Texan Reacts to Why 95% of Denmark's Jews survived the Holocaust
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- Опубликовано: 25 авг 2024
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Original Video: • Why almost all of Denm...
Reaction to Imperial War Museum's video about the movement of local leaders around Denmark to get the country's around seven thousand Jews out of the country before being arrested and deported by Germany.
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I saw an interview decades ago with Danish pianist and comedian Victor Borge. He said that the neighbours of Danish Jews maintained their homes and gardens while they in Sweden and the Danish Jews returned to neat and orderly houses with fresh cut flowers on their dining room tables.
Victor Borge was born Børge Rosenbaum in a Jewish family.
The most important difference was, that the Jewish population was so integrated into the danish society, that the nazi's couldn't tell us apart. Unlike most of the European population, we in Denmark had a King who gave the jewish population full rights in the 17th century. So we had no "Jewish" population. We were all Danes!
My grandfather was a fisherman and transported refugees during the war.
That’s awesome.
My grandparents were part of the Resistance...
They smuggled Jews out of Denmark, they distributed the Underground Newspaper and they participated in sabotage.
They never spoke about it, as such..but as they got older, small bits of information were shared, every once in a while.
I was and still am, very proud of their contribution, to oust the Nazis from Denmark...🇩🇰
When the Germans wanted to impose the star of david armband. King Christian X, protested, and made an official proclamation that all Danes should wear it. He told the germans that either no one will wear the armband or everyone will.
The germans never imposed the armband in Denmark
The Germans tried again later to alienate the jews from the rest of the Danish population, but the King again proclaimed that there exist only Danes in his Kingdom.
King Christian the Tenth had many flaws as is only natural of humans, however he was a staunch patriot and a faithful to his people. And the vast majority of people who do remember him, remember him fondly. Honour to his memory.
That is a myth, as is the story that he wore one himself.
@@PalleRasmussen no...
My mother and her family were among the Jewish families which managed to escape the occupation to Sweden. My uncle was a baby at the time and someone on the boat actually said to my grandmother that she should throw him overboard because he was crying and might risk giving them away. Those were desperate times and fleeing for your life is hard to comprehend. It might seem that Denmark and the Danish had it easy during the "5 dark years" as they are referred to, but it was all an expression of very pragmatic realism and once things got serious, the Danish population showed a typical community spirit and resilience towards oppression, which ultimately saved the lives of most of the citizens who happened to descend from a Jewish lineage and practice a different religion than the majority.
Despite the anti-semitism, which was very common at the time, these citizens were considered no less Danish than their neighbors. Danes are often described as being a bit cold and distant, but there is a very strong sense of community, resistance to authority, egalitarianism and generosity towards strangers in need, which sprung into action on this occasion, prompting people who had no contact or relationship to the Jewish citizens to take personal risks and form a common front towards the occupation, albeit in a very Danish way, which didn't involve weapons and fighting. Some Jewish children were taken in by families, who didn't know the parents, and kept safe and secure until they could be reunited once Denmark was liberated. Many families, which fled Copenhagen before October 1st were taken in by strangers and kept in hiding while the rest of the village kept an eye out for Germans to ensure their safety. And obviously there were the fishermen, who did in many cases make a lot of money, but the risks they took were also big - as far as they knew.
The main reason Sweden accepted and broadcast to accept the Danish Jews is quite interesting:
The Danish physicist Niels Bohr had fled to Sweden early after the German occupation. The allied forces wanted to take him to England and from there to America so he could participate in the development of the nuclear bomb. Niels Bohr (who was also a pioneer in quantum physics) agreed to go on the condition that Sweden would accept Jewish refugees from Denmark, and make it known in Denmark that this was Sweden's official stance. He simply refused to get on a plane until his condition was met. The night after the announcement he was flown to England...
Additional piece of information. The torah from the Copenhagen synagogue was smugled out in an ambulance and hidden in a church in Copenhagen for remainder of the war.
Something that is rarely mentioned is that the reason the Danish Jews got a chance to escape was that the German high command in Denmark basically told the Danish civil servants who were running the administration then. Without this leak of information, things would have gone far worse. Also rarely mentioned is that there were essentially two kinds of Jews in Denmark then: the majority who had been Danes for many generations and were integrated and more recent refugees from Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe, who were generally poor and did not speak Danish and were not integrated. The latter group formed the majority of those who were arrested and deported to Theresienstadt.
In 2005 Danish public tv, DR, made a documentary about the occupation - through German eyes, "Die Schalgsahnefront"
For a history interested Dane with parents born in 1918 and 1927 it is the most fascinating war docu I've come across. I was aware that towards the end of the war all the German soldiers were either teenagers or well past their prime. I also knew that Danes had to differentiate between Der Wehrmact and the individual soldier they met in their everyday life. But actually hearing these soldiers stories was so enlightning 🥰
Die Schalgsahnefront translates to The Wipped Cream Front, the German Soldiers' "name" for Denmark 😆
Of course because it became a blessing to do service in Denmark, as the risk of being shot at was very low.
@@finncarlbomholtsrensen1188 Nor can it be denied that living in a fairly peaceful country away from their home ubiquitous fascism had some influence on their own participation in Hitler's project. The Danish Jews were a completely integrated part of Danish society, so regardless of the massive indoctrination the Germans had been exposed to, it must have been quite strange to have to intern them simply because they were Jewish. There are some who quietly suggest that quite a few German soldiers were deliberately quite bad at finding Jews when they were ordered to do so. It will never be a mitigating circumstance for the terrible things the Germans did, but it is one of the nuances you can afford to mention so many years after the occupation.
You have some very educated reflections and comments. Greetings from Denmark
I appreciate it!
My grandfather was part of the Danish resistance and blew up loads of German materials, i stil have his stuff and his medal.🎖
That’s awesome.
Germany used Denmark as an example of "hey! Look! if you completely cooperate and just do as we say, we will cooperate with you!" while purposefully trying to enact Lebensraum in Eastern Europe. Sir, your mouth is saying one thing, but your hand is doing something else.
So when the Germans first occupied Denmark, Denmark was still largely self-governed; we kept our own judicial system, our own police force and even a part of our army was still intact (a very small part). German soldiers were not allowed to March in Danish streets, there was no anti-semitic laws passed. They banned communism, and because the communist party was disallowed to participate, is the only reason the election in '42 is not considered democratic. Nzi Germany _was_ terribly disappointed when the Danish Nazi party very much did not turn out popular. Wonder why XD
Its a bit more complicated. Germany lossed quite a lot of land in the east, not only during WWI but also during a lesser known war prior.
The occupation of Denmark. Benelux, France was really just there to win the war. Not to take the land, As a matter of fact, most of France was not occupied until much later in the war. During 1940, really just Paris an the coast was occupied.
In Denmark it was a matter of if the cooperate Germany would place troops there and the government could continue to operate as they use to. Denmark is.. well mostly coast, so they needed to occupy the whole country.
For Poland, Austria, Czech Republic it was different. Nazis wanted to make them into cores. Hungary, Romania and Slovakia got a deal that they would get land if they joined Germany. While those countries was not terribly aliened with Germany either, they was even less aliened with USSR. And what often is missed here is that just the year prior to 1939, USSR had occupied, half a dusin countries in eastern Europe, like Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldavia. Romania and Hungary was next on the coping block.
Nazis never intended to attack neither Denmark or France. But due to UK declearing war on them when the annexed Poland, Denmark was a huge open target for Germany. Also A Denmark that would be say 100% alined with UK could block all both USSR and German naval traffic in and out of the Baltic. (well technically there is and was a canal in Kiel, but that canal was way to close to Denmark for comfort.
To my understand is that Ukraine was planed to be turned into a puppet with Belarus, Poland would be totally annexed, and for Russia they was probobly planing to take the oil fields and some other major part. Possibly attaching them to Ukraine.
That is why Denmark was treated so differently. They never wanted to occupy Denmark, but they needed. So a deal was struck, that German tropps was alowed in Denmark and they was to leave the country after the war ended regardless of how it ended.
Ironically, the German troops was left in Denmark quite a few weeks after the war ended due to lack of logistics. The war ended fairly suddenly and the German troops in denmark was trapped behind the Allied line that at that time had no logistics to transfer the,
If you haven't seen it already the i highly recommend watching
Children Saved from the Nazis : The Story of Sir Nicholas Winton
I still have a helmet from a German soldier, which was painted black with the Danish flag on it, used during the surrender.
But I always use this example to renounce holocaust deniers because how could a whole country know what waited for the Jews.
And to those who said the Danish fishermen were taking advantage of the situation, try to get into their frame of mind? They actually risked more than their lives since the Germans were arresting whole families if anyone stepped out of line.
My grand grandparents told me when the war was over they gave some germans food , because they was left behind, and had to walk from northern jytland ,home .. it was 16 - 17 old boys that came in the last year of the war .. they often though about how and if they came home ....
To be honest, I probably wouldn’t go back if I was them. Chances are you’ve been pulled into the military as the war has dragged on and you’ve survived the war, but there is no telling what things will look like when everything shakes out back in Germany. You might be okay, or you might be considered a monster just for being apart of the war. If I was one of those kids, I might have just stayed somewhere else and started a new life.
First of all it should be noted that antisemitism was pretty common an tolerated in general at the time. There was however very much a sense of "our Jews" and other Jews. Jokes about Danish/Swedish hostility aside those Jews were still in the "in-group". Especially considering that the sheer brutality of antisemitism under the 3rd reich began to be noticed.
Secondly Denmark never really had a chance. It's flat and right next to Germany. They knew it, they fought and died for a better negotiating position. So Denmark did have it better (thanks partly to racism too) under occupation than most. Finland obviously didn't let the nazis touch their Jews. There are stories of Finnish/Jewish servicemen purposely walking past the SS while speaking Hebrew.
99,3% of the Danish jews survived.
51 died in Theresienstadt, most of them senior citizens.
Good stuff as usual.Enjoy your new home and stay awesome 🇸🇪❤️🇺🇸
I appreciate it!
actually, the german navy in denmark was ordered to go from civile surveillance to strictly military surveillance in that periode, they simply let them go, not all germans were evil
No need for extra narration. The documentary says it all. The Danes will not and didn't stand for outside forces touching their citizens. Jewish or not. The Jews are assimilated into society. A Lutheran country and the Jews come from the same point. The government took this stance, because they didn't want Danish citizens to be hurt. Freedom fighters took to arms. They would fight Danish callaborators. They did not target German soldiers on purpose. But they did not callaborat with them. The Melchiors are still a very important part of the Danish Jewish community. Denmark was called Germany's bread basket.
Thanks for an interesting video and a good channel.
Unlike France, Denmark werent willing to hand them over or take part of their imprisonment.
Well.. Denmark and France situation was very different. The part of France that was occupied was fully occupied, and the country was very split even before the war. There was just a political crisis and quite a bit of tension on the country.
For Denmark it as a different story. The country was very unified, but understand that they could not hold back the Germans. The country is simply to small and flat. Denmark mostly conserved there man power, but then negotiated from both a unified state and a state of strength for the peace deal, hence they got a deal where pretty much most of the Danish government would remain in power.
Its worth saying that during this time, Denmark had a quite considerable over seas territory that was not included in the deal, of most important strategic importance was Iceland that during that time was part of Denmark (They actually got independent during the war)
Interesting! Great video.
10:12 is not entirely correct. Terezín was initially called Thersienstadt when it was founded as a fortress by Habsburg emperor Joseph II. The name of the town was changed to Terezin after World War One, when Czechoslovakia was formed. The Germans then changed it back when they annexed the predominantly German speaking regions of Bohemia (Sudetenland). After World War Two, the town was again changed to Terezin and the German speaking population was expelled. This policy of changing the old german names of towns was common though out “Soviet controlled” europe.
In 1944, my grandfather (age 22) was studying theology and was a student of my grandmothers father, who was a famous protestant minister. He therefore rented a room at their house. My grandmother (age 18) used to go stop by his room with evening coffee and biscuits. They where part of the resistance and smuggled jews to Sweden. They married in 1946, he became a minister and she became his Organist/housewife, they had 6 children, 22 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren.
Oh I love this story, that’s beautiful.
Appreciate this getting a nod from outside. GGs sir.
Edit - easy to forget but even the Teutonic Order used a Nordic Cross on their flag - we're kinda all somehow related around the Baltic. Where Rome didn't reach..
There's a 'YT helmet cam documentary' called My War, that follows a Danish unit during a posting in Afghanistan nearly a decade ago. There's a bit with the US and UK forces too. ruclips.net/video/b8Z74G5dHqY/видео.html It's an interesting show, not only for the relative lack of censorship.
my son did a video on his channel about the men in service who died in the uprising. not his normal thing as he works with, Danish railway history. he studies history at the university so he is used to researching. might be interesting for you.
We just (with in the last 3 months) found dokumentation that a few German soldiers, "didn't see anything" on certain beaches...
Wink wink
Nudge nudge
I’ve talked about this before in prior WW2 videos. This is a very hard line to draw historically. If you paint every German with a broad third Reich brush, you’re not giving an accurate picture of the reality. But if you start to parse things more closely it can easily start to look apologetic for the Germans. It’s a hard line to walk. The reality is that people are complicated, and about the furthest thing from black and white, especially en masse. I feel like the further we get from these events, the less emotion will be tied to them, and the more clearly we’ll be able to see the realities of some of these events.
Family was part of the Resistance
They concidered us Arian so we were more safe. My Father lived during this war, and he was petrified of the soldiers, they were sadistic he said. He was a 6´6" white man with blue eys and blond hair.
Sweden returned the Jews fleeing Norway.
Sweden does, and did not, view Norway as equals.
Best had published in Danish newspapers that the Germany nany was on "holiday" for one specified week, so it was absolutely known to be safe to cross. The only ones trying to prevent it was the Danish gestapo, they were only land based.
It did happen. But it was usually local bureaucrats in Värmland that decided. They were often antisemitic and progerman.
Very nice of Sweden to accept the jews from Denmark. But lets admit it. Sweden had the upperhand on Germany because Sweden supplied Germany with steel and Iron. That export kept the Germany army up and running and probably cost many millions of deaths throughout Europe
when it matters, Nordic people can always count on each other
@@kimeggert3829 Like when sweden allowed german troops to bypass the norwegian army, by using swedish railways to get to the north of norway?
Receiving the Jews wasn't a No-brainer. Sweden was really worried about a German attack.
Germany could attack from Norway and Finland. From the south, German ships could reach Sweden in an hour or two. From Denmark, 30 minutes or so.
Add German submarines. They could strangle Sweden very much. Also remember, Luftwaffe was still a thing in 43.
@@mcstaal But Sweden also provided a safe place to were many Norwegian resistance men/women fled, and from 1943 they had some type of, as I understand it, important training camp for the Norwegian Army in Sweden, etc.
@@mcstaal Never happened. Sweden let one German division travel from occupied Norway to Finland in the Summer of 1941. (Midsummer crisis). Sweden let around 100 German medical personnel go to Narvik to take care of wounded Germans at the end of the battle of Narvik in 1940.
Hmm.. How about Finnish Jews?
They actually have a pretty interesting story, some fought for Finland during the continuation war. I’ll see if I can find a video on it.
and see how they repaid Sweden and Denmark for it. Backstabbing of the legends
What?
Explain what your thinking hear, because it isn't quite cleare.
What are you talking about?
who gives a durn about your personal life! get to the point!! and stop all that yakking! greetings from Denmark.