In 1943, most of occupied Europe was hunkered down against the Nazis. The people of Denmark—led by King Christian X—dared to stand up for their Jewish citizens in one of the largest actions of collective resistance to aggression in the countries occupied by Nazi Germany.
Hitler ordered the arrest and deportation of Denmark’s 8,200 Jews. The date to implement the secret plans to arrest all Danish Jews was set for October 1, which coincided with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Remarkably, when the Nazis arrived to collect the Jews, virtually all were “gone.” How did the Jews know that they should hide? Where could they go? Amazingly, the Danish people hid, protected, and then smuggled most of the country’s Jewish population out of the country. Ships, schooners, fishing boats, and anything else that floated ferried the Jews to safety in Sweden. Ultimately, over 95% of Danish Jews survived the Holocaust.
Historian Ralph Nurnberger recounts this extraordinary act of courage on the part of an entire nation under severe duress.
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