Rescue of the Danish Jews
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The rescue of the Danish Jews occurred during Nazi Germany's occupation of Denmark during World War II. On October 1, 1943, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler ordered Danish Jews to be arrested and deported. The Danish resistance movement, with the assistance of many Danish citizens, managed to evacuate 7,220 of Denmark's 7,800 Jews, plus 686 non-Jewish spouses, by sea to nearby neutral Sweden. These efforts started before Hitler's order due to the plans being leaked on September 28, 1943 by German diplomat Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz.
The rescue allowed the vast majority of Denmark's Jewish population to avoid capture by the Nazis, and is considered one of the largest actions of collective resistance to aggression in the countries occupied by Nazi Germany. As a result of the rescue, and of the following Danish intercession on behalf of the 464 Danish Jews who were captured and deported to the Theresienstadt transit camp in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, over 99% of Denmark's Jewish population survived the Holocaust.
See also
- Denmark in World War II
- Rescue of the Bulgarian Jews
- History of Jews
- Nazi war crimes
- Number the Stars (1989), a work of historical fiction about the escape of Danish Jews to Sweden during World War II.
- The Only Way
- De meeste mensen deugen
