Jews As Denmark example essay topic

Robert F. Kennedy once said that, "Each time a man stands up for an ideal or the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope". Moreover, this fact is seen through Oskar Schindler and the 1,200 Jews he saved or the village of Le Chabon and the 5,000 Jews they took in and rescued. Subsequently, however, though many individuals showed compassion during the Holocaust and showed basic humanity towards their fellow neighbors, no other nation collectively helped the Jews as Denmark did. Thus, the "Danish rescue was unique because it was nationwide" (Rescue). To understand why the Danes decided to help save their fellow countrymen, one must learn about the life of Jews before the Second World War. Contrary to other European countries, there never were Jewish ghettos.

In fact, in 1814, long before Denmark,'s neighbors, the King at the time gave full equality to the Jews as citizens. This action allowed the Jews to integrate with the Christians so much that by 1940, 1,300 people were half Jewish. Hence, by the time the war began they could not "recognize Jews as Jews, but as Danes" (Pearl). There was basically no anti-Semitism.

The other reasons why Danes helped, and were able to help, was because it was close to neutral Sweden, the Germans waited three years before they went after Danish Jews, high placed German officials were in opposition to action against the Jews, Germany was less brutal in Denmark then in other countries and because Denmark only had fewer than 8,000 Jews (Levine 1). Also, the Danes had a history of protecting one another, especially King Christian X. Once, a German solider asked a little boy, while seeing the king walking unguarded, -Who is that man who rides past here every morning on his horse? , - He is our king, the boy said. -He is the King of Denmark., - Where is his bodyguard? , the soldier asked. - All of Denmark is his bodyguard, (Lowry 14). The Danes would also prove to be the bodyguards of the Jews as well.

Without much of a fight, Denmark fell to the Germans in 1940. Germany wanted their country because it had a "railroad to transport Swedish war materials to Germany, could act as a geographic buffer between Britain, it was a stepping stone to Norway and because it had rich farming land that would help feel millions of starving Germans" (1). Luckily though-at least at the beginning of the occupation- the Danes had some say in the running of their country. Since the Germans considered them to be their "Nordic brothers" they received kinder treatment and as a result the Jews were not persecuted. Rationing did come into place, such as tobacco and gasoline. However, losing their freedom caused the Danes to feel anger and shame and used the Jews as a symbol of national integrity.

Thus, most called for some form of action and so the resistance movement was born. One of the first resistance groups was the Churchill Club where kids from ages 14 through 17 joined together and participated in relatively minor acts of sabotage. For example, they stole weapons or put sugar in gas tanks to stop up Nazi cars. Unfortunately, they were caught, arrested and tried in 1942, but helped spur many other resistance efforts. By August of 1943, strikes and sabotage had reached a peak The areas in which an Resistance worker could have worked in were, "Sabotage, execution of known collaborators and informers, arms drop, harassment, radio transmission and underground papers" (Benchley 199). If caught, the resistance worker could face interrogation, prison, torture and even death.

If the resistance caught a informer and there was substantial evidence against him or her, they would give them a "half way ticket to Sweden"; meaning that they would take a boat, garroted it, weight the body and dump it in the ocean somewhere between Sweden and Denmark. Another part of the resistance were the illegal newspapers and radio broadcasts. In 1942 the first newspaper was formed the De Free Danske or Free Denmark. Its first copy had 2,000 in circulation and by the end of the war 50,000. It was printed every fortnight and contained 16 pages.

By the end of the war there would be 180 underground papers. It, along with the illegal BBC called for the -V, campaign. The -V, stood for Vrij heid (freedom) or in Danish, Vi Vil Vind e (We Will Win). The Morse code for this sounded like the opening to Beethoven,'s 5th Symphony and used constantly on the radio. The -V, symbol was scratched onto wall, streets and just about anywhere.

Everyday citizens also resisted against the German occupation as well. Some stores posted signs in their windows stating "Germans not wanted here" and one coffin maker,'s shop, "I prefer to do business with Germans". King Christian X also formed his own kind of defiance by instituting the Danish Cold Shoulder. This act meant that the Danes would not pay attention to the Germans. Unfortunately though, he signed back Hitler,'s glowing and flattering birthday card with just a simple "Thanks, Christian X", and along with the rising amounts of sabotage, Hitler decided it was time to institute the -Final Solution, in Denmark.

The Danes were now faced with figuring out what to do with the Jews. Georg Duckwitz, a leading Nazi who had lived in Denmark for the last 15 years, leaked out information about the Germans, plans. He found out the German were planning to deport the Jews on the Jewish New Year in October of 1943. Danes who felt that the Jews were "like all other citizens and must not be separated from the rest of their people" (Meltzer 90) and instantly sought to help there fellow citizens.

"Everywhere people in the streets were stopped and queried; Are you Jewish? Do you have Jewish friends or neighbors? Tell them!" (91). Even "a taxi driver was reported to have telephoned every person with a Jewish name he could find in the telephone directory" (Below). To the Danish Jewish impending deportation was a shock. Up until then, except being forced to wear the yellow Star of David earlier, they had lived normal lives.

Many could not believe it. They looked to their Christian friends to help and sometimes even strangers. The Danes took them in with open arms, housing them in attics, hospitals, homes, and evening churches. Many of the resistance fighters even looked in the woods to find poor Jews who had fled there. Consequently, on Friday, October 1, the Germans only found 275 Jews and 30 suicides out of less than 8,000. It was as if, "a living wall had been raised by the Danish people all in one night" (Levine 74).

However, once the Jews were in hiding, the Danes began to wonder what they were going to do with them. Thus, they looked to fishermen to transport the Jews to neutral Sweden. Fake funerals were used to hid large numbers of Jews escaping to the coast. The cost was about $600,000 per crossing and some Jews paid their own way. The others however. were paid by the underground or by other supporters. "No one was left behind for lack of money" (Meltzer 99).

The fishermen "had built hidden places in their boats" (Lowry 123). They would also pile fish on top, as the Germans hated getting their boots dirty. Later, as the Germans became more watchful they even "created a special drug mixed with rabbit,'s blood and cocaine, that was placed on a handkerchief. It attracts the dogs away from the human scent and ruins their sense of smell" (125). Eventually, the Nazis became frustrated and gave bribes that would release hostages in exchange for where the Jews were hiding.

One general responded with, "There is no point exchanging one Dane for another Dane" (Benchley 168). Eventually, some 8,000 Jews and non Jews escaped to Sweden. By the end of the war only 52 Danish Jews had died in Theresienstadt ghetto. Most of the 52 were the elderly. Due to the pressure put on by the Danish government, no Danish Jews were sent to the gas chambers. The Jews also failed well because they were allowed to receive things from home.

The Danes felt that "if we desert the Jews in this hour of their misery, we desert our native country" (Benchley 167) and they never did desert the Jews. Even when they found out that the Jews were coming home many "were fixing up homes of those who were taken prisoner so when they come back it will look pretty" (254). So, thus the Jews did not find there homes, like in many of the other occupied countries, ransacked, robbed and stolen from their possession. Jewelry, money, and other valuables were returned. Today many Danes will not even speak about what they did to help the Jews. One many, Pre ben Munch-Nielson, a former Danish resistance youth, states: " -Frankly I, m embarrassed at the responses.

I don, t understand that to act in a decent way is so unique. We did what we had to do. We couldn, t do anything else", (Pearl). Except, the Danes are special.

They were the "only occupied country that actively resisted the Nazi regime,'s attempt to deport its Jewish citizens" (Rescue). Nielson concludes: " -But now that Jews have returned, Denmark is complete again", (Pearl).

Bibliography

Benchley, Nathaniel. Bright Candles: A Novel of the Danish Resistance. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., 1974.
B~A 1/4 low, Louis. "The Rescue of the Danish Jews". 9 May 2003.
Levine, Ellen. Darkness Over Denmark: The Danish Resistance and the Rescue of the Jews. New York: Holiday House, Inc., 2000.
Lowry, Lois. Number the Stars. New York: Bantam Double Dell Publishing Group, Inc., 1989.
Meltzer, Milton. Rescue: the Story of How Gentiles Saved Jews in the Holocaust New York: Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., 1991.
Pearl, Lesley. "Danish Rescuer of Jews Tells Story of Simple Humility". Jewish Bulletin of Northern California. 20 Oct. 1995, nat.
ed., sec 1: 2. Rescue in Denmark. 11 May 2003.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 11 May 2003.