STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Europe came to a halt last Wednesday for three minutes of silence to honor the victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami. At least 11 EU countries have reported citizens dead or missing in the disaster.

In Stockholm, Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson led the ceremony by saying, “Something we will never forget has happened. We have lost a brother, little sister, mother or father. It is so empty when someone is missing. We are showing our compassion and grief and also our determined hope. We can never fully understand, but we can reach out with solidarity all over the world.”

The first six corpses of the victims arrived at Arlanda Airport in Stockholm last Wednesday. The Swedish Royal Family, Prime Minister Göran Persson and Archbishop K.G. Hammar were among those present. They waited quietly on this rainy and cold winter morning, when the coffins draped in the Swedish flag were carried out from the military aircraft. Family members and relatives performed a silent ceremony. When they put the flowers on the coffins, the Royal Family shed tears.

More aircraft will bring home victims for a long time. Sweden is the European country most severely affected by the Tsunami.

On New Year’s Eve, the Royal Family, the Swedish Prime Minister and other government officials attended the first memorial service held in the Stockholm church Storkyrkan to honor the Tsunami victims. The church was filled with grieving people. Similar services were held all over Sweden on New Year’s Day.

The Foreign Ministry assigned the Swedish National Police the task of managing a classified list of the missing. The Swedish media have criticized the government for not making the list public. The journalists mentioned Norway as an example of a country that made its list public, thus allowing many names to be checked and removed.

At a press conference held on January 5, the Swedish National Police Commissioner Stefan Strömberg said, “We are following the Swedish Official Secret Act, where information that could be detrimental to the relatives of the victims will not be made public.” He characterized it as a question of personal integrity. Strömberg also said that people are in deep crisis and it could be upsetting for the relatives and survivors if contacted by the media.

The Police Board announced that it would take a long time to identify the bodies. It may take up to six months before relatives know what happened to their family members.

According to the Swedish Foreign Ministry, 1,903 Swedes are missing or unaccounted for. The confirmed dead count stands at 52.

As of Jan. 5, Germany reported 60 dead and 1,000 missing; Norway 16 dead and 107 missing; Finland 15 dead and 183 missing; Denmark 7 dead and 66 missing; UK 40 dead and 159 missing; France 22 dead and fewer than 90 missing; Italy 18 dead and 436 missing; Switzerland 16 dead and 500 missing; Belgium 6 dead and 99 missing; Austria 7 dead and 468 missing; and Netherlands 6 dead and more than 200 missing.

These figures were printed in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, based on reports from the Swedish Foreign Ministry, Reuters, AP and AFP.