A Street Confrontation in Växjö
On 13 April 1985, in the Swedish city of Växjö, photojournalist Hans Runesson captured an image that would travel around the world. The photograph showed 38-year-old Danuta Danielsson striking a marching Neo-Nazi with her handbag during a demonstration by supporters of the Nordic Realm Party.
The incident took place shortly after a nearby Left Party-Communists rally, where tensions were already high and clashes had begun between political opponents.
Clashes and Police Intervention
The far-right rally had been approved by authorities and scheduled to follow a speech by Left Party-Communists leader Lars Werner. Around 10 Nordic Realm Party members were confronted by hundreds of left-wing supporters and local residents.
Eggs were thrown, demonstrators chased the group, and one man was kicked unconscious before being helped by another protester. The far-right activists eventually took shelter in the city’s train station toilets for several hours until police transported them away.
A Photograph Gains Worldwide Attention
Runesson’s photograph appeared the next day on the front page of Sweden’s Dagens Nyheter and, two days later, in The Times and The Daily Express in the UK. The image won Sweden’s Picture of the Year award in 1985 and was later named Picture of the Century by Vi magazine and the Photographic Historical Society of Sweden.
Only a limited number of large-format gelatin silver prints were produced and sold through gallerist Pelle Unger, priced between €2,000 and €3,800 as of 2020.
The People Behind the Image
Danielsson, born Danuta Seń in March 1947 in Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland, was Jewish. Her mother had survived a German concentration camp, reportedly Auschwitz or Majdanek, during the Holocaust.
In 1981, she met Swedish jazz enthusiast Björn “Beson” Danielsson, married him later that year, and moved to Sweden in 1982. Following the incident, she chose to remain anonymous, fearing reprisals and legal consequences. She died in 1988 after jumping from Växjö’s water tower.
Her identity was revealed publicly in 2014 during debates over a statue commemorating the event, which her family opposed. The man struck in the photograph was identified as Seppo Seluska, a Nordic Realm Party militant later convicted of torturing and murdering a gay Jewish man. Although the statue proposal was rejected in Växjö in 2015, versions were later installed in Varberg and Alingsås.
A raised handbag cut through a Neo-Nazi march in Växjö on 13 April 1985.
Photojournalist Hans Runesson pressed the shutter as 38-year-old Danuta Danielsson struck a marcher.
What followed: a chase, global headlines, awards, and a debate over statues…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/809m13n0jw
— Fascinating True Stories (@FascinatingTrue) August 14, 2025