The Secret Evacuation of Danish Jews during World War II
History is replete with stories of courage, bravery and selfless acts on behalf of Jewish people across the European continent during the dark years of the Second World War. A lesser known event, but one of the most successful, was what is now commonly referred to as “the Danish rescue.” In late 1943, with the war still raging across Europe and the outcome uncertain, the combined efforts of many led to the clandestine transportation, entirely by sea, of more than 90% of all Jewish people then living in Denmark to neutral Sweden. How did it happen? Who were the key players?
The Events Leading Up to the Danish Rescue
The German army invaded Denmark and Norway in April, 1940, with the Danish government offering no resistance. In October, 1942, Adolf Hitler ordered the arrest and deportation of all Danish Jews to Germany to be sent to concentration camps. Unbeknownst to the German high command, though, a German diplomat, Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, had leaked the plan to the head of the Danish Social Democratic Party, who forwarded the information to the Danish resistance.
Duckwitz, an attache for Nazi Germany, had worked closely with Werner Best, the head of the Gestapo in Denmark. In early September, 1943, Best told Duckwitz of the planned arrest of Danish Jews in October. Initially, Duckwitz went to Berlin to seek to change Hitler’s mind about the action. When that effort failed, he went to Sweden under the ruse of securing safe passage of German merchant ships through Swedish waters. Instead, he met with the Swedish prime minister, Per Albin Hansson, and inquired whether Sweden would be willing to provide safe harbor for Danish Jewish refugees. Hansson agreed to do so.
In late September, Duckwitz notified an official of the Danish Social Democratic party, Hans Hedtoft, of the impending roundup and deportation. Hedtoft immediately contacted C.B. Henriques, the head of the local Jewish community and a member of the Danish resistance. Henriques alerted Rabbi Marcus Melchior, who put out the message for all Danish Jews to immediately go into hiding. According to sources, many Danish civil servants dropped all other matters and began to identify hiding places for the Danish Jews. There are stories that many simply went through phone books and called anyone whose name looked remotely Jewish and advised them to go underground.
How Did the Danish Jews Travel from Denmark to Sweden?
Because Denmark and Sweden share no land borders, the transportation took place entirely on the water. Though most evacuees were hidden in nooks and crannies in boats, a significant number were also smuggled inside freight cars on ferries between the two countries. Members of the Danish resistance found ways to break into sealed, but empty, freight cars. Once the refugees were aboard, the cars were resealed with false or stolen German seals, so they would not be reinspected.
Many of the refugees made the trip from Denmark to Sweden in large fishing trawlers, but some also hid in rowboats and even kayaks.
The Role of Niels Bohr in the Danish Rescue
Niels Bohr, who won the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physics, was Jewish through his mother. When initial efforts to get Sweden to agree to provide a safe haven for Danish Jews met with resistance, Bohr appealed directly to King Gustav V, as well as the Swedish government. Bohr’s personal acquaintance, actress Greta Garbo, also pleaded with the king to at least listen to Bohr.
When Bohr arrived in Sweden, he was informed that safe passage had been arranged for him to travel immediately to the United State to work on the Manhattan Project. He refused to leave Sweden, telling officials that he would only go if the Swedish government announced publicly and on the airwaves that its borders were open to Danish Jews. On October 2, 1943 (two days after Bohr arrived in Sweden), it was announced on Swedish radio that the country was open to Danish Jewish refugees.
The Actual Rescue
Once Sweden confirmed that its borders were open to Danish Jews, the Danish resistance went to work arranging passage, mostly in fishing boats. The increased activity around many of the harbors aroused the suspicions of the Gestapo, so many of the transfers had to take place at remote points along the Danish coast. Records show that most officials of the Danish harbor and civil police departments knew of and cooperated with the rescue operation. There’s also evidence that, in the early days of the rescue, the Gestapo was undermanned in Denmark. There’s also some evidence that local non-Jewish Germans provided aid in the rescue effort.
Gutterman’s and Gutterman Warheit—Serving the Jewish Community for More Than 125 Years
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