Dag Hammarskjöld

Also known as Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld

Swedish diplomat, economist, and author (1905-1961)

AI overview

Dag Hammarskjöld was a Swedish diplomat, economist, and author who served as Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1953 until his death in 1961. He is remembered as an influential international leader who worked to resolve Cold War conflicts and expand the UN's role in peacekeeping during a critical period in global history.

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Nobel Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize1961
“for developing the UN into an effective and constructive international organization, capable of giving life to the principles and aims expressed in the UN Charter”

NobelPrize.org →

Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Given name: Dag
Gender: male
Citizenship: Sweden
Place of birth: Jönköping
Place of death: Ndola
Father: Hjalmar Hammarskjöld
Occupation: philosopher
Employer: United Nations
Political party: independent politician
Languages spoken: Swedish
Religion: Lutheranism
Family: Hammarskjöld family
Field of work: peace movement
Official website: www.daghammarskjold.se
Image: Dag Hammarskjöld.jpg

Show 15 more facts

Commons category: Dag Hammarskjöld
member of: American Academy of Arts and Sciences
date of birth: 1905-07-29
date of death: 1961-09-18
Commons gallery: Dag Hammarskjöld
place of burial: Uppsala Old Cemetery
nominated for: Nobel Peace Prize
name in native language: Dag Hammarskjöld
described by source: Dictionary of Swedish National Biography
cause of death: aviation accident
lifestyle: mysticism
topic's main category: Category:Dag Hammarskjöld
on focus list of Wikimedia project: Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
P12749: Myrsine
IPA transcription: ˈdɑːɡ ˈhâmːarˌɧœld

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Encyclopedic overview

Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld (/ˈhæmərʃʊld/ HAM-ər-shuuld; Swedish: [ˈdɑːɡ ˈhâmːarˌɧœld] ; 29 July 1905 – 18 September 1961) was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 1961. As of 2026, he remains the youngest person to have held the post, having been only 47 years old when he was elected. He was a son of Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1914 to 1917.

Hammarskjöld's tenure was characterized by efforts to strengthen the newly-formed UN both internally and externally. He led initiatives to improve morale and organizational efficiency while seeking to make the UN more responsive to global issues. He presided over the creation of the first UN peacekeeping forces in Egypt (the UNEF) and the Congo (the ONUC) and personally intervened to defuse or resolve diplomatic crises. Hammarskjöld's second term was cut short when he died in a plane crash while en route to cease-fire negotiations during the Congo Crisis.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Dag Hammarskjöld” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.