Nils Silfverskiöld

Nils Otto Silfverskiöld (3 January 1888 – 18 August 1957) was a Swedish Olympic gymnast, orthopedic surgeon and left-wing intellectual. As a gymnast he won a gold medal in the Swedish system team event at the 1912 Summer Olympics. As a surgeon he developed a knee flexion test that was later adapted in a diagnosis of foot and ankle disorders.

Silfverskiöld had strong anti-Nazi and pro-Soviet sympathies. In 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, he established a Swedish hospital in Spain to help the Republicans and later became president of the Swedish-Soviet Federation.

Silfverskiöld was married four times. His third marriage was in 1932 with Countess Mary von Rosen. Her family had good relations with Nazi Germany in general and with Hermann Göring in particular. This resulted in a scandal at the wedding of Silfverskiöld and von Rosen when all the attendants (but not the groom and bride) made the Nazi salute to Göring. the ex-wife of American jazz saxophonist Stan Getz. She is also a diplomat, educator and activist who founded the National Coalition for Family Justice.