Denmark was one of only two Nazi-occupied countries in Europe to defy the Third Reich and help save Danish Jews, a story the global Jewish community still finds relevant eight decades later. That’s why Washington’s Kesher Israel Congregation will host a prince of Denmark on Nov. 9 to discuss the longstanding relationship between Denmark and its Jewish residents.
Prince Joachim Holger Waldemar Christian will focus on his great-grandfather’s heroic actions on behalf of the Danish Jewish community in 1943.
“Not so many countries saved their Jews” during the Holocaust, Rabbi Hyim Shafner of Kesher Israel said, noting that Denmark is one of the exceptions. “It’s really courageous and amazing, so we’re thrilled to have [Prince Joachim] speak.”
Denmark’s Jewish population wasn’t affected greatly during the first few years of the German occupation that began in April 1940. But by the fall of 1943, the Germans prepared to rid Denmark of its 7,800 Jews. King Christian X of Denmark, the prince’s great-grandfather, firmly objected to Germany’s deportation plans.
“The essential point is that the Danish people gave an example of how one can resist oppression and tyranny by refusing to comply,” Gerard Leval, the event coordinator and longtime member of Kesher Israel, said. “When the Nazis demanded the turnover of the Jewish community of Denmark, they said ‘no,’ from the king on down, and they evacuated their Jewish citizens to Sweden.”
The Danish underground joined these efforts, transporting 7,200 Jews and about 700 of their non-Jewish relatives to safety in Sweden over three weeks in October 1943. Four hundred eighty-two Jews, mostly elderly and ill, were caught and deported to a concentration camp.
King Christian X financed the transport of those 7,200 Danish Jews to neutral Sweden and supported resistance groups and thousands of supportive citizens to initiate this national rescue effort, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
“It’s just so exceptional for a country to have done that during the Holocaust, when so many countries cooperated easily with the Germans, especially at a time like this,” Shafner said. “I think it’s very timely.”
The king’s defiance of the Nazis is applicable now, Leval said: “That is a compelling story in an age of growing and spreading antisemitism that one should resist these things.”
“The Danish people, and King Christian X, in particular, did so at great peril,” Leval said. “That’s great courage and a marvelous example for this time.”
“I think it’s so remarkable that [citizens] of Denmark not only saved their Jews during the Holocaust, but they treated them as equals,” Shafner said, referencing the popular legend that King Christian X wore a yellow star in support of the Danish Jews. “I don’t think it’s actually true, but it says something about the Danes.”
Contemporaries should take a leaf out of the king’s book, Leval said.
“The Danish example is that when there is antisemitism, confront it; don’t let it fester,” he said. “Don’t let it grow. That’s a danger to any society. I think that the Danish people, in the darkest hour of World War II, demonstrated exactly that resistance to antisemitism and destruction.”
It was Prince Joachim’s idea to share his great-grandfather’s story with the Jewish community in Washington, D.C., and Leval, his neighbor, thought that the Voices of Kesher series would be the perfect conduit. The modern Orthodox synagogue regularly hosts guest speakers to discuss Jewish history and Jewish-related topics.
“[The prince is] going to bring a personal perspective to an important historical event,” Leval said. “For those of us who obviously did not live through the events in Denmark and in Europe, it has a distant historical echo. For Prince Joachim, it’s family history. It’s part of who he is and it’s important to hear him express that.”
Shafner looks forward to learning “more about the individuals who really put themselves forward — the royal family and princes [and] ancestors who sacrificed themselves to help us.”
“I’m curious to hear: where does that come from? Why isn’t there as much of that today? What was it about Denmark and its culture that enabled it to do this?” Shafner said. “I think those are important things for us to understand as people.”
Leval, the author of history books, knows the importance of evoking historical lessons and learning from past mistakes: “We all know the saying: if we don’t learn from history, we’re likely to repeat it.”
“I’ve read books about what happened in Denmark, but it will be most interesting to hear the family lore, if you will, of the rather remarkable events” from the prince’s perspective, Leval said.
You should not encourage ANYONE to get the digital magazine. It is horrible, almost unusable, basically illegible and useless. What a pleasure to realize you have a perfectly normal website with readable articles.