During his diplomatic career , Hedin was in Moscow to discuss Swedes that were supposed to have disappeared in the Soviet Union , such as the crew on the shot down DC 3 in 1952 and the boat crew of '' Bengt Sture '' in 1942 . Hedin was also in West Germany among returning prisoners of war whom he interviewed to track any Swedes in Gulag . He mastered six languages in addition to his mother tongue . Hedin was chairman of the Skandia Real Estate Company in Lisbon from 1990 . He was a member of the Swedish Publicists ' Association and after retirement , he participated frequently in the public debate with high-profile posts . Hedin was an expert in a commission called by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to clarify what might have happened in Sweden regarding property of Jewish origin brought here in connection with the Jewish persecution before and during World War II . On 14 December 1998 , Hedin was relieved at his own request from his assignment in this commission . Together with journalist Göran Elgemyr , Hedin presented documents that highlighted the Swedish Central Bank 's transactions with the so-called Nazi gold . For that work , Hedin and Elgemyr were awarded the Guldspaden for investigative journalism in 1998
crew on the shot down DC 3
Catalina affair
Sven Fredrik Hedin