Danish Resistance During the Holocaust
On the morning of April 9, 1940, German forces crossed the border into neutral Denmark, in direct violation of a German-Danish treaty of non-aggression signed the previous year. […]
Within the first years of the German occupation, the Germans had often raised the question of the status of the Danish Jews. However, the Danish government had consistently refused to engage in any debate on the “Jewish question” as they insisted there existed no “Jewish question” in Denmark. […]
As the war dragged on, the Danish population became increasingly hostile to the Germans. Nazi soldiers stationed in Denmark had found most of the population cold and distant from the beginning of the occupation, but their willingness to cooperate had made the relationship workable.
The Danish government had attempted to discourage sabotage and violent resistance to the occupation, but by the autumn of 1942 the number of violent acts of resistance were increasing steadily to the point that Germany declared Denmark “enemy territory” for the first time.
On August 29, 1943, Nazi SS-General Werner Best declared martial law and demanded the introduction of capital punishment. Soon after, Best also decided to launch plans to arrest Jews. On September 8, he sent a telegram to Berlin: “The time has come to turn our attention to the solution of the Jewish question.” When final orders for the raid arrived from Berlin on September 28, Best informed his confidant, Georg Duckwitz, that Jews would be rounded up within two days, on the night between October 1 and 2.
Duckwitz leaked the information to Danish politicians and the news spread like wildfire through friends, business acquaintances, and strangers wanting to help. Ordinary citizens all over the country offered refuge in churches, attics, and country homes, and residences. Complete strangers walked up to Jews on the street to offer keys to their apartment. Medical staff hid more than 1,000 Jews in Copenhagen hospitals.
On the night of the raid, Germans only found 284 Jews out of almost 8,000 in the population.
The Jews were smuggled out of Denmark by transporting them by sea over the Øresund from Zealand to Sweden, a passage of approximately 10 miles. Some were transported in large fishing boats of up to 20 tons, but others were carried to freedom in rowboats or kayaks. Some refugees were smuggled inside freight cars on the regular ferries between Denmark and Sweden, this route being suited for the very young or old who were too weak to endure a rough sea passage. The underground had broken into empty freight cars sealed by the Germans after inspection, helped refugees onto the cars, and then resealed the cars with forged or stolen German seals to forestall further inspection.
Some of the fishermen assisting in the rescue charged money to transport Jews to Sweden, while others took payments only from those who could afford passage. Some profiteers took advantage of the confusion and fear during the early days of the escape, but as time passed, the Danish underground movement ousted them and took an active role in organizing the rescue and providing financing, mostly from wealthy Danes who donated large sums of money for the rescue.
During the first days of the rescue action, Jews swarmed into the many fishing harbors on the Danish coast for rescue, but the Gestapo became suspicious of activity around harbors (and on the night of October 1-2, eighty Jews were caught hiding in the loft of the church at Gilleleje, their hiding place betrayed by a Danish girl in love with a German soldier). Subsequent rescues had to take place from isolated points along the coast. While waiting their turn, the Jews took refuge in the woods and in cottages away from the coast, out of sight of the Gestapo.
In September 1943, the ‘Danish Freedom Council’ was created. This attempted to unify the many different groups that made up the Danish resistance movement. The council was made up of seven resistance representatives and one member of British Special Operations Executive (SOE). The resistance movement grew to over 20,000 and in the lead-up to D-Day, acts of sabotage markedly increased. Though the D-Day landings were to be in Normandy, SOE believed that the more German soldiers tied up elsewhere in Europe, the less that could be present in northern France. Therefore, the more acts of sabotage in Denmark, the more German troops would be tied down there.
In 1944, the ‘Danish Freedom Council’ stepped up its efforts and more than 11 million copies of underground newspapers were published. That June, following a declared state of emergency, the entire city of Copenhagen went on strike. Infuriated, Germany flooded the city with troops, cut off water and electricity, and established a blockade. By July 2, 23 Danes had been killed and more than 203 were wounded. But the dauntless Danes persevered. Exasperated, the Germans abandoned these punitive measures by July.
Later that fall, when the Germans tried to deport Danish police officials whom they believed were turning a blind eye to sabotage and disorder, Copenhagen went on strike again, joined this time by 58 other cities and towns. Unafraid of Gestapo arrests, civilians flocked to the resistance movement. Enrollment exceeded 45,000 at its highest point. In May 1945, war-ravaged Berlin succumbed to advancing Allied forces, prompting Germany to abandon Denmark altogether.