The Resistance (1939-1945) in a few documentaries (3)
In the months of September and October 1943, following a leaked Nazi plan to deport Denmark's Jewish population, the Danish resistance, everyday Danish citizen, and government official launched a massive, spontaneous rescue operation. Over three weeks, they smuggled approximately 7,200 Jews across the sea to neutral Sweden, ultimately saving nearly 99% of Denmark's Jewish community.
The leak came from a German diplomat called Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz. During World War II, he served as an attaché for Nazi Germany in occupied Denmark. After 1942, Duckwitz worked with the Nazi Reich representative Werner Best, who organised the Gestapo. On 11 September 1943, Best told Duckwitz that all Danish Jews were to be arrested on 1 October.
Duckwitz travelled to Berlin to try to prevent the operation but he failed to convince. He flew to Stockholm two weeks later, ostensibly to discuss the passage of German merchant ships. There, he contacted Swedish Prime Minister Per Albin Hansson and asked whether Sweden would be willing to receive Danish Jewish refugees. In a couple of days, Hansson promised them a favourable reception.
Back in Denmark on 29 September, Duckwitz contacted the Danish Social Democrat Hans Hedtoft and notified him of the intended deportation. Hedtoft warned the head of the Jewish community, C. B. Henriques, and the acting chief rabbi, Marcus Melchior, who spread the warning. Sympathetic Danes in all walks of life organized then a mass escape of over 7,200 Jews and 700 of their non-Jewish relatives.
During only the three weeks the Danish resistance orchestrated one of the Holocaust's most successful rescue operations. Fishermen ferried families across the Øresund strait to neutral Sweden. Hospitals hid "patients" who were actually Jews in hiding. Police deliberately bungled German arrest orders. Churches opened their doors. An entire nation said "no" to genocide. Not bad for a small country.
[media=https://youtu.be/5TT3-Fnzoqc]
[media=https://youtu.be/QyoC4i1asnE]
The leak came from a German diplomat called Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz. During World War II, he served as an attaché for Nazi Germany in occupied Denmark. After 1942, Duckwitz worked with the Nazi Reich representative Werner Best, who organised the Gestapo. On 11 September 1943, Best told Duckwitz that all Danish Jews were to be arrested on 1 October.
Duckwitz travelled to Berlin to try to prevent the operation but he failed to convince. He flew to Stockholm two weeks later, ostensibly to discuss the passage of German merchant ships. There, he contacted Swedish Prime Minister Per Albin Hansson and asked whether Sweden would be willing to receive Danish Jewish refugees. In a couple of days, Hansson promised them a favourable reception.
Back in Denmark on 29 September, Duckwitz contacted the Danish Social Democrat Hans Hedtoft and notified him of the intended deportation. Hedtoft warned the head of the Jewish community, C. B. Henriques, and the acting chief rabbi, Marcus Melchior, who spread the warning. Sympathetic Danes in all walks of life organized then a mass escape of over 7,200 Jews and 700 of their non-Jewish relatives.
During only the three weeks the Danish resistance orchestrated one of the Holocaust's most successful rescue operations. Fishermen ferried families across the Øresund strait to neutral Sweden. Hospitals hid "patients" who were actually Jews in hiding. Police deliberately bungled German arrest orders. Churches opened their doors. An entire nation said "no" to genocide. Not bad for a small country.
[media=https://youtu.be/5TT3-Fnzoqc]
[media=https://youtu.be/QyoC4i1asnE]
