Five Pictures from
the German-occupied Denmark that speak volumes...
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A Jew, recently
apprehended by a Danish Nazi
(center, in black raincoat and hat),
is rescued by his fellow Danes. As
the Nazi escorted the Jew through
the streets, an angry crowd forced
him to surrender his prisoner to the
Danish police. Once safely inside
the police station, the gendarmes
helped the Jew escape. The Danish
police consistently refused to
cooperate with the German occupation
authorities.
[Photo Credit:
Frihedsmuseet / United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo
Archive.]
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Danish fishermen
ferry a boatload of Jewish fugitives
across a narrow sound to neutral
Sweden during the nationwide rescue
operation. News of impending
deportations of Jews spawned a rapid
response by the Danes, who worked
feverishly to save Jewish citizens.
Boats of every size and shape were
used to transport the Jews from
Denmark to Sweden, away from the
grasp of the Nazis.
[Photo Credit:
Frihedsmuseet / United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo
Archive.]
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This group portrait
of Danish-Jewish children was taken
in a children's home in Sweden after
their escape from Denmark. The
rescue of Danish Jewry was one of
the few positive stories in the
tragic annals of the Holocaust.
These Jewish children unknowingly
defied all odds by surviving the
genocidal intentions of the Nazis.
[Photo Credit:
Frihedsmuseet / United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo
Archive.]
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The heroic actions
of the Danish people during the
autumn of 1943 saved nearly all of
Denmark's Jews from certain death in
Nazi concentration camps.
After the Germans
occupied the country in 1940, the
Danish government resisted Nazi
pressure to hand over its Jews. In
1943, however, the Danes
intensified resistance, prompting
a harsh Nazi reaction. Imposing
martial law, the Germans in
October began to arrest and deport
Danish Jews. Reacting
spontaneously, Danes alerted and
hid the Jews, helping them to the
coast and organizing secret
passage across the sea to Sweden
(pictured). The unassuming Danish
rescuers included police,
fishermen, and members of church
and social organizations.
Over the course
of three weeks, the Danish people
transported more than 7200 Jews
and almost 700 of their non-Jewish
relatives to safety aboard Danish
fishing vessels. The Nazis did
capture 464 Jews, whom they sent
to the Theresienstadt,
Czechoslovakia, camp/ghetto. Aid
continued, nonetheless, as the
Danish public sent food parcels to
their Jewish countrymen imprisoned
in Theresienstadt. Just before the
conclusion of the war, in spring
1945, negotiations rescued most of
these Jews through an agreement
that transferred many Scandinavian
nationals from concentration camps
to Sweden.
Photo: Frihedsmuseet
/ United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum Photo Archive
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A Swedish policeman
accompanies a newly arrived
Danish-Jewish refugee to the welfare
office in Rebslagergade, Sweden.
Swedish participation was critical
to the success of the rescue
operation. Not only did the
government proclaim its willingness
to accept all Jewish refugees from
Denmark, but the Swedish Red Cross
helped save the approximately 500
Danish Jews who were deported to the
Theresienstadt camp/ghetto in
Czechoslovakia.
Photo:
Frihedsmuseet / United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo
Archive
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Text
Source:
http://www.holocaustchronicle.org/StaticPages/489.html
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