The
rescue of the Danish Jews occurred during
Nazi GermanyNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
's
occupation of DenmarkNazi Germany’s Occupation of Denmark began with Operation Weserübung 9 April 1940, and lasted until German forces withdrew at the end of World War II following their surrender to the Allies on 5 May 1945. Contrary to the situation in other countries under German occupation, most Danish institutions...
during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. When Hitler ordered that
Danish JewsThe Jewish community of Denmark constitutes a small minority with a known history back to the 17th century.-Origins:Medieval Danish art contains depictions of Jews – visibly wearing pointed hats – but there is no evidence any Jews actually lived in Denmark during that time...
be arrested and deported on 1–2 October 1943, many Danes took part in a collective effort to evacuate the roughly 8,000
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
s of
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
by sea to nearby neutral
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
. The rescue allowed the vast majority of Denmark's Jewish population to avoid capture by the
NazisNazism, known officially in German as National Socialism , is the totalitarian ideology and practices of the Nazi Party or National Socialist German Workers’ Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.Nazism is often considered...
and is considered to be one of the largest actions of collective resistance to repression in the countries occupied by Nazi Germany. As a result of the rescue and Danish intercession on behalf of the 5% of Danish Jews who were deported to
TheresienstadtTheresienstadt concentration camp was a Nazi German ghetto during World War II. It was established by the Gestapo in the fortress and garrison city of Terezín , located in what is now the Czech Republic.-History:The fortress of Terezín was constructed between the years 1780 and 1790 by the orders...
transit camp in
BohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands, currently the Czech Republic...
, over 99% of Denmark's Jewish population survived the
HolocaustThe Holocaust , also known as The Shoah is the term generally used to describe the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, a program of systematic state-sponsored extermination by Nazi Germany,...
.
The "model protectorate"
On April 9, 1940, Denmark and
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
were invaded by Nazi Germany. Realizing that successful armed resistance was impossible and to avoid civilian casualties, the Danish government surrendered after a few skirmishes on the morning of the invasion.
The Nazi German government stated that its occupation of Denmark was an "act of protection" against the
AlliesThe Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . The involvement of the Allies in World War II was either natural and inevitable they were invaded or under the direct threat of invasion by the Axis or compelled by concerns that the Axis powers...
and that Germany did not intend to disturb the political independence of Denmark. Because the Danish government promised "loyal cooperation" with the Germans, the
occupation of DenmarkNazi Germany’s Occupation of Denmark began with Operation Weserübung 9 April 1940, and lasted until German forces withdrew at the end of World War II following their surrender to the Allies on 5 May 1945. Contrary to the situation in other countries under German occupation, most Danish institutions...
was thus relatively mild at first. German propaganda even referred to Denmark as the "model protectorate". King
Christian XChristian X was King of Denmark from 1912 to 1947 and last king of Iceland between 1918 and 1944. He was born at Charlottenlund Palace near Copenhagen....
retained his throne, and
Denmark's ParliamentRigsdagen was the name of the Parliament of Denmark from 1849 to 1953.Rigsdagen was Denmark's first parliament, and it was incorporated in the Constitution of 1849. It was a bicameral legislature, consisting of two houses, the Folketing and the Landstinget. The distinction between the two houses...
, government, and the courts continued to function. Even censorship of radio and the press was administered by the Danish government, rather than by the occupying German civil and military authorities.
During the early years of the occupation, Danish officials repeatedly insisted to the German occupation authorities that there was no "Jewish problem" in Denmark. The Germans recognized that discussion of the Jewish question in Denmark was a possibly explosive issue, which had the potential to destroy the "model" relationship between Denmark and Germany and, in turn, cause political and economic consequences for Germany. In addition, the German Reich relied substantially upon Danish agriculture, which supplied meat and butter to 3.6 million Germans in 1942 alone. As a result, when officials in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
recommended instituting anti-Jewish measures in Denmark, even ideologically committed Nazis, such as Reich Plenipotentiary
Werner BestWerner Best was a German jurist, police chief, SS-Obergruppenführer and Nazi leader from Darmstadt, Hesse. Best served as civilian administrator of France and Denmark while Nazi Germany occupied those countries during World War II.-Early World War II:From 1939-40, Best was an SS-Obergruppenführer...
, followed a strategy of avoiding and deferring any discussion of Denmark's Jews.
In late 1941, upon the visit of Danish Foreign Minister
Erik ScaveniusErik Julius Christian Scavenius was the Danish foreign minister 1909–1910, 1913–1920 and 1940–1943, and prime minister from 1942 to 1943. His cabinet resigned in 1943 and suspended operations...
to Berlin, German authorities there (including
Hermann GöringHermann Wilhelm Göring was a German politician, military leader and a leading member of the Nazi Party. Among many offices, he was Hitler's designated successor and commander of the Luftwaffe...
) insisted that Denmark choose not to avoid its "Jewish problem". A Danish anti-Semitic newspaper used these statements as an opportunity for a slanderous attack on Denmark's Jews; shortly thereafter,
arsonArson is the crime of deliberately and maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires caused by lightning for example. The study of the causes is the subject of fire investigation...
ists attempted to start a fire at
Copenhagen's synagogueThe Great Synagogue is the main synagogue of the Jewish community in Copenhagen, Denmark. The synagogue is defined by its unique architecture around the Ark of the Law. During the first half of the 19th century, synagogues continued to be built in the classical tradition but there began to be a...
. The Danish courts handed down stiff fines and jail time to the editors and would-be arsonists, and the Danish government took further administrative action. The Danish government's punishment of anti-Semitic crimes during occupation by Germany were interpreted by the German authorities in Denmark as signaling the Danish view toward any future measures taken against Denmark's Jews by the occupiers.
In mid-1943, Danes saw the German defeats in the
Battle of StalingradThe Battle of Stalingrad was a battle of World War II between Nazi Germany and its allies and the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 17 July 1942 and 2 February 1943....
and
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
as an indication that having to live under German rule was no longer the long-term certainty it had been in 1940. At the same time, the
Danish resistance movementThe Danish resistance movement was an underground insurgency movement to resist the German occupation of Denmark during World War II. Due to the unusually lenient terms given to Danish people by the Nazi occupation authority, the movement was slower to develop effective tactics on a wide scale...
was becoming more vocal in their underground press and with their increased
sabotageSabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions...
activities. During the summer, several nationwide strikes led to armed confrontations between Danes and German troops. In the wake of increased resistance activities and riots, the German occupation authorities presented the Danish government with an ultimatum on August 28, 1943, prescribing a ban on strikes, a curfew, and punishing sabotage with the death penalty. Deeming these terms unacceptable and a violation of Danish sovereignty, a state of emergency was declared, some 100 prominent Danes were taken hostage, including the
Chief RabbiChief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
Dr. Max Friediger and a dozen other Jews. In response, the government resigned on August 29, 1943. The result was direct administration of Denmark by German authority; the "model protectorate" had come to an end — and with it, the protection the Danish government had provided for the country's Jews.
The deportation order and rescue
Without the recalcitrant Danish government to impede them, Denmark's German occupiers began planning the deportation to
Nazi concentration campsNazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps were greatly expanded in Germany after the Reichstag fire in 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
of the 8,000 or so Jews in Denmark. On September 28, 1943,
Georg Ferdinand DuckwitzGeorg Ferdinand Duckwitz was a German attache who warned the Danish Jews about their intended deportation in 1943...
, a German diplomat, after secretly making sure Sweden would receive Jewish refugees, leaked word of the plans for the operation against Denmark's Jews to
Hans HedtoftHans Hedtoft Hansen was Prime Minister of Denmark from 13 November, 1947 to 30 October, 1950 as the leader of the Cabinet of Hans Hedtoft I and again from 30 September, 1953 to 29 January, 1955 as the leader of the Cabinet of Hans Hedtoft II.Hans Hedtoft was a Social Democrat, and had taken over...
, chairman of the Danish
Social Democratic PartyThe Social Democrats , is a Danish political party. It is currently the second largest party with 25.5% of votes and 45 of 175 seats. Since the Social Democrats were last in government, ending 2001, it is the first time the Social Democrats are not the most popular party since the end of World War II...
. Hedtoft contacted the Danish Resistance Movement and the head of the Jewish community,
C.B. Henriques, who in turn alerted the acting chief rabbi, Dr. Marcus Melchior. (The official chief rabbi, Dr. Max Friediger had already been detained as a "hostage" on the night of August 29, 1943, along with some 100 prominent Danes, including a dozen Jews, in a camp near Copenhagen.) At the early morning services, on September 29, the day prior to the
Rosh HashanahRosh Hashanah is a Jewish holiday commonly referred to as the "Jewish New Year." It is observed on the first day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, as ordained in the Torah, in...
services, Jews were promptly warned by Rabbi Melchior of the German action and urged to go into hiding immediately and to spread the word to all their Jewish friends and relatives.
The improvisational nature of the early phases of the rescue was particularly notable. When Danish
civil servantsThe term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
at several levels in different ministries learnt of the German plan to round up all Danish Jews, they independently pursued various measures to find the Jews and hide them. Some simply phoned friends and asked them to go through telephone books and warn those with Jewish-sounding names to go into hiding. Most Jews hid for several days or weeks before being smuggled to Sweden, which offered asylum to all Danish Jews who reached its shores.
The Jews were smuggled out of Denmark by transporting them by sea over the Øresund from Zealand to Sweden — a passage of varying time depending on the specific route and the weather, but averaging under an hour on the choppy winter sea, as noted by Preben Munch-Nielsen in an interview with the USHMM. Some were transported in large fishing boats of up to 20 tons, but others were carried to freedom in rowboats or kayaks. The ketch
AlbatrosThe Albatros is a sailing ketch built in the Netherlands in 1899. Now used as a sail training vessel, she was the last sailing ship carrying commercial cargo in Europe.-1899-1987:...
was one of the ships used to smuggle Jews to Sweden. Some refugees were smuggled inside freight cars on the regular ferries between Denmark and Sweden, this route being suited for the very young or old who were too weak to endure a rough sea passage. The underground had broken into empty freight cars sealed by the Germans after inspection, helped refugees onto the cars, and then resealed the cars with forged or stolen German seals to forestall further inspection.
Some of the fishermen assisting in the rescue charged money to transport Jews to Sweden, while others took payments only from those who could afford passage. Certainly there were also some profiteers who took advantage of the confusion and fear during the early days of the escape, but as time passed, the Danish underground movement ousted them and took an active role in organizing the rescue and providing financing, mostly from wealthy Danes who donated large sums of money for the rescue.
During the first days of the rescue action, Jews moved into the many fishing harbours on the Danish coast for rescue, but the
GestapoThe was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning in April 1934, it was under the overall administration of the Schutzstaffel under Heinrich Himmler in his position as leader of the SS and Chief of German Police...
became suspicious of activity around harbours (and on the night of October 1–2, about 70 Jews were caught hiding in the loft of the church at
GillelejeGilleleje is one of the the main towns of the Gribskov municipality in Region Hovedstaden in Denmark. The town is located at the northernmost point of Sjælland in Denmark.-Etymology:...
, their hiding place betrayed by a Danish girl in love with a German soldier). Subsequent rescues had to take place from isolated points along the coast. While waiting their turn, the Jews took refuge in the woods and in cottages away from the coast, out of sight of the Gestapo.
Some of the refugees never made it to Sweden; a few chose to commit suicide, some were captured by the Gestapo en route to their point of embarkation, others were lost at sea when vessels of poor seaworthiness capsized, and still others were intercepted at sea by German patrol boats. However, the Danish harbour police and civil police generally cooperated with the rescue operations. During the early stages, the Gestapo was undermanned and the German army and navy were called in to reinforce the Gestapo in its effort to prevent transportation taking place; but by and large they proved less than enthusiastic in the operation and frequently turned a blind eye to escapees.
Arrests and deportations
In Copenhagen the deportation order was carried out on the
Jewish New YearRosh Hashanah is a Jewish holiday commonly referred to as the "Jewish New Year." It is observed on the first day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, as ordained in the Torah, in...
, the night of October 1–2, when the Germans assumed all Jews would be gathered at home. The roundup was organized by the SS who used two police battalions and about 50 Danish volunteer members of the Waffen SS chosen for their familiarity with Copenhagen and northern Zealand. The SS organized themselves in five man teams, each with a Dane, a vehicle and a list of addresses to check. Most teams found no one, but one team found four Jews on the fifth address checked. There a bribe of 15,000
kronerThe krone is the currency of Denmark, including the autonomous provinces of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The krone is pegged to the euro via the European Union's exchange rate mechanism. The plural form is "kroner" and one krone is divided into 100 øre, the singular form being the same as the...
was rejected and the cash destroyed. The arrested Jews were allowed to bring two blankets, food for 3–4 days, and a small suitcase. They were transported to the harbour, Langelinie, where a couple of large ships awaited them. One of the Danish
Waffen-SSThe Waffen-SS was the combat arm of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside the Wehrmacht Heer regular army, but was never formally part of it...
members believed the Jews were being sent to
DanzigGdańsk, also known by its German name Danzig , is a city on the Baltic coast in northern Poland, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area....
.
On October 2, some arrested Danish
communistsCommunism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general. Karl Marx posited that communism would be the final stage in human...
witnessed the deportation of about 200 Jews from Langelinie via the ship
Wartheland. Of these, a young married couple were able to convince the Germans that they were not Jewish, and set free. The remainder included mothers with infants, the sick and elderly, and apparently also chief rabbi Max Friediger. They were driven below deck without their luggage while being screamed at, kicked and beaten. The Germans then took anything of value from the luggage. Their unloading the next day in
SwinemundeŚwinoujście is a city and seaport on the Baltic Sea and Szczecin Lagoon, located in the extreme north-west of Poland. It is situated mainly on the islands of Usedom and Wolin, but also occupies smaller islands, of which the largest is Karsibór island, once part of Usedom, now separated by a Piast...
was even more inhumane, though without fatalities. There the Jews were driven into two cattle cars, about one hundred per car. During the night, while still locked in the cattle cars, a Jewish mother cried that her child had died. For comparison the Danish communists were packed into cars with "only" fifty people in each; nevertheless, they quickly began to suffer from heat, thirst and lack of ventilation; furthermore, on October 5, shortly before being unloaded in Danzig, they received (filthy) water for the first time since they had left Copenhagen.
Only around 450 Danish Jews were captured by the Germans, and most of these were sent to the
Theresienstadt concentration campTheresienstadt concentration camp was a Nazi German ghetto during World War II. It was established by the Gestapo in the fortress and garrison city of Terezín , located in what is now the Czech Republic.-History:The fortress of Terezín was constructed between the years 1780 and 1790 by the orders...
in occupied
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. After these Jews' deportation, leading Danish civil servants persuaded the Germans to accept packages of food and medicine for the prisoners; furthermore, Denmark persuaded the Germans not to deport the Danish Jews to extermination camps. This was achieved by Danish political pressure, using the Danish
Red CrossThe International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers worldwide which started to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for the human being, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering, without any...
to monitor frequently the condition of the Danish Jews at Theresienstadt. Some 51 Danish Jews — mostly elderly — died of disease at Theresienstadt, but in April 1945, as the war drew to a close, the 400 or so surviving Danish Jews were turned over by the Germans to Count Folke Bernadotte of Wisborg of the Swedish Red Cross (see
White Buses"White Buses" refers to a program undertaken by the Swedish Red Cross and the Danish government in the spring of 1945 to rescue concentration camp inmates in areas under Nazi control and transport them to Sweden, a neutral country...
). The casualties among Danish Jews during the Holocaust were smaller than any other country in occupied Europe.
Yad VashemYad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament.The origin of the name is from a Biblical verse: "And to them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial and...
records 102 Jews from Denmark died in the
ShoahShoah may refer to:*The Holocaust*Shoah * A Shoah Foundation...
.
The myth of the Danes and the yellow starThe yellow badge , also referred to as a Jewish badge, was a cloth patch that Jews were ordered to sew on their outer garments in order to mark them as Jews in public. It is intended to be a badge of shame associated with antisemitism...
It has been popularly reported that the Nazis ordered Danish Jews to wear an identifying yellow star, as elsewhere in Nazi controlled territories. In some versions of the myth, King Christian X opted to wear such a star himself and the Danish people followed his example, thus making the order unenforceable.
The order was, in fact, never issued (although the yellow star was imposed on Dutch Jews).
The myth may have originated in a contemporary
cartoonThe word cartoon has various meanings, based on several very different forms of visual art and illustration. The term has evolved over time....
, published in a Swedish daily paper, depicting the King asserting to a former prime minister that, if the order to wear the star was imposed on Denmark's Jews, "We'll all have to wear yellow stars."
A recent study shows that the assumption that a cartoon initiated the perception that King Christian X threatened to wear a yellow star is incorrect. The story about the King and the Star and other similar myths originated in the offices of NADA,
The National Denmark America Association, where a handful of Danish nationals opened a propaganda unit called
Friends of Danish Freedom and Democracy, which published a bulletin called
The Danish Listening Post. This group hired
Edward L. Berneys, The father of Public Relation and Spin” as a consultant. Whether Bernays was the inventor of the story about the King and the yellow star, is not known.
The facts differ from the story. Although the Danish authorities cooperated with the German occupation forces, they and most Danes strongly opposed the isolation of any group within the population, especially the well-integrated Jewish community. The German action to deport Danish Jews prompted the Danish state church and all political parties except the pro-Nazi National Socialist Workers’ Party of Denmark (DNSAP) immediately to renounce the action and to pledge solidarity with the Jewish fellow citizens. For the first time, they openly opposed the occupation. At once the Danish Bishops issued a
hyrdebrev — a pastoral letter to all citizens. The letter was distributed to all Danish priests, to be read out in every church on the following Sunday. This was in itself very controversial since the Danish church is decentralized, apolitical and without a central leadership.
The unsuccessful German deportation attempt and the actions to save the Jews were important steps in linking the resistance movement to broader anti-Nazi sentiments in Denmark. In many ways October 1943 and the rescuing of the Jews marked a change in most people's perception of the war and the occupation thereby giving a "subjective-psychological" foundation for the myth.
A few days after the roundup, a small news item in the
New York Daily NewsThe Daily News of New York City is the fifth most-widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 632,595, as of June 13, 2009. The first U.S. daily printed in tabloid form, it was founded in 1919, and as of 2007 is owned and run by Mortimer Zuckerman...
reported the myth about the wearing of the Star of David. Later, the story gained its popularity in
Leon UrisLeon Marcus Uris was an American novelist, known for his historical fiction and the deep research that went into his novels. His two bestselling books were Exodus, published in 1958, and Trinity, in 1976.-Life:...
' novel
ExodusExodus by American novelist Leon Uris is about the founding of the State of Israel. Published in 1958, it is based on the name of the 1947 immigration ship Exodus....
and in its movie adaptation. It persists to the present, but it is unfounded.
Righteous among the nations
The Danish resistance movement as a collective, rather than as individuals, have been honoured at
Yad VashemYad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament.The origin of the name is from a Biblical verse: "And to them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial and...
in
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
as being part of the "
Righteous Among the NationsRighteous among the Nations , which may at times refer to the B'nei Noah or Noahides as well, is a term used in Judaism to refer to non-Jews who abide by the Seven Laws of Noah and thus are assured of meriting paradise.In secular usage, the term is used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who...
." Also honored are a handful of Danes who were not members of the official resistance movement, and
Georg Ferdinand DuckwitzGeorg Ferdinand Duckwitz was a German attache who warned the Danish Jews about their intended deportation in 1943...
.
In popular culture
- Fred Small
Frederick Emerson Small , known publicly as Fred Small, is an American singer-songwriter. He is also a lawyer and a Unitarian Universalist minister. His songs often make a political or ethical statement. Among his best-known songs are "Heart of the Appaloosa," "Everything Possible," "Peace Is",...
's album "I Will Stand Fast" contains the song "Denmark 1943."
- The Newbery-Medal
The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association . The award is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The award has been given since 1922. ...
-winning book Number the StarsNumber the Stars is a work of historical fiction about the Holocaust of the Second World War by award-winning author Lois Lowry. Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen is the central character, who lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1943 and was caught up in the events surrounding the rescue of the Danish...
(1989) by Lois LowryLois Lowry is an American author of children's literature. She began her career as a photographer and a freelance journalist during the early 1970s. Her work as a journalist drew the attention of Houghton Mifflin and they encouraged her to write her first children's book, A Summer to Die, which...
is a fictional account of the rescue of a Danish Jewish family.
- Carol Matas
Carol Matas is a Canadian children's writer who lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.She has written many books such asCloning Miranda,The Second Clone,The Dark Clone,After The War,The Freak, Visions, Kris's War and Farand Lisa....
's book Lisa's War is a fictional account of a Jewish girl and her brother's involvement in Denmark's resistance movement.
- Peter S. Beagle
Peter Soyer Beagle is an American fantasist and author of novels, nonfiction, and screenplays. He is also a talented guitarist and folk singer...
mentions the myth of the Danes and the yellow star in his song Ballad of King Christian X.
- Leon Uris
Leon Marcus Uris was an American novelist, known for his historical fiction and the deep research that went into his novels. His two bestselling books were Exodus, published in 1958, and Trinity, in 1976.-Life:...
also refers to the myth in his novel ExodusExodus by American novelist Leon Uris is about the founding of the State of Israel. Published in 1958, it is based on the name of the 1947 immigration ship Exodus....
(1958), as did the film of the same name.
- Elliot Arnold's popular novel A Night of Watching (1967) supplies a fictionalized account of the events surrounding the rescue. Some of the actual German officers who were involved, such as Werner Best
Werner Best was a German jurist, police chief, SS-Obergruppenführer and Nazi leader from Darmstadt, Hesse. Best served as civilian administrator of France and Denmark while Nazi Germany occupied those countries during World War II.-Early World War II:From 1939-40, Best was an SS-Obergruppenführer...
and Adolf EichmannOtto Adolf Eichmann , sometimes referred to as "the architect of the Holocaust", was a Nazi and SS-Obersturmbannführer...
, are integrated into the story.
- The 1998 film Miracle at Midnight tells the story of the Denmark Jewish rescue from the point of view of a doctor and his family, who live in Copenhagen and end up hiding a family of Jews.
- Sandi Toksvig
Sandi Brigitte Toksvig is a Danish-born English comedian, author and presenter on radio and television.-Career:...
's novel "Hitler's Canary" is set in Denmark during the German occupation, and the story centres around a family involved in the underground resistance movement.
Explanations
Different explanations have been advanced to explain the success of efforts to protect the Danish Jewish population in light of less success at similar operations elsewhere in Nazi-occupied Europe:
- The German Reich plenipotentiary of Denmark, Werner Best
Werner Best was a German jurist, police chief, SS-Obergruppenführer and Nazi leader from Darmstadt, Hesse. Best served as civilian administrator of France and Denmark while Nazi Germany occupied those countries during World War II.-Early World War II:From 1939-40, Best was an SS-Obergruppenführer...
, while he was the one who actually instigated the roundup by a telegram he sent to Hitler on October 8, 1943, apparently got cold feet. He was aware of the efforts by Duckwitz to have the roundup cancelled and obviously also knew about the potential escape of the Jews to Sweden, but he essentially looked the other way, as did the Wehrmacht (which was guarding the Danish coast), in order to preserve Germany's relationship with Denmark.
- Logistically, the operation was relatively easy. Denmark's Jewish population was small, both in relative and absolute terms, and most of Denmark's Jews lived in or near Copenhagen, only a short sea voyage from neutral Sweden (typically 5 to 10 km over sea). Although hazardous, the boat ride was relatively short and its covert nature was easier to conceal than a comparable land journey.
- Since the mid-19th century, a particular brand of romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs...
had evolved in Denmark. The traits of this nationalism included emphasis on the importance of "smallness," close-knit communities, and traditions — this nationalism being largely a response to Denmark's failure to assert itself as a great powerA great power is a nation or state that has the ability to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess economic, military, diplomatic, and cultural strength, which may cause other smaller nations to consider the opinions of great powers before taking actions of...
and its losses in the Gunboat WarThe Gunboat War was the naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing small gunboats against the conventional Royal Navy...
and the Second War of SchleswigThe Second Schleswig War was the second military conflict as a result of the Schleswig-Holstein Question. It began on February 1, 1864, when Prussian forces crossed the border into Schleswig.Denmark fought Prussia and Austria...
. Some historians, such as [Leni Yahill, The Rescue of the Danish Jews, 1969], believe that the Danish form of non-aggressive nationalism, influenced by Danish spiritual leader Nikolaj Frederik Severin GrundtvigNikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig , most often referred to as simply N. F. S. Grundtvig, was a Danish teacher, writer, poet, philosopher, historian, pastor, and politician. He was one of the most influential people in Danish history, as his philosophy gave rise to a new form of nationalism in...
, encouraged the Danes to identify with the plight of the Jews, even though small-scale anti-SemitismAntisemitism is prejudice against or hostility towards Jews, often rooted in hatred of their ethnic background, culture, or religion....
had been present in Denmark long before the German invasion.
- Denmark's Jewish population had long been almost completely integrated into Danish society, and some members of the small Jewish community had risen to prominence, e.g. Nobel prize
The Nobel Prize is a Sweden-based international monetary prize. The award was established by the 1895 will and estate of Swedish chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel. It was first awarded in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace in 1901...
laureate Niels BohrNiels Henrik David Bohr was a Danish physicist who made fundamental contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr mentored and collaborated with many of the top physicists of the century at his institute in...
. Consequently, most Danes perceived the Nazis' action against Denmark's Jews as an affront to all Danes, and rallied to the protection of their country's citizens.
- The deportation of Jews in Denmark came one year after the deportations of Jews in Norway. That created an outrage in all of Scandinavia, alerted the Danish Jews, and pushed the Swedish government to declare that it would receive all Jews who managed to escape the Nazis.
External links