment have they received their political schooling?

DN has spoken to 21 former and current members who were active at the same time as the Young Swedish parliamentarians. The majority are young women who left the union at some point during the last mandate period. Most of them want to remain anonymous because they still have many friends in the union. Others want to protect their future careers – in or out of politics.

Their testimony describes how conservative gender ideals and "sectarian mentality" in a community heavily influenced by alcohol create fertile ground for sexism. Others talk about experiences of sexual harassment, molestation and abuse.

- I was shocked that there are men in Sweden today with such a strange view of women, says a young woman who left the union after a year.

During the annual confederation convention of the Young Swedes, around a hundred members gather to debate and vote on motions - often with a focus on assimilation and return migration.

- Then it's almost like a tradition that someone wants to lower the abortion limit, says a former local union leader.

In addition to the confederation convention, spring and autumn conferences are organized.

Lectures are held during the day. A conference in Stockholm ahead of the 2022 election was hosted by Magaprofilen Gregg Keller. Later that day, the Polish Law and Justice politician Michal Szpadrowski, who was noted for joking about shooting Jews with a Kalashnikov, lectured.

In the evening, dinners are organized, in this case at the giant complex Royal Park Hotel, where the participants also stayed.

- A guy spat in a cascade on the main staircase before dinner could even start, says the same union leader.

After the dinners, the parties move to the hotel rooms. This is where many of the young Swedes' stories take place.

Several of those with whom DN spoke also have experience from other youth associations. They call Ungsvenskarna's parties "extreme" in comparison.

One of them is Patrich Hällfärdsson. He joined Ungsvenskarna as an 18-year-old and quickly became a contact person, equivalent to district chairman, with the ambition to build up the association's organization at home in Sjuhärad.

A year later, just days before the 2022 election, he left SD citing the party's internal culture. After much consideration, he has decided to speak openly in this review.

- If 20 others have seen similar things to me, it's time to talk about it.

He left the Ungsvenskarna for the Moderata Ungdomsförbundet, where his experience was completely different.

- It cannot be compared. The Young Swedes were a bunch of young men with skewed views of women who were so drunk they didn't know their names. And it was completely accepted, says Patrich, who has now also left Muf and is no longer politically involved.

His testimony about what was said behind closed doors agrees with what several other former young Swedes say, independently of each other. The atmosphere is described in similar terms - as "rough", "gross" and "not clean".

- They can throw out things like that women shouldn't have the right to vote, or "we're going to have the people's home back and then the woman was in the kitchen", says Patrich.

In total, he managed to attend four conferences with the association.

A pattern is recurring. When the party is over, older guys, often on assignment for the union or the party, bring young new members to their hotel rooms.

- In general, you can say that age, level of intoxication and dependence are not something that is taken into account at the end of the evening, says a girl who was part of the association for several years.

Sixteen of the young Swedes that DN spoke to are young women. Twelve of them say that they have been subjected to unwanted sexual invitations, harassment, physical approaches or sexual violence - by men they got to know in the union.

Many of their stories take place during or after the parties at the conferences.

Three women tell, about three different men:

- We went swimming after a party. He started holding me, feeling and squeezing and telling me to sit on his lap. I tried to show that I wasn't interested, but I didn't want to create a bad atmosphere or make him angry, given his position in the union, says a young woman who is still a member of the party.

- There had been a party in his parliament apartment. We were standing together talking when he suddenly put his arm around my waist and grabbed my ass, says a girl who recently left Ungsvenskarna.

- I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk. A guy asked if he could come along. We were acquaintances but no more than that. When we had walked a little way we stopped and he started kissing me, against my will. He put his hand inside my shirt and touched my breasts. I tried to push him away and say I didn't want to, but he continued, says a young woman, who says that the incident contributed to her then leaving the union.

The incident took place several years ago, but DN has seen chat messages from the following day where she tells a person in the union management about what happened.

Other youth associations appoint their own board. Anyone who makes themselves unpopular can be voted out. That's not how it works in the Ungsvenskarna.

- There is no internal democracy. Everything is top-managed. The party selects leaders who will push the line they want to push, says a girl with long experience in the union.

It matters in the context. Several of DN's sources believe that the sexism that has pervaded the Young Swedes over the years has been borne by people in leading positions.

After the SDU revolt and the split with the parent party in 2015, Tobias Andersson was chosen by the party leadership. For seven years, he led the new union and "built the Swedish Democratic Youth Movement from the ground up".

"SD-Tobbe" came to be one of today's most high-profile Sweden Democrats, the party's third most popular candidate in this year's parliamentary elections - and a role model for young male union members.

- He lectured that one should raise one's chest, not have one's arms crossed in front of one's stomach, but show one's "soft body parts", to signal that one is not weak or afraid. You shouldn't be a "soy boy", says a guy who was in the union for five years.

While the guys reacted to a "toxic masculinity", girls who have known him for a long time talk about a conservative view of women.

- He said that it is good to have young female members because they are "easily controlled" and "we can shape them as we want", says a former union leader who was close to him.

- He could be very condescending towards women. He thought that the women's union was just curmudgeons who whined, says a young woman who was part of the union for many years.

It is denied by Tobias Andersson, who adds that he never had the ambition to be anyone's role model.

- If anyone has misunderstood something I have said, I apologize. I don't know exactly what was meant by "soy boys", but I might have said that, I think men should be manly.

Several of the young Swedes that DN spoke to believe that the fact that Tobias Andersson had the support of the party leadership made him full of power.

- He was immune. He could do what he wanted because he knew he was safe, says the woman with long experience in the union.

Tobias Andersson points out that he himself advocated that the association should become independent.

Within the Ungsvenskarna, SD-Tobbe reached "rock star status". He set the standard for how young Swedish men should behave during political debates – and at the parties afterwards.

Many have seen the clip where Onlyfans creator Josefin Ottosson stands over Andersson and pours rose wine into his mouth during election night 2022. Recently, Göteborgs-Posten revealed that he brought young women to the Riksdag in the middle of the night. And for DN, young Swedes tell about when Andersson invited Josefin Ottosson and Paradise Hotel profile Paulina "Paow" Danielsson to a confederation conference in Dalarna in the summer of 2022.

The conference was organized to "prepare the organization for the final sprint of the election campaign".

- You weren't allowed to bring outsiders, but the rules always applied to everyone except Tobbe, says a girl who was part of the association for many years.

During the conference, Ottosson published several posts on Onlyfans – a platform where users pay for sexual content.

In a film, Ottosson poses in a bikini in a bathtub inside the hotel where the conference was held. In the background, Tobias Andersson can be seen entering the room.

- Many of us thought that he should take the opportunity to get to know his members, instead of spending time with reality participants, says a former member.

Andersson says he "did both".

- I have been to many conferences and spent a lot of time getting to know all possible members. I still have a close and good relationship with the vast majority of them. Then you've found some people who anonymously don't like me afterwards. It is hardly surprising.

After the 2022 election, Andersson advanced on the national level, became chairman of the Riksdag's business committee and stepped down from the Young Sweden throne. It was pair horse Emil Eneblad who took over.

Two years later, in November 2024, Denice Westerberg became the new leader of the Young Swedes. She has thanked her representatives for everything they taught her.

Now all three sit in the Riksdag. Andersson and Eneblad are part of the Ungsvenskarna's election committee and have direct influence over who will be allowed to follow in their footsteps in the association.

The strong ties between the mother party and the youth association have historically made it difficult - or impossible - to bring about a change, say the young Swedes that DN spoke to.

- If you go against the Ungsvenskarna's leadership, you go against SD as a party. If you want to make a political career, you are shooting yourself in the foot, says a former member who has now moved on to another party.

- There is no whistleblower service, no one to talk to. The only people you can turn to are those who are responsible for these things themselves, says Patrich Hällfärdsson.

He himself has reacted to when girls in the association have done badly.

- I approached a young girl who was sitting and crying at a party. A man on the board had approached her and said things that made her very uncomfortable. She had not been able to leave and felt very locked in the situation.

It was the first time he witnessed situations at the conferences, but not the last.

- When I understood how big a problem it was, it was terrifying. I didn't want to be a part of it.

During the 2024 spring conference of the Young Swedes, a 26-year-old young Swedish man, also a top local politician, was arrested on suspicion of rape in a hotel in Stockholm where many of the participating members lived.

- There were two others in the room when it happened, a girl and a guy, but they were doing their thing, says a friend of those involved.

It is confirmed by one of the main witnesses. DN has also seen text messages where the other guy who was in the room talks about what happened, shortly after the incident.

A police patrol raided the hotel and confiscated bed sheets. An 18-year-old girl took a taxi to the rape reception at SÖS. The investigation was dropped due to lack of evidence, but the man was expelled from the party.

Was there any difference after that?

- No. The culture is the same, says the friend, who recently left the union.

The young Swedes' navy blue t-shirts are decorated with the Engelbrektsbågen, a crossbow that symbolizes the nation's independence. Whoever wears it on their chest has made a choice that can have consequences. Several of those with whom DN spoke testified that their political involvement led to lost friendships, ostracism at school or conflicts in the family.

Others have little or no ground to stand on to begin with - and find their first social context in the party.

- I got friends and a community that I had longed for, a place where I belonged. Then it is easy to be indoctrinated, says a young man.

He and several others liken the association to a "sect". He is still active in the party, but has left Ungsvenskarna because of the culture in the union.

- They tell you that you should never talk to journalists, that if the media write something bad, it's just lies because they want to smear the party.

For the girls who were accepted into the community, the strong group loyalty meant that personal boundaries were easily blurred.

- I found myself being treated in a way by guys that I had not agreed to today, says a young woman with a long-term involvement in the union.

Now the teenagers who joined Ungsvenskarna have become young adults. When they look back on their former sexual relationships with guys in the union, several of them see the same thing.

One of them is Ellen, the one who woke up with strangulation marks on her neck after a conference trip to Lund in 2024. She had accompanied a party representative almost ten years older to the hotel room.

They had had sex once before, but this time it was different.

- He suddenly became like a replacement. He spat in my face and grabbed my throat really hard. I was drunk and didn't understand what was happening. It felt like I was going to die.

She told a midwife about the experience, a week after the incident, journal entries that DN has seen show.

Other young Swedes talk about other men, but about similar experiences.

- It was so rough, the way you were supposed to have sex. It would be violent and ruthless, like strangulation sex and that you would be tied up, says a former member.

Another says that she has been called a whore, beaten and spat on during sex.

- It was not in a reasonable kink way. He would really humiliate me. It could get very, very violent, says a girl about a previous relationship.

She was 16 years old, he was just over 20 and had a suspended position in custody