The purpose of this study is to show how the Swedish newspapers Aftonbladet andDagens Nyheter reported on and described Dag Hammarskjöld as a man and a symbolat the time of his death in 1961. The method for the research has been a qualitativethematic analysis of the content in the articles published from the date ofHammarskjöld´s death to the day after the funeral. The study has been based on theoriesabout newspapers roles in the construction of imagined communities, the use of mythsand the objectifying of abstract ideas in news texts.I have found that the investigated newspapers described Dag Hammarskjöld assynonymous with the United Nations, the world peace and a hope for the future. He wasalso described as a link between the present and the past in the Swedish history at thesame time as he was described as a man of the people. He was representing“Swedishness” in an international context and the cosmopolitan. The Swedish peoplewere described as a silent anonymous group mourning a great man and a fellowcountryman.The study shows that Dag Hammarskjöld became a complex figure thatrepresented not only him self but also Swedish qualities and norms.