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This thesis is situated in Japan-occupied Java during the Second World War. It investigates the relatively unknown humanitarian efforts of honorary consul and chief engineer at the Swedish Ball Bearing Factory subsidiary at Surabaya, Java – Axel Wieslander. The sources used is Wieslander’s consular annual reports. It analyses external and local conditions that facilitated Wieslander’s efforts. The efforts are investigated by applying a merged theoretical framework in this thesis named Room for Humanitarian Manoeuvre, and it operationalises its study by using definitions of humanitarian efforts and needs.

To grasp Wieslander’s humanitarian efforts manifested in the annual reports, a set of definitions is used to identify what kind of humanitarian efforts were conducted, what needs they sought to satisfy and what reach they had. The thesis takes methodological inspiration from earlier research on humanitarian agents of the Second World War. The humanitarian efforts are contrasted by local and external conditions, to understand what facilitated or constrained the efforts. The local ones concern conditions on Java, whereas the external ones concern factors related to Wieslander’s roles as consul and chief engineer. The former regards the threats posed on Java by imperial Japan and Japanese actors on Java, the latter the international institutional system and Sweden’s situation within it.

The results indicate that Wieslander’s room for humanitarian manoeuvre was vast, as he exercised his formal authority as consul and local head representative of an international company. He had a pivotal role in aiding hundreds of individuals subjected to Swedish protective power missions and others. His room for humanitarian manoeuvre let him take several different indirect and direct humanitarian efforts which led to humanitarian relief for many neutrals and non-hostiles to Japan in east- and central Java.

In the work of this thesis project, no academic historical research was identified that regarded these events on Java, except a Danish popular history book, Strandet på Java, which focuses on the fates of Danish seamen. Since Wieslander’s efforts reached them, it examines Wieslander's efforts to quite agreat extent. In terms of knowledge this study, 1) adds contrasts to the efforts in terms of highlighting what facilitated them, 2) identifies more efforts, and not least 3) identifies what reach they had – which was vaster than that earlier research has identified.