Why almost all of Denmark's Jews survived the Holocaust
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- Опубликовано: 16 май 2023
- It was the evening of October 1st, 1943, when German Police and members of the Danish SS descended on Copenhagen with orders to round up and deport Denmark’s Jewish population. It was the night of the Jewish New Year - Rosh HaShanah - and the German Police were expecting to find Jewish families at home celebrating. What they found instead was empty house after empty house. Someone had tipped off the Jewish community...
By the end of the war, over 95% of Denmark's nearly eight thousand Jews would escape Denmark, and avoid becoming victims of the Holocaust. This survival rate is extraordinary, unfortunately, this was not the case across the rest of Nazi-occupied Europe.
To find out why, we need to go back to 1940.
Visit the Holocaust Galleries at IWM London: www.iwm.org.uk/events/the-hol...
View and licence some of the archive film clips used in this video on IWM Film: film.iwmcollections.org.uk/my...
Credits:
USHMM: RG-60.0345; German occupation of Denmark; Accessed at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Bundesarchiv
A large group of Dutch Jews who have just arrived in Theresienstadt are herded into one of the entrances to the camp. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archives # 20255. Copyright of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Ivan Vojtech Fric.
Prewar portrait of a Danish couple, their daughter and her two Jewish friends in prewar Denmark. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archives # 44560. Copyright of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Dr. Dov Kischinovsky
A Jewish refugee from Denmark, who was ferried to Sweden during the Danish rescue operation in October 1943, works at his own barbershop in Sweden. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archives # 59695. Copyright of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Esther Diament Nussbaum
A Jewish mother and her son pose in a park in Copenhagen. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archives # 25279. Copyright of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Herbert Krogman
Five Danish Jews pose outside a home in Copenhagen. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archives # 75024. Copyright of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Hetty Klein
A young Jewish boy rides in a toy car on a sidewalk in Copenhagen. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archives # 25261. Copyright of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Herbert Krogman
Wedding party in Denmark attended by many Jewish religious leaders. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archives # 84541. Copyright of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Leo Goldberger
A Jewish couple from Denmark who was ferried to safety in Sweden poses with the Swedish family who hosted them in the backyard of their home in Landskrona. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archives # 59715. Copyright of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Birthe Trommer
Students and teachers in a school for Danish refugees in Goteborg, Sweden. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archives # 01216. Copyright of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Leo Goldberger
A Jewish family from Denmark who was ferried to safety in Sweden, has Christmas dinner at the home a Swedish family in Landskrona. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archives # 59716. Copyright of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Birthe Trommer
Danish fishermen (foreground) ferry a boatload of fugitives across a narrow sound to neutral Sweden. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archives # 70737. Copyright of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Frihedsmuseet, Copenhagen
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Not only did Denmark rescue almost all of its Jewish citizens, most returned home and resumed their normal lives. Their homes were looked after, their businesses run, their pets fed, their plants watered and their bills paid for in their absence. All this was done by their Christian neighbors, friends and colleagues. All the Danish Anne and Margot Franks were able to come home to a welcoming country. It was truly remarkable
Don't forget that the fishermen who sailed them to Sweden asked for payments - large payments!! (Dane here - it was good deeds, but they did get paid - royally in some cases)
It's a proud Christian moment when you help your fellow brothers and sisters.
@@w1ndgeneral226 No. It's a proud human moment. Don't ruin it with your fairy tale.
@@shongueesha7875
It's proud BECAUSE it's a human moment. *If only CERTAIN so called "christians" understood that.*
@@w1ndgeneral226 OK!
As a dane i can easily say this is the proudest moment in danish history. The danish jews weren't seen as jews firstly but as a fellow dane, neighbour, friend, family and they were helped acordingly.
You are justly proud of your nation! Well done Denmark.👏😊
Absolutely right!
As the descendant of German Jews who escaped the Nazis in the late 1930s, I can say that the Jewish community is eternally grateful to the Danes for their courage and humanity.
I somehow never knew this happened. Perhaps i assumed that the very rapid invasion of Denmark meant extremely little could be done to resist to subvert Nazi plans.
Very interesting. To think that this hinged on just a small handful of people.
@Joe smith compare and contrast with what happened elsewhere in Europe at the time. You are correct that it ought to be normal behaviour, but we should not underestimate how wonderful it is to be fantastically spoiled.
While the Danes fully deserve their recognition, it should not be forgotten that Sweden played a role that was vital: that of offering refuge. Without that, it would have been a different story. A lot of countries that beat their chests about their exploits refused or severely limited the numbers of Jewish refugees.
Thank you for reminding us all about that part. Sweden took a risk too!
But that's Scandinavia for you: When we work together, we can do incredible things 😊
You are right. We English did a lot but we could have done more.
@@philiptownsend4026 We all have our sceletons.
Denmark - one of the world's "pet" counties - has just been told of by the UN. We are still discriminating the Greenlanders 🙄
We've done some horrible things up there, that still hasn't been acknowledge propperly.
Peace and love
Sweden's record isn't quite so unblemished as you suggest. Despite being neutral, they supplied Nazi Germany with essential war materials such as iron ore and ball bearings until 1945, and even allowed German troops to move through the country by train after the invasion of the Soviet Union. By 1943, Sweden was not risking any repercussions from Germany by accepting refugees. Before the war started, Sweden accepted very few Jews fleeing from oppression in Germany.
Including the USA. In fact we turned away shipfulls of desperate Jewish refugees. These people were sent back to Europe, where the only country brave enough to offer them refuge was Belgium. Please give respect to the Belgians also, because they did this despite knowing that when Hitler's armies marched across Europe, Belgium would be but a stepping stone in their path. In fact nearly every Jew sent back died in the camps. Not a proud moment for an American.
My great grandfather was a Danish police officer during the war. He helped Danish Jews escape to Sweden and for this, Gestapo showed up at his workplace to get him, but by that time he himself had already escaped to Sweden. When he returned home after the war, he unexpectedly had another child, my grandfather. Neither my great grandfather or his wife knew she was pregnant when he left for Sweden.
My neighbor in my youth, Mrs Petersen had a Policeman living in her house and he had promised: No weapons! When the war ended he came and dig up hidden weapons in her garden.
@@finncarlbomholtsrensen1188 I mean, the rule was probably no weapons *in the house* so he abided by it, and gave the flowers a healthy does of lead and iron.
Wow that's amazing
Wow, he was lucky to escape. The N@zis used my grandfather's farm in Hoven as target practice!
So that means your Grandfather is half German.
I am Jewish- Thank you to all the Danish people. You will be in our hearts throughout our generations
It was our desire to protect fellow Danes some of which are Jewish and therefore beloved family. In these crazy times we are now experiencing let us brace ourselves, prepare for the worst, and pray to almighty God for the best because He will be our shield.
Lest we forget, "Even the best of the Goim should be killed" Abhodah Zarah (25b)T;
Also please read up on what Bulgaria did to help save their small Jewish population.
What about Bulgari. They refused to give up their 50,000 Jews. The powerful head of the Orthodox Church hid rabbis and said he would lay down in front of the trains to prevent any Jewish people from being deported. It's a wonderful story. And a lot of people don't know about it.
I need to know more
Just Google it. How Bulgaria saved it's Jews. It wasn't only the church but the government and the Banks and the people refused to deport their Jewish population. It's a wonderful story.
That is wonderful
Yitzhak Shamir’s wife’s family survived as a result of Bulgaria’s little known heroism.Shamir was a Prime Minister of Israel after Menachem Begin in the 80s
I mean they did have their property confiscated still.
My grandma escaped with her mom on one of these boats. She used to say "my mom was saved". It meant a lot to her
My Danish Grandparents helped run part of the Underground Railroad close to the coast helping get people to the safety of Sweden. It is always good to hear from the descendants of those who survived.
why did that happen to you guys
for no reason at all?
@@beganitdidnt6535 You don't know about the Holocaust? I'm amazed.
What a great and proud family history you have and maintain.
@@philiptownsend4026 that person is a troll.
Thank you for posting this. As a 60+ year old citizen of the USA, this is my first time hearing about these events.
This is why history needs to be taught in schools - not just to “learn from past mistakes”, but more importantly to be inspired by and learn from past SUCCESS. I think people would feel better, feel less hopeless and depressed, if they saw more positive stories like these. Being kind does make a difference!
As a 18 year old australian it makes me so happy to see a comment like this of yours. looking all the way from "the land down under" i always feel despair when ever i read about education in the usa because it scares me what's going on there becasue i know that most people my age - most young people who i know, actually - dont know/do any research on topic like this. so i guess im happy that you are passionate about learning and passing on messages, good on you ma'am/sir!
A success, this is important to say, based in surrender. If Denmark had fought for its freedom, like Norway did, to give a comparable example, most Jews wouldn't have survived. This is not a criticism, this is merely a statement of fact.
For Nordic peoples it was easier too because Germany considered them from a superior race, like the British and the French, and less Jews lived there, which resulted in less local racism and xenophobia. Slavs like the Poles or the Soviets didn't have such luck, but in Poland the population happily dennounced most Jews, barely 10% of them survived. In the URSS 55% survived because, although anti-semitism was strong there too and Vlasovites and Banderites were happy to dennounce and even kill them with their own hands, most of them had resigned to their religion and were deeply integrated in the Soviet institutions and seen more as fellow communists than as Jews.
I agree fully heartedly! Exactly! Show us our greatness! Not when we failed! Show how much kindnes and care we are capable! It will change this world!!! 💗💗💗
Not only do I agree with the comments by my Neighbour in the US and my Australian Commonwealth brother.
I would add that when you see people doing the right thing in a war situation (about 80 years ago). where it is risking life and/or liberty. Then comparing it to the absolute repugnant policies we see coming out of the US for the last Seven years. You must question, what has happened to our values?
Can we not learn from our past?
Can we not learn from both the bad things, that shame us, as well as the things that make us proud?
So very well said.
The 'never again' tune is lost in a generation or two.
As a non Dane or Swedish or Jewish person I feel great gratitude towards Danish and Swedish people for what they did to save their fellow human beings at the time of absolute catastrophe of human civilization.
Since the begining of the 20 century sterilisation of the sami, the gypsis, jews, finish and homless was already being carried out in Sweeden. The nazis copied eugenics from Sweeden, the USA and England. Actually Germany ended eugenics in 1945, Sweeden keep it till 1970.
Well said. This is such a wonderful story that I fail to understand why I haven't heard of it previously.
I think you need to read about what Sweden done to the nazis. We sold iron ore that prolonged the war 2.5 years.
We wrote J in passpports for jews. there is plenty stuff. we had massive storage location for the nazis. We sold "heavy water" its needed for atomic bombs. Sweden was 100 % allied with the nazis. Im living in west coast of sweden, they was friends with the nazi mariners. because they traded food for stuff with the sailors.
Character is when you do something for others knowing that you will never receive credit or something in return.
@@kumarg3598 No thats kindness
As a Dane, I am both proud and angry when I am reminded of the rescue of the Danish Jews. Proud because we did the right thing. Angry because how dare the f-ing Nazis come here and take our fellow citizens.
I had a colleague many years ago who had to flee to Sweden and returned home after the war. When they got home and found that all their silverware was gone, until the neighbors knocked on the door and gave them their silverware that they had been looking after for years.
They declared war on Germany
@@pistolpete667 No, they didn't.
Denmark was neutral and even signed a non agression pact in 1939.
@@Orcawhale1 not talking about Denmark
a.gree. Liar.
@@josephturner7569 No you are a Liar.
My moms father was sent to a concentration camp after he was arrested in Copenhagen. He was sent to a camp in Munich called Dachau. He was 17 or 18 at the time and survived the whole thing. He passed away in 2002 at 76.
My uncles brother had a similar story. His name was Jørgen Sandberg. What was your relative's name? Perhaps we're related?
I’m glad he survived and was able to live to a relatively old age despite it all. I can’t possibly imagine going through all of that during such important years in your life.
I’m very young (early 20s) and haven’t had the chance to talk much to survivors, but the baker in my village was sent to a camp. He never talked about it from what my grandma says. But she did see him cry one time when it was brought up. He wrote in a small book about his experiences, my grandma has it now as his daughter (her childhood friend) didn’t think she could handle reading all the trauma her father went through.
He struggled a lot with returning to normal life of course. I don’t think anyone would find that easy.
It’s truly one of the most horrific things humans have done to fellow humans.
Rest in peace to them, I’m sorry. It’s nice he was able to survive though
God Bless you and your Grandfather’s memory…
I´m proud to say that my paternal grandfather was part of the danish resistance. We still have his resistance arm band and nazi issued fishing permit that made it possible for him to sail jews to Sweden.
Where did he sail from? And to?
@@ulrikschackmeyer848 He sailed from Copenhagen. Don´t know which port in Sweden.
My great grandpa helped a little. He was a builder in Copenhagen and part of his job was to unload shipments of timber coming in from Sweden. He would share when these freight ships were coming in so that transport for escaping jews could be organised on those ships
I would say that was helping a lot more than a little! Sharing intelligence by resistance movements is EVERYTHING.
Your great grandpa did great. God bless his memory and descendants..
Thank you. To your grandpa
Many Danes, despite having been given the status of "Aryan" or a part of the "Nordic master race", did not buy into Germany's Nazi ideology. They looked down on Germans for misappropriating Nordic culture.
During the 1943 Danish election while the country was still occupied by the Nazis, the pro-Nazi parties barely got any votes and had 0 seats, and the Social Democrats remained the largest party. Danes voted in defiance despite constant threats and intimidation.
In terms of molecular biology, it is the high caste people of India and the Persians of Iran who are the purest Aryans in terms of blood
@Glenn the whole notion of race is absolute bunkum.
@@Angmar462 Well, not according to the nazis?
To be fair, how was it 'misappropriating' 'Nordic Culture'?
If this was repeated today, this wont happen. Danes would happily elect a far right nazi party to jump on the wagon of master arya race
As a Jewish that hear that for the first time. I'm amazed by Danish acts, and I'm so grateful. Thank you for saving my brothers and sisters, thank you for treating them as equal, thank you for doing such humanity grace, Thank you!!!
Øøøø - they were equal. They were not treated as equal.
@@mochtegerndane7097 No one likes a nitpicker. You know what was meant.
This is soooo sad people went through this. Smh let's pray it never happens again.
I have visited Denmark a number of times and I learned of this when I visited the Danish Resistance Museum in Copenhagen. I do not think the Danish people have received enough recognition of this truly remarkable achievement. The Swedes must also be recognised for the role they played that made this exodus achievable.
At Yad Vashem in Jerusalem a Danish fishing boat from the evacuation is displayed outside, and Denmark is recognized as Righteous among Nations because of the evacuation.
Sites like this ones are important cause we will never hear this from the local news.
Recognition is not necessary, however do study and learn from that experience. Then let us prepare ourselves and see to it that it never again happens.
My sister married a Dane and now lives there with their kids. It is one of the best places I have ever visited, the people are amazing and it’s beautiful. This video makes my heart smile.
5% of an entire population dying is still horrific. Just goes to show how unimaginable the Holocaust was that this is considered a miracle
The number is not correct.
The Germans did manage to capture and deport 472 Danish Jews to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, where 53 died. Fifty more died after the escape to Sweden.
In total, approximately 120 Danish Jews died during the Holocaust.
What is not correct? It is even better , 98+ % survived! Remember that the 500 that were sent to Theresienstadt returned.
@@ulrikschackmeyer848 Neither 95% nor 5%.
@@hansemannluchter643 Someone missed rounding day in math. 100% - any number
Compared to the record in other countries it was astounding. Italy had 500k Jews before WWII, by the end it was less than 50k for example
When I was in grade 7, my class read a story called "Number the Stars". It was about a Jewish family living in Denmark and their escape from the Nazi's. I remember the story till today and I still feel so much gratitude toward the Danish government for standing up for my people. God never forgets the good deeds of man and when the time comes, He will repay them generously.
My class read the same book
Two of my grandparents were Holocaust survivors. They were both fron Denmark. One went to Sweden and came home after the war and the other took their family to the US. Ihave a deep love and respect for the Danish. I am here becauae of them.
My Grandfather a Danish Jew, was one of Denmarks greatest Jazz violinist. Almost as soon as the Germans invaded they let it be known that no Jew could preform in concerts, he had a radio show that was immediately cancelled due to the new German regulations. He died in an accident in Aarhus at the age of 29. His name was Eli Donde.
Jeg tror faktisk ikke, de forbød jøder at optræde så hurtigt. Jeg ved, at Raquel Rastenni sang på en klub i København under Frikorps Danmarks orlov....og at soldater og københavnere kom op at slås over hende...Orloven var, så vidt jeg kan se, i oktober 1942..
The Goyim know you filthy rabbi
I am sorry for your grandfather, for your family's suffering, and sorry for all of us who lost his great talent
Thank you for sharing this story, I know the French jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli and the amazing guitarist Django Rheinhardt faced similar persecution for playing jazz as it was regarded as degenerate. I'm sorry he passed away at a relatively young age.
😪🙏
Which goes to show that when a people decide to protect their own, evil can be overcome.
Yes. But even more than this . . . human life is a series of tests, trials, and tribulations, all of which are arranged and presented to each one of us specifically by God Almighty the Creator, Giver of Life, to give us the opportunity to accrue spiritual reward and completion if we fulfill His Will. There _is_ a World-to-Come.
That’s what the Germans thought they were doing against communism and American economic imperialism.
Great excuse for Zionism ?
Why only your own? Why not just protect your fellow man
@@AWormsPurpose If only, too many self-interested groups and individuals for that to be the norm. Utopias don't exist.
My danish grandfather was captured after a failed sabotage. He was used as forced labour, being send in Hamburg (among other places) to help with the cleanup after the 1943 fire bombing. He had nightmares his entire life about the burned bodies he had to remove.
I'm sorry for your grandfather. I'm alive because of people like him, or maybe even becouse of him! My grand-grandparents were danish and were saved by them, while my grand-grandmother was pregnant with my grandmother.
Sorry to hear about that still your grandfather did the right thing and he is a super hero. Imagine all the people who are alive today cause your grandfather helped. God bless his soul.
That is what real PTSD is. Not the "I was misgendered today, so ptsd!"..
I was attacked and attempted murdered by 3 men but was saved, One of them got me in a choke hold and got ontop of me. I still suffer from night terrors, depression and anxiety from it. But I still show up for work unless it gets so bad that I literally can't exit my door...
What he was doing as a special forces saboteur was precisely the right thing to do, and was actually under consideration as a means to stop the war without bombing German civilians. I grew tired of the closed provincial minded biased views slanted against Germany's people, so I decided to read as much could be available from the point of view of German people who survived the air raids and found their recollections to be more accurate to my knowledge than the tiresome frenzied and overgeneralized hate views from mostly Americans that all of Germany's population unanimously supported Hitler. I could say the same for Americans by saying it was unanimous that all Americans put Saddam Hussein in the CIA in 1959 and all Americans unanimously believed his lies and put him into power. A surviving 93 year old veteran English saboteur Victor Gregg was also caught attaching explosives to equipment yards just outside of Dresden doing what would have been a far superior alternative than what happened on that night of February 13. He does have interviews on you tube, some of which were news room interviews, and I have his 56 page book. He claims to have never met Kurt Vonnegut who were also held captive in the city center, but he recalled how absolutely horrific it was. The bombs that were dropped weighed 8,000 lbs. with thousands of fire stick incendiaries falling everywhere around him before that on the first raid. I already knew that Goring's air force that bombed England did very minimal damage in comparison because Ford Motors who powered their engines could never carry a bomb heavier than 500 lbs. and Arthur "Bomber" Harris said that he has every intention of doing multiple times worse that amount to Germany. He took cover and watched in horror as his own men from the company were screaming as they were melting into puddles of jelly from the phosphorous during the very first incendiary raid. He went out to look around and saw nothing but flames, destruction, innocent people screaming, then picked up a shovel to dig for any survivors only to find this was barely the beginning after the first 10 pm raid. Three hours later at 1 am came the second wave dropping 8,000 lbs. making any survival possible a major challenge. In short, he was so put off with how the RAF handled the war by attempting to win by sadistic methods of massive generalized civilian extermination, that after the war he left his family and never returned to his island conqueror nation to live in Africa working for peace. I have issue with nobody mentioning destruction of historical artifacts along with taking notice that both England and the US had very little to no historic knowledge of German culture other than Adolf Hitler, who were and still remain by far more classical and artistically based than the obvious shoot 'em up, rodeo cowboy, guns 'n' ammo, wild west Indian fighter, car demolition derby culture as exemplified on the 6th of January, 2021 for all the world to see. Bomber command in England came very close to deciding to train and deploy saboteur units undercover to work directly with attaching explosives to factories, oil refineries to minimize all out total destruction, but no they thought air bombing would end the war more quickly...well, I don't think it did, otherwise it would have not continued long after Arthur "Bomber" Harris promised the English public that if Hamburg gets destroyed, the war will inevitably end in five months. History clearly shows that Hitler's suicide along with Goebbels was their reaction to defeat of the infantry from all sides and why would an Austrian care at all about Germany's completely destroyed architecture and/or civilians who were forced to follow his word or get reported by his brown shirts? Since I have noticed the entire post war media was not only mostly Jewish controlled, but completely biased against any point of view about the war from those who survived the air raids in Germany, so that is why I took it upon myself to do so by reading their recollections. I have also read allied bomber mission itineraries and was surprised to find there were no air raids mentioned on any of Goring's air fields...other than one in Sicily from the USAF who were based in Africa. America just came out of an economic depression and many citizens were desperate for work...which came in the form of building bomber planes, making bombs, guns, etc. so clearly if America's economy was recovering like it never did before, then why stop the war so quickly and allow Goring's airfields to continue sending planes to continue minimal bombing damage (in comparison) to England? Of course we all know that surviving US service men arrived home to an economically recovered land of opportunity. I addition, people who never read the bomber mission/itinerary as aforementioned, and who tell me I am wrong and respond with answers having no relevance at all about my specifically detailed written messages...all live completely cluttered lifestyles, cluttered with marriages, kids, going out with friends without devoting any consideration to being open to hearing any views from those lousy Germans who started the war. I will bet these very same people view Japan as a holier than thou progressive spiritual minded country and would prefer to view the USAF as committing a crime against humanity for having bombed them when since the mid 1930's Japan's military went on a beheading campaign to many Asian countries before attacking China. So why is it that Americans will discern Japan's military from their civilians, as well as discerning themselves from the US military, and what our government decides to do in regards to attacking and/or starting wars against poverty ridden "third world" countries who could never afford an air force to fight back by bombing America...but not Germany? Every nation in the world already views America's people as crude, vulgar and provincial minded, so I rest my case here.
The Finnish Jews survived, too, except for those who were killed in action fighting against the USSR. They even had a synagogue at the front for the Jewish soldiers and officers serving nearby.
Finland wasn't occupied by the Nazis though.
@@BobahatFinland was in an alliance with the Nazis. That’s why it lost territory to the Soviets!
@@michaelreid8857 Finland losing territories to the Soviets is why Finland went toward Germany. Not the other way around.
@@jokemon9547 what I posted was correct!
Finland lost around 10% of its territory to the Soviet Union in the Moscow Armistice in September 1944. It had to relocate 400,000 inhabitants, or 11% of its population, from lost territories and pay war indemnities worth $300 million, equalling some 4.9 billion euros ($5.3 billion) in current exchange rates
If you recall, WWII started in 1938 and ended in 1945!
@@michaelreid8857 WWII started in 1939 not 1938.
Dont forget the Swedish people helped :) As a Dane im proud of the work my grandparents generation did.
A little known fact, before the war, in 1938 Sweden (and Switzerland) asked the German authorities to put a J in the passports of Jews, so they could easily be identified and refused entry. It was only AFTER Stalingrad that the policies changed, when the winds of war had changed direction, and then Jews were granted entry in Sweden.
@@TheMjausing Exactly, the Swedes where the NAZI snakes of the nordics! Sweden was "neutral", but the Kings main advisor was a Nazi German.
Let's not blindly forget how NASTY the Swedish where during the second world War, Sweden was the SNAKES of the Nordics with huge consequences for us all...
It was definitely a Swiss idea. Switzerland only allowed a few Jews into their country!
You Danes may talk while drunk and chewing sausages, but you're still our brothers and sisters, and we all help each other when necessary. Cheers! ;)
Thanks to the Danish people for saving so many of their Jewish citizens! It's shows how even a small, but determined nation can stand up to tyranny...
there were only 4m people in Denmark, not ready for the war, so they had to play a different game... "surrender", and playing possum, to make sure the people, and buildings were saved, and fighting back later, was the right move, while having an insider, gave the Jews a head start, and the people, making sure every one could go, even if they didnt have the money, was a very big help...
They surrendered in 6 hours bro.
@@DirkusTurkess That's not the point, the military might have surrendered, but the PEOPLE hadn't! That's who stood up to tyranny...
that is literally the entire brand behind vietnam
It is impressive, but let's also put this into context. Denmark only had 8000 Jews to begin with. Many other countries had hundreds of thousands to over a million.
You can effectively organize an evacuation of 7600 people in a short amount of time. But moving hundreds of thousands to a different country is another story altogether. Most countries couldn't have done this even if they wanted to.
As a jewish living in Israel,its make my heart warm that even in those darkest times there were still good people.
Love Denmark❤
🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱
An old guy in my Danish home town told me how during the Nazi occupation of Denmark they had two Chimpanzees in his local zoo. Aged 9 he one day overheard two German soldiers laughingly refer to those two monkeys as Hitler and Mussolini. Just like the local population did. My country, Denmark, where people bow to no one
🤓 Um actually chimpanzees are great apes not monkeys
@@jamiehughes5573 Really, as far as this story is concerned does it matter at all?
I regret to say it but agree with those soldiers. They were 100% right.
From 1979 until 1981, I studied for a Masters' degree in Library Science at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. One of my professors was a native of Denmark, the late Dr. Hans Moeller. During World War II, Dr. Moeller was with the Danish Resistance, and was a key organizer of the Danish Jews' flight to safety in Sweden. He was a true hero in more ways than one!
I read a book about this written from a child’s perspective of hiding a Jewish family friend’s daughter. That book and For Freedom, about Suzanne Hall , a French resistance spy, were what inspired my interest in learning about this part of history at a young age. Learning not only about the atrocities committed by the nazis, but mostly the names of the people that were actively resisting in occupied territories.
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, I remember reading it too.
Number the Stars was a great book
Jews is not a separate community in Denmark they are danes. I'm so glad everyone worked together
I read somewhere that in occupied Copenhagen, a bookseller opened up a window display with large photographs of Mussolini and his German counterpart in the window, in-between, a single book, Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.
I've heard that story too, here in Copenhagen, true...?
Well done Denmark!
Denmark should've been bombarded for that
@@mrsmith-sh2px it was because of the quick surrender
@@mrsmith-sh2px 🤡
@@DefenderOfChrist_ ... Yes, Denmark quickly surrendered ... and then being the "master race" in the eyes of Adolf, were able to tell the German occupiers what could be done, and what could not be done, to keep the peace.
And Sweden.
In the entrance hall to my rowing club, we have a plaque with names of people that resisted and died during WW2.
When the Germans left Copenhagen in 1945, they shelled our building as payback for some of our members' actions.
During the evacuation a Jewish member rowed himself and four passengers to Sweden. A trip that took five hours with slow speed as the boat was understandably heavy. He was truly remarkable!
Yeah danes & germans have never been real friends right? Germans IMO are dour & cold people
Fun fact: Some rowers sailed to a small island, with no Germans present. (Only Danes). There they recieved arms instruction from a 17-old girl. My grandma. If you look at pictures from the period, she looks positive innocent. Noone would believe, that she was a communist resistance fighter.
My family is Danish 🇩🇰 the family farm was taken over by a bunch of nazis. It is a story of pride in our family how the soldiers tried to steal her chickens and she went after them with a broom. The head guy told them to leave the chickens alone. My parents had moved to the states before I was born in 1952, but when I was a child several Danish people would come to our house for dinners parties etc. and always with gifts. I thought it was normal as they knew a lot of Danes. As I grew old enough to know, they explained that these were Jewish friends that had also immigrated over the years since the war. I remember each one as smiling, caring individuals that were truly happy to speak to a small child. My mother had a cherished pair of gifted menorah on display always and I cherish them now in my home in remembrance of them. One LOVE ❤
Incredible, hats off the tippers, and the danish resistance who put their own lives in danger for others.
Well there is some speculation that Best told Duckwich on purpose as he knew that Duckwich was in contact with Danish officials/resistance.
Form Werner Best's perspective the escape of the Jews to Sweden would also solve the issue and avoid angering the general Danish population which cooperation was still needed for food production.
Remember that Denmark supplied a large percentage of the food used by the Wehrmacht (not something I'm proud of as a Dane).
It has never been proven though Best used it as a defence in his trial after the war (and he also resisted implementing 'Scorched earth' in Denmark in april 1945).
Yes, the Danish resistance played a major role..
@@srenkoch6127get your facts straight.. Denmark delivered max 10% of Germanys food supplies.
@@srenkoch6127 .. Truth is that the German SS general and Reich commander of Denmark, Werner Best (who earlier had been treating the Jews the most horrible way in France) and his right-hand man, the German naval attaché and diplomat Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz (who himself had sheltered three Jewish women in his apartment in Germany) took matters in their own hands.
Werner Best no doubt did it for selfish reasons, to make his job easier by keeping the peace with the Danish "master race", and keeping his own hands "clean" by leaving it to Duckwitz to be the "traitor", who I'm sure he knew was hiding Jews and would tell the Danish government and the resistance.
@@OmmerSyssel 10% of a whole country is a lot.
I’m Swedish, my grandparents were still kids during the war. While I can’t say what was going through everyone’s heads back then and their actual reasoning this is one thing I’m glad they did. Them all staying on Germany’s good side may have seen like betrayal to the rest but in reality I believe it was to protect everyone here. If Germany attacked then Sweden, who back then was weak, would definitely have fallen and everyone would be in even more danger.
This video really shows Denmark and Sweden’s relationship, even if we fight a lot and disagree on a bunch of things we can put that aside when it truly matters.
Lots of love to my southern neighbors!
It's like we (Nordic countries) can be at each others throat, but if outsiders (non Nordic countries), goes after one of us, we are best buddies.
It’s the same here between Brazil and Argentina. And The greatest war is in a football field.
With that attitude Germans would now rule the world
It is amazing to me as a sixty one year old Brit that this is not widely known. But I certainly did not learn it at school. But I have known this all my conscious life, because I am half Norwegian, and my late grandmother was a marvellous "teacher" so I learned a lot of things that were from a great lady who lived through the era. I suspect my grandmother rather enjoyed not just enjoying the company of my brother and I, but also making sure that we understood a non-British perspective on Scandinavian history. For example as a Brit, I was not aware that Scott got the the South Pole after Amundsen. I was eleven the first time I was taken to the Polar exploration ship, Fram, which Nansen, Sverdrupp and Amundsen used for their Polar exploration. Yet in Britain it was possible to be taught of the tragedy of Scott's South Polar journey with no mention of his getting there second, or the phenomenal success of Amundsen's journey. I mentioned this in a history lesson on Scott, so the whole class would soon be taught the full history, rather than a glossed version. I was not thanked for my effort!
Therefore I am extremely grateful for this short film.
History is not true if it is partial.
Best wishes from George [in Herefordshire].
I'm 66. I learned bugger all at school. I consider my teachers to have been time wasters. But I read a lot. I also watched a lot of films and this event was made into one.
I know films aren't exactly accurate but they inspired me to research information. If I couldn't find what I was looking for in the library, I went to W H Smiths. I couldn't afford the books so I just stood and read them. 😎.
Most British people also get very surpriced when they learn that the first ever terror attack on a civilian population was performed by Horatio Nelson. He fire bombed Copenhagen for three days during the Napoleaonic wars, that we were not even part of!
It's a good thing they put him on that tall collum, or I would have punched him 🤨
Well, George, you're in for a rough one. Ready? Most Norwegian jews were deported during WW2 occupation because the government of Quisling was nazi. Those few jews that survived the holocaust returned home to find their homes and businesses taken over by strangers. Incredibly, they were never compensated for these losses. Part of the clue you may find in the Norwegian Constitution form 1814, which explicitly mentions Jews and Roma as peoples not welcome inside Norway...
I am very old Ozzie, and we were all taught that Amundsen beat Scott. It was part of Scott's tragedy.
Almost taught this was a British 'thing' To make great attempts that fail and often to die in a blaze of failed tragic, honourable attempt at glory.
We were taught all the different things that Amundsen did right and Scott did differently.
About 20? years ago, I learned the rest of Amundsen's story. He came home the victor and was in his bath, when his wife came rushing into the bathroom.
"Scott is dead! He died in the attempt, on the return!"
Amundsen cried, "He has won!"
He knew that Scott's tragic failure would be THE story, not the winning of the attempts - and certainly, Scott's mistakes, suffering, Captain Oates self sacrifice are now legendary. Amundsen, doing everything with best knowledge and advice, has no stories told.
@@josephturner7569 You are like me. Growing up in Enfield N. London in the 50s and 60s the local Carnegie Library was my second home. At first as a child I was not allowed into the reference library but I itched to get in there and was so happy when eventually that door opened for me.
I remember that Boots the Chemist also operated a small library in their basement for a time but they hired out their books, not free so not a success. Thinking back that was slightly bizarre.
My parents used to call me their "bookworm" and encouraged me greatly in my interests in science, engineering, and technology. I'm still the same 😊
A lot of the things the Danish did during Word War 2 are often undermined by the fact we surrendered in only 6-7 hours. But in reality, we couldn't have done much even if we decided not to, and decided instead to keep fighting.
The size of the German force sent into Denmark was close to three times as big as the entire Danish Army alone. On top of that, our army was pretty unprepared for any kind of attack. The Danish Army got their request to set up defensive lines near the border and up the Jylland peninsula denied because the government feared the Germans could spin the move as an act of aggression and have justification to invade us. This request was denied the day just before the invasion started. When the Germans did invade, it was pretty obvious from the start we had no chance of winning. The King gave the order to surrender because of German bombers flying over Copenhagen, and due to the German soldiers fighting the King's Lifeguard just outside Amalienborg Castle. If we knew we were gonna lose, why continue to fight and risk the destruction of the capital city along with the deaths of hundreds or thousands of civilians? (Plus surrendering meant we weren't as occupied as we were just under "protection" by Germany. It gave us the possibility to remain democratic and keep our people and government free)
We love talking about our resistance movements and all the good things we did, but not so much our government during the occupation. It's a kind of grey area. We entered into a "cooperation policy" with Germany after we surrendered. It's kind of hard to explain, but it's a little like appeasement. Basically, as long as we cooperated with Germany, Denmark would remain sovereign. This meant going along with laws that we didn't really want but had to accept if we wanted to remain free. The government stepped down though in 1943 after the Germans demanded the death penalty for anyone arrested for resistance. It's kind of the dark part of the otherwise proud tale of how we fought against the Germans.
The people though were very against the German occupiers and how the government handled the cooperation policy. The resistance members and ordinary civilians definitely did a lot better, and a lot more positive things, than our government did. Our King also played a pretty big part in the resistance. He pretty much united the Danish people against a common enemy and became a symbol for Danish attitude towards Germany, and he did a lot of stuff that could count as passive resistance. I could probably write a novel about everything he did to piss of Germany. (Still one of the best Danish kings)
The Danish people and or government probably didn’t do a lot compared to other countries, but compared to other countries, we did pretty much all we could. We evacuated our entire Jewish population. Granted, it was barely 10.000, but some governments simply handed all their Jewish citizens over to the Nazis. We did what we could to resist, and the same can’t be said about other occupied countries.
When faced with a situation like this black and white become gray. It is very easy to imagine everyone being noble and doing the right thing. Most ppl during occupation try to survive, neither resisting or helping..The French have this myth about La Resistance, everyone claimed they were a member, yet the reality is a tiny number were ,maybe 10,000 ( and a smaller number actually did anything due to infighting).
We all imagine ourselves heroes separated by time and distance, bc is it easy to. I save my criticism for where ppl actively assisted the evil, or had the power to&,did not, like the Vatican ( or worse, helped)
@@njlaurenI don't know where you get your numbers from. 10,000 resistance members ? LOL !
They were at least 260,000 and probably more as many were deported, executed or dead during action. Remind me : Which American official said that without the French resistance, the D-day landings would never have succeeded ?
@@phlm9038
There was a real French resistance but I stand by my numbers. Historians like James Holland, and in books I have read about the SOE in France who helped organize the resistance,all come to the same conclusion. A lot of ppl claimed to be resistance who weren't, the resistance fighters who risked their lives had various names for them. Heck, soldiers would tell you every French person they met claimed to be in the resistance. The other issue was that some resistance units, while they existed, were so disorganized &,busy fighting with each other that they were useless. De Gaulle,aware that France had a huge black eye both for how they feel&the Vichy regime acquiescence to the Nazis, promoted this idea of a huge resistance.
There was a real resistance and they did real damage to the Germans, there is no doubt. In reality, they were effective bc uncle the poseurs, they were trained&organized, and small teams were ideal for sabotage&spying& the like.
Btw having 260,000 resistance fighters would never work. Why? With a large group like that communications and control would be impossible, plus likely it would be stiff with informants. As it was,with small teams, and small.overall structure they were infiltrated&ppl betrayed.
One of the keys to resistance operations was coordinating with the overall war plans. 260, 000 ppl would be unmanageable and would have more often then not blown apart plans..as it was the SOE and OSS had a hard time keeping the various resistance groups from going rogue or worse fighting each other.
@@njlauren I think you are dealing with misconceptions. After ww2, the French state entitled the resistance veterans with a state pension. Not everybody got the state pension, only proven resistance veterans did. The French state delivered the state pension to 260,000 people. About 100,000 resistance members died during deportation, execution or in action, and never got a state pension, of course.
"as it was the SOE and OSS had a hard time keeping the various resistance groups from going rogue or worse fighting each other" :
It's true that the different resistance groups were not unitied at the beginning. It's also true that there had been some settling of scores when a resistance fighter was suspected of treason, but where do you get from that the different resistance groups were fighting each other ? That's something I regularly read in comments and when I ask "where do you get this information from because I have never heard of it", I never get a reply.
I have a very interesting book home written by Keith Lowe, which title is "Savage continent - Europe in the afterrmath of world war II". Here are two excerpts of his book related to the different resistance groups in Europe :
1- In France the Resistance had liberated at least fifteen "départements" on their own, and were in control of most of the south and west of the country even before the Allies had reached Paris.
2- (About the EAM, a resistance group in Greece) Unlike in France and Italy, where, generally speaking, the different resistance groups cooperated with each other to oust the Germans, EAM/ELAS spent much of their time fighting other resistance groups rather than the occupier.
A very good book by the way.
It must be easy to think this way. However how many German soldiers were killed by the Danish army? A dozen? In all 5 million would have to die before the war ended.
Per person, the USSR killed 0.023 German soldiers.
Per person, Denmark killed around 0.000005.
So if the USSR had done the same level of damage as Denmark, they would have taken out a grand total of 850 Germans.
Some nations had to suffer a lot more than others to defeat the menace.
I was not aware of this previously, thank you so much for sharing this piece of history and survival IWM! 👏
I learned about this as an adult by reading Number the Stars, a children’s book (grades 4-8) written by Lois Lowry and published in 1989. The author had a friend who grew up in Denmark during WWII.
Oh wow I was wondering if someone was going to mention that book!
I have it, it's a good book!
I was going to mention that book - we read it in school.
Same
Yes! One of my favorite books of all time (originally read in elementary school)! I’m so thankful I saw this video, explaining more of the true story of bravery: both countries and loving neighbors.
Read Number the stars and the Devils Arithmetic in elementary school, had a huge impact on me, I never forgot those books. I found them in my classroom library. Wish the teachers had made kids read these books along with Anne Frank's diary so no one is ignorant to what the holocaust was. I still remember talking to my office manager when I mentioned the holocaust she had no idea what it was and she was in her 30s 🤦🏻♀️
For 10 years ago I moved forever from the Netherlands to Denmark. I am very proud on this Denmark and I will stay here forever. This Danish people do have brains and are loyal to other people.
Sometimes a thumbs up is not enough. This is a very emotional documentary and I would give it 10/10. Thank you.
Every time I hear of the fate of those poor people, I cry. How can people be so cruel to their fellow man just because they have different beliefs? I know a lot of wars are fought over religion, but nothing on such an industrial level as the way the German Nazis treated the Jewish people. I have no more words, just sorrow.
The simple awnser is that it's all lies, by the real villains who murdered over 60million soviet citizens.
Football teams, pets, brothels, swimming pools etc. Yes treated so bad they were, most persecuted people of all time genrik yagoda cough cough
@@Adolphin1 what's wrong with you? Are you proud to be an anti-Semite in 2023?
@Play Google Are you trying to justify the murder of 6 million Jews because "There were many other reasons"? Go ahead tell me the reasons that justify mass murder of 6 million men, women and children??????
Religion is just a convenient excuse for cruelty, violence and war. It always has been.
I agree, however. Humans are capable of extreme cruelty, and the uncomfortable truth is that the Germans were regular people, they were not evil cartoon villains. That is why it's so important to act on your good intentions, and not remain passive. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. We have to remember to stand up for what is right, like the Danes here.
I honestly think this was one of, if not THE proudest moments in Danish history. If there ever is a reason for a nation to be proud, it must be when their people come together to save each other. It's worth noting that while there had been plenty of anti-semitism in Denmark, in particular in the 19th century and during the 1930s, which, if anything, makes this even more amazing.
Schalburg was born in Russia, but only seven Danes died in the battle of Ilomantsi. Two attacking Red Army divisions were decimated in this last major engagement on the Finnish front.
@@jussim.konttinen4981 Yeah - but I'm sorry, saving lives is always more heroic than taking them...
I'm so glad to hear that the Danish folks did not see their Jewish neighbors as 'others'. This makes me want to visit Denmark. But what happened to the Jewish folks because of hatred, hurts my heart : (
If you go to Copenhagen, we have a museum that tells the 400 year long history of the Danish Jewish community. They were first invited to come and live and work here by royal invitation in the 1600s and the ties the royal family has with the Jews remain close to this day. The royals even helped fund the evacuation and the Danish Queen (who btw. was born a week after the occupation of Denmark began) was invited to and participated in a special service in the Copenhagen synagogue last year, to commemorate the 400th anniversary.
One Of The Proudest Moments In Danish History For Sure
The municipality of Copenhagen took over the cost of paying for "abandoned" jewish apartments during the time they were gone. So some of the jews returned home to the place they had left so hastily. Not all were so lucky, but the fact that a lot were is rather remarkable for what happened during WW2.
Yes, this is remarkable. Please support Remembrance, Armenian Holocaust, 110 Years. The overlap between these two needs to be shown at the he federally funded US Holocaust Museum in DC. Ask the museum to do this.
In some Netherland cities, camp survivors were required to pay city tax for the years they were "absent".
Fred Small's "Denmark 1943" is a great musical piece that tells this tale.
While of course i want to give a shout out to my fellow Danes and neighboring Swedes, but also to Mister Duckwitz. If not for his decision to warn people, who knows how many would have been arrested
An outstanding and nuanced feature of the story. Well done.
Excellent video - greetings from Copenhagen, Denmark 🇩🇰
Never knew this, am awed that this was never discussed or shown. Congrats to the Danish people 💖
the Danes expressly taking action to protect their fellow citizens,
and the Swedes openly declaring they would accept any who could manage to cross the Oresund,
when in the previous decade, so many of the democracies had denied jews entry....
And today Sweden is ashamed of being neutral, but if they did decide to suicidally attack Germany both their Jews and Denmark’s would have been killed
Only two European nations chose the allied side, the rest either joined the Nazis, or chose neutrality, and all other European allied nations had their side chosen for them by the Germans
Yes the Swedes did right while others didn't or limited their help, my England for example.
@@philiptownsend4026We did in this case, and in the case of Norway. But earlier on, Sweden was not particularly keen on taking in Jewish refugees.
my grandmother's father helped norwedian jews over the borders into sweden
What kind of people willingly commit murder on such a scale. Even little children, girls & babies were not spared. Evil on a massive scale.
Perhaps the saddest/scariest part of it is that most of the people involved in it were "normal" beforehand. Policemen, bakers, bank clerks etc. And most were never punished and went back to living "normal" lives afterwards.
People just like this probably exist in all societies. It's why we can never be complacent - because if we make the same mistakes it could happen again.
then you havent heard about ww1 where politicians did it daylie
Germans
Indeed that is so. The German people were in difficult economic times and the nazis took the opportunity to whip them into a frenzy of nationalistic rebellion and provided easy scapegoats - those they perceived as "different"
Approx. 15 years of heavy propaganda and societal inductrination will do that to most people. Sad story but there you have it. Says something about why it is worth holding on to democracy.
Love your work 👍
I'm fairly familiar with the story of the Jewish Danes and I have visited Terezin before, but I somehow either missed or forgot the link between the two. Thank you for telling this story.
I was always of the understanding that the disappearance of the Jews was organized by the resistance rather than the more organic process described here, with the resistance only getting involved at a later stage. Which makes it an even more astounding event.
Thanks for this video
Thankyou for sharing
Excellent, IWM. God bless you in all your efforts. And may God bless you, Denmark.
Denmark just went waaaaaaaayyyyy up in my book. Thank you to all the people who assisted in any way to help save their fellow humans.
I live in Germany. Very many Germans right after the war believed that they have "suffered enough". Most Nazi criminals were never even prosecuted.
Furthermore so many companies, museums and privat people profited from theft of the Jews ("Arisierung") and slave labor. This is a topic nobody really wanted to touch till this day as people know what they would have to return to the Jews. But they were upset that Jewish survivors got (small) pensions from Germany for decades. Well many survivors were not able to work and were physically and psychologically injured after the war.
But what Germany is really good at is lighting candles and lamenting how bad the Nazis were
We have a lot of respect for the way Germany "straigthen up" and became "herself" again after them terror years. One can only hope the UK and the US would follow, and face up to their past.
We all need (true) knowledge of the past to understand our present society. More importantly. we need to understand our present in order to make plans for a better future.
Ps Oh, the Danes aren't the angles this video describes: We've just be told off by UN for discriminating Greelanders 🙄
Shameful Germans...
Germany hasn't changed much. I've had recent experience with blatant and unapologetic German antisemitism.
@@ssansu Germans don't learn. They have forgotten the bombs that landed on their cities 70 years ago because of their unjustified hateful behaviors kkkkkkkkkk
@@ssansu you are a Jewish person?
Thank you for sharing this information. Education is important. Thankful for the people of Denmark.
Denmark is one of the only European Nations who demonstrated true courage in the face of the Nazi horror.
Imagine being able to move to the coast & then go & talk to fishermen to organise a ride, without dying because someone reported you! Nope, the Denmark experience really wasn't like other European countries was it! That's actually the bit that blows my mind, not the tip off, but the total support from their fellow countrymen & government throughout the entire process! Impressive Denmark! VERY impressive! Well done!
There's actually a few other countries on that map with high percentage survival rates too, I'd be interested in hearing their stories as to why their rates were so high too
Amazing that not only was this possible due to the circumstances, but that people took the opportunity and they did so together and achieved something great!
This is a part of history we seldom hear of. Great video.
This was important to hear. Please support Remembrance, Armenian Holocaust, 110 Years at the federally funded US Holocaust Museum in DC by requesting this. Yes, the two overlap and we rarely hear about this Holocaust.
Bulgaria saved 100% of its Jews in ww2 :)) Good to see that something similar happened elsewhere as well
Didn't the German's make them hand them over.
my great grandfarther and his brother was in the danish resistance and the his brother got send to a concentration camp in germany somehow survived but got tortured because of his involvement in the resistance
This is amazing. Much appreciation from America ❤
Great video...👍
Niels Bohr secured Swedish cooperation. He had to be convinced to leave on Sept 29 bc he believed Germany would do nothing to him. But he met with the Swedish government and convinced it to allow his fellow Danes to land in Sweden. Thus the announcement.
My uncle was 19 and helped with the boatlift. One day he ran into the house to kiss my mother and grandmother goodbye. He said “I can’t tell you where I’m going. I pray to see you again. Give father my love.“ And he ran. 20 minutes later, Gestapo officers arrived at the door with bayonets in my grandmother’s face demanding where her son was. “At work I presume“ she said. They tore up the house looking for him. The family didn’t see him again for another 21 months. I don’t know which prison camp he was sent to, but I suspect it was Theriesenstadt because that’s where many Danish prisoners were sent. He came home a walking skeleton. he never spoke of it, it was just too horrible to think about. But he loved the US for liberating the camp, and it was one of his happiest experiences to come visit us here and travel around. He raised the American flag every July 4th.
It’s worth noting the Danish government sent small boxes of food to every Danish citizen in the prison camps via the Red Cross every month. I read about it in a book by a resistance fighter who was captured. The box came with a little bit of cheese and crackers, and I think a few other things, and he said it was very awful because people were starving and here he had some food, and he didn’t want to share it, but he felt he had to. Nevertheless, it’s quite likely that the little bit of extra food helped many Danes survive in the prison camps.
My great grandfather followed his brother to Canada a few years before the war as the family could see the direction things were heading in Europe though his parents remained in Denmark. I know we still have a family farm there that I hope to visit one day but hearing stories like this makes me proud to be a descendant from the Danes!
As a Dane I am incredibly proud of my country and fellow countrymen for helping so many Jews escape.
My great grandfather was part of the resistance helping by hiding Jews in his bank vault and in the basement also helping them escape to Sweden I have grown up hearing about from my grandmother
well done Danish and Swedish People . Thanks IWM its so important that these stories of the Jews and the other groups that the Nazi tyranny targeted are kept in the open.
This is classically Danish- those Danes who were Jewish were considered Danish citizens first by their countrymen. The King was a man of integrity and his citizens followed his moral authority in the matter. If memory serves, when the Germans told the Danish government that Jews would have to wear the Jewish star on their clothing, the king responded that we would wear one as well. That stopped the Germans in their tracks. Danes stick together when it comes to trouble… more so than most.
if i am not mistaken Werner Best was informed of when most of the movement of jews would take place and so he ordered there to not be any German patrols so the jews wouldn't get caught and worsen the relations between Denmark and Germany
This is definitely possible. While Nazis were (in general) very terrible human beings in their actions, they were still people. And, everyone, even Nazis, are the hero of their own story so it's possible they occasionally did something good (even if rare).
Thank you for this piece of history not taught in schools.
THANK YOU
What happened? Here is another piece of the puzzle. In April 1933, the Synagogue in Copenhagen was to celebrate its 100 years. Guest of honour was to be king Christian and this visit had been planned for a long time. Now, on jan 30th Hitler was made Chancellor in Germany and in the Jewish community, people started to worry, how the Germans would react to the King visiting the Synagogue.
Therefore, the leader of the Jewish community went to have a talk with the king and to tell him, that the Jews would understand, if he did not participate in the service. The answer of the king was short: "Are you out of your mind? NOW I relly want to come".
You had to have an IQ under 70 to miss the point of the king: He would not tolerate any persecution of the jews.
Now - that is also a reason, why the Jewish star - or any other discriminatory measure - did not get traction. Most public employees in Denmark were, I guess they still are, fiercely loyal to the Royal House and would not, ever, go against the Kings wishes.
Actually my grandfather participated in the operation. As a young man he had been in the Royal Lifeguard and one day he recieved a visit from an old acquaintance - they were not friends and had not seen each other for years. (Which is lesson 101 in underground work). Granddad was asked if he would help in this export-import business - and was also told, that he would be working with the support of the Palace.
Now, why did so many Danes support the effort? Plenty of reasons. But, maybe an experience I had some years back, explain some of it. I was a young man and standing at a Hot Dog stand in my home city. Next to me is an elderly guy, who is also, happily, tearing into his own hot dog......Victor Borge, one of the wolrds most famous comedians, Dane - and Jewish. In this case obviously much more Danish...I later heard, that he would celebrate X-mas with the usual spred, which involved massive amounts of pork.
Same thing with Jørn Utzon, who later became somewhat known for building an opera house in Australia. Noone - apart from an effing nazi - would ever look at him, and think ...Jew! How can you make an other out of a man, who enjoys his hot dog and his pork roast for christmas..?
I short, the Jews in Denmark were assimilated. Still are.
Oh - and a fun fact: Two weeks before the Nazis tried to take the Jews, the Danish military and resistance had gotten the Swedish go ahead to build a Danish land army in Sweden. In a wonderful show of the law of unintended consequences, many young jews went directly from the boats to the barracks of the resistance. When, two years later, the 5.000 man strong brigade returned to Denmark, the first soldier, who fell, fighting the nazi swine, was a young man called Hirsch Leib Zneider.
Victor anglofied his Danish first name and changed his Jewish family name, so he could "make it" in the US - that was AFTER the war.
His brother Simon kept his names, stayed home and also "made it" , but to a lesser degree 😉
@@ane-louisestampe7939 I believe the two Rosenboums are not related. Simon Rosenbaum even wrote a song about it: "Jeg er ikke i famlilie med Victor Borge, og Borge er ikke i familie med mig"
Did not knowthat about Utzon. Oz treated him badly. We had some real redneck politicians back then - AND NOW!!!
Thanks for recounting all that. Absolutely fascinating new knowledge for me.
@@georgielancaster1356 It proves my point: The Jews in Denmark were so assimilated, that only the nazis would see them as jews first. We saw him as a great Dane and a great architect.
One of the most glorious pages of history ever written. So proud and humbled.
That’s a great story and I’m glad you put the work and resources telling it so eloquently. Please consider the story of the Bulgarian Jewish community. Thank you
Thank goodness for kind citizens that help others.
My Danish grandparents immigrated to Montana in the US in 1916....I am pround of my Danish heritage !
My mother was born in a small town called Hoven on the mainland of Denmark in 1933. She remembers the N@zis coming on their farm and using their animals and home as target practice. She told me she remembers when they said all the Jews had to wear armbands, the Danish King at the time Christian X, told all the Danish citizens to also wear arm bands stating "we are all Jews then". My grandfather risked his life as an underground radio operator.
THANKS!!
Bless you all ❤
As a Danish citizen I can say that it was infact a German official who saved the jews of Denmark.
Indeed. I wonder if the Nazis ever had an investigation as to why their plan failed so spectacularly?
My grandmother (born 1929 and still alive today) have told me that she became friends with one of the jews that fled Denmark to Helsingborg. Both my granmother and grandfather (1924-2014) have told me their experience of WW2 and some people fled over the ice from Denmark to Sweden during the winter when Germany occupied Denmark. It was a very scary war according to them.
As a dane, this is one of the proudest moments of Denmark. also thank u for talking abt the Danish resistance.. Theres even a specific resistance group that is our most famous one, in danish the group is called Hvidstens gruppen. Its a sad story..
I havent seen many people talk about this nor it being made into videos abt.
A year before Germany invaded us, we had made a deal on that they couldnt invade us. And our prime minister is the one who made us sadly surrender so quick. As they didnt want our capital to be bombed like Sweden once did.
Amazing to see people doing this. Remarkable piece of history. We can learn so much from these folks ❤
In a world of cowards, I’m glad there were still those who weren’t afraid to stand up for what is right. Actions speak louder than words.
Brilliant insights into this rare, mostly bright spot in this darkest chapter in human history.
Darkest might be contested as there are a lot of dark times in human history but it's definitely up there in terms of numbers for sure. There are a few other human chapters where similar numbers of people died but they didn't tend to be as genocidal as this chapter. The main competition is probably the famine Stalin induced that killed several million or some of the other purges like the Rwandan genocide or parts of the Cultural revolution in China or Pol Pot's reign or Idi Amin's reign. But most of those others limited the death to their own country, so I guess it's mildly less dark?
Eternal respect to Denmark, from Australia🇦🇺🇩🇰
Very interesting history, well presented.
One of the most important cultural heritages of Denmark today remains the televised show “Matador” which largely describes the lives of people living from 1929-1950ish Denmark. One of the most popular episodes is about the jewish Banker Mr Steinn who has to escape to Sweden. One or the major moments in the show is how each main charcter somehow helps or aids Steinn in making it to Sweden, both the rich and poor coorperate for the first proper time in the show just to get him out and is a turning point in the show as before most families kept to themselves or where rivals in business or the class divide seperated them.
In particular the wife of the most elite family in the city sits with him in the servants kitchen area all night until they can prepare transport to a local pig farmer where she then stays all throughout the night until the Pig farmer and his wife can return home from a party. This is the first time in the show these particular individuals meet face to face.
It really goes to show how important it was for average danes to help our Jewish countrymen escape certain death
How beautiful of The Danish people. Now The Danes have our beautiful Princess Mary. Love From Aus 💚🦘🐨💚🦘🐨
👍🙏🇩🇰
A rare light for those Days, lovely Danish people and Swedish too. 🥰🤩😘😍🥰
WoW, I never knew, thank you for sharing this info - - - also I am sorry RUclips has been corrupted, I plan to get subscription to History Hit because of RUclips