Hammarskjöld, Dag, << HAH muhr `shohld,` dahg >> (1905-1961), served as secretary-general of the United Nations (UN) from 1953 until his death in a plane crash in Africa. After his death, Hammarskjöld was awarded the 1961 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring peace to Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
As secretary-general, Hammarskjöld worked to ease tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. Also, in 1955, he secured the release from China of American prisoners captured during the Korean War (1950-1953). In 1956, he helped solve the Suez crisis between Egypt and Israel and Israel’s allies, the United Kingdom and France.
Hammarskjöld was born on July 29, 1905, in Jonkoping, Sweden. His father was Sweden’s prime minister from 1914 to 1917. In 1941, Dag Hammarskjöld became the youngest chairman of the Bank of Sweden in the bank’s history. Hammarskjöld was deputy foreign minister of Sweden from 1951 to 1953. Markings, a book of poetry, prayers, and prose sayings written by Hammarskjöld, was published in 1964.
Hammarskjöld died along with 15 others on Sept. 18, 1961, when his plane crashed in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). At the time, he was on a diplomatic mission to end fighting between the government of Congo and rebels in the south. Since Hammarskjöld’s death, there have been many claims that the plane crash was not an accident. However, official inquiries thus far have proven to be inconclusive.
