Denmark In WW2

Denmark During World War 2

(Picture: During the German Occupation, Danish King Christian X became a strong symbol of national independence. This picture was taken on the King's Birthday in 1940.)

From September 1, 1939 until April 9, 1940 Denmark was Neutral during World War 2.

That changed when on April 9, 1940 Nazi Germany invaded Denmark.

The Invasion was called Operation Weserübung (German: Unternehmen Weserübung or in English: Operation Weser Exercise.)

Nazi Germany wanted to occupy Norway to prevent the British from occupying it and they had to go through Denmark to get to Norway.

After less than 6 hours of fighting in which 39 Danish Soldiers died the Danish Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning surrendered Denmark to the Germans.

The German Occupation (Danish: Besættelsen) of Denmark began.

Unlike his Brother King Haakon VII of Norway, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, King George II of Greece, Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg, King Peter II of Yugoslavia and President Władysław Raczkiewicz of Poland, all of whom went into Exile during the Nazi Occupation of their Countries King Christian X remained in Denmark and on the Throne during the German Occupation of Denmark.

The Germans considered the Danes “Aryans” like themselves and so gave the Danes more control over Domestic Policies then they did anywhere else they Occupied.

Denmark Collaborated with the Nazis from April 9, 1940 until August 23, 1943 under a Policy known as Cooperation (Danish: samarbejdspolitikken.)

Thorvald Stauning remained the Danish Prime Minister from April 9, 1940 until his death on May 3, 1942.

Vilhelm Buhl then became the Danish Prime Minister from May 4, 1942 until November 2, 1942.

Erik Scavenius was the Danish Prime Minister from November 9, 1942 until August 29, 1943.

The Danish Parliament, Courts, Police and Civil Administration continued to operate, but under German Orders.

Danish Resistance Groups from April 1940 until August 1943 were mostly Non-Violent towards the German Occupation Forces focusing on spying and printing Illegal newspapers.

After the German Occupation of Denmark the British Occupied the Danish Faroe Islands (on April 13, 1940 until May 1945.)

The British and Canadians Occupied Danish Iceland (on May 10, 1940) and the Americans Occupied Iceland in July 1941until May 1945.

Iceland became a Republic in 1944 and left the Kingdom of Denmark.

The Americans Occupied Danish Greenland from December 11, 1941 until May 1945.

2,000 Danes joined the Volunteers of Free Corps Denmark (Danish: Frikorps Danmark, German: Freikorps „Danmark“) part of the Waffen-SS.

39,000 Danes joined The National Socialist Workers' Party of Denmark (Danish: Danmarks Nationalsocialistiske Arbejderparti; DNSAP) the Danish Equivalent to the German Nazi Party.

The Danish Government refused to discriminate against its Jewish Citizens (there were 8,000 Jews in Denmark at the time) from April 1940 until August 1943.

On June 21, 1941 (when Nazi Germany invaded its Former Ally the Soviet Union) Denmark arrested 246 Danish Communists including 3 Members of the Danish Parliament.

On August 22, 1941 the Danish Parliament created the “Communist Law” (Danish: Kommunistloven) and banned the Communist Party.

In October 1942, Hitler transmitted a long, flattering Birthday Telegram to King Christian.

The King replied with a simple "Spreche Meinen besten Dank aus. Chr. Rex" ("Giving my best thanks. King Christian") sending the Führer into a state of rage at this deliberate slight, and seriously damaging Danish Relations with Germany. Hitler immediately recalled his Ambassador and expelled the Danish Ambassador from Germany.

It was known as the Telegram Crisis (Danish: Telegramkrisen or German: Telegrammkrise.)

After the German Defeat at Stalingrad in the USSR in February 1943 Danish Resistance against the Germans began to pick-up.

In March 1943 the Germans allowed the Danes to hold a General Election where Voter Turnout was 89.5% (the highest of any Parliamentary Election) with 94% of the Votes for Democratic Parties (2.1% Voted for the National Socialist Workers' Party of Denmark.)

After the Election growing Civil Disobedience and Strikes were held throughout Denmark.

The German Occupation Forces declared Martial Law in Denmark on August 29, 1943.

The Danish Parliament and the Danish Prime Minister were forbidden to meet.

The Germans now controlled every aspect of life throughout Occupied Denmark.

Danish Resistance went from being Non-Violent to Violent against the German Occupation Forces from August 1943 until May 1945.

In September 1943 German Diplomat Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz who worked at the German Embassy in Copenhagen learned that the Gestapo were going to arrest and deport all 8,000 Jews in Denmark on October 1, 1943.

He flew to Stockholm, Sweden (which was Neutral during World War 2) and received permission from the Swedish Prime Minister Per Albin Hansson to allow the Danish Jews entry into Sweden.

On September 28, 1943 Duckwitz informed the Head of the Jewish Community in Denmark, C. B. Henriques, and the Acting Chief Rabbi, Marcus Melchior, about the planned Deportation.

On September 29, 1943 (the day before Rosh Hashannah or Jewish New Year’s) the Church of Denmark (Danish: Folkekirken) issued a Pastoral Letter to all Danish Citizens to help the Jews of Denmark get to safety.

On October 2, 1943 the Swedish Government announced in an Official Statement that Sweden was prepared to accept all Danish Jews (after the Danish Physicist Niels Bohr, whose Mother was Jewish, had fled to Sweden and begged Swedish King Gustaf V to allow the Danish Jews into Seeden.)

7,500 of the Danish Jews went into hiding with the help of the Danish Resistance and Ordinary Danish Citizens.

They were then smuggled on boats over the Øresund Strait from Zealand, Denmark to Sweden (which took around an hour.)

The Danish Fishermen charged on average 1,000 Danish Kroner per Person for the transport, but some charged up to 50,000 Kroner.

The Average Monthly Salary at the time was 500 Danish Korner.

The Danish Resistance paid for half the expense (10 Million Danish Kroner) and the Jews themselves paid the other half (10 Million Danish Kroner.)

Of the 500 Danish Jews who didn’t leave Denmark 464 were arrested by the Germans.

They were sent to the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in German-Occupied Czechoslovakia (Present Day: the Czech Republic.)

The Danish Red Cross tried to keep track of the Danish Jews in Theresienstadt and even convinced the Germans not to deport them to the Death Camps in German-Occupied Poland.

Of the 464 Danish Jews arrested, 51 died in Theresienstadt.

In April 1945, Folke Bernadotte of the Swedish Red Cross used a Policy called “White Buses” to move 15,000 (8,000 Danish and Norwegian Jews and 7,000 French, Polish, Czech, British and American Jews) from German Concentration Camps (including Theresienstadt) to Sweden.

On September 14, 1944 the Germans arrested 1,960 Danish Policemen for refusing to help the Germans.

8,040 Danish Policemen were able to evade being arrested due to being warned beforehand.

 The 1,960 Policemen who were arrested were deported to the Neuengamme Concentration Camp in Germany then moved to the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in Germany then sent to a Prisoner-Of-War Camp in Mühlberg, German.

131 of these Policemen died during the War.

The British liberated Denmark on May 5,1945.

The easternmost Danish Island of Bornholm was liberated by the Soviets who remained there until April 5, 1946.

380 Danish Resistance Members were killed during the War.

900 Non-Jewish Danish Civilians were killed during the War.

6,000 Non-Jewish Danish Civilians were sent to German Concentration Camps during the War (of whom 600 died.)

Vilhelm Buhl was made the Prime Minister of Denmark again from May 5, 1945 until November 7, 1945.

40,000 Danes were tried for Collaborating with the Germans after the War.

Only 13,500 of those 40,000 where punished in any way after a Trial.

Over 200,000 German Prisoners-Of-War were made to demine the areas of Denmark that the Germans had mined during the War.

Half of them died from the mines.

By the time Nazi Germany was defeated in May 1945 there were 250,000 German Refugees living in Denmark – having fled the Soviets in East Prussia.

The first of these 250,000 Refugees returned to Post-War Allied (British, French, American and Soviet) Occupied Germany in November 1946.

50,000 Danish Women had Sexual Romances with the Germans during the War.

They were called “tyskerpiger” or “Pro-German Girls.”

At least 5,579 “War Babies” (with a German Father and a Danish Mother) were born from 1940-1945.

These “War Babies” were discriminated against by Danish Society after 1945.

On March 21, 1971 Israel’s Yad Vashem made Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz “Righteous Among The Nations.”

On March 21, 1979 Israel’s Yad Vashem made all the Members of the Danish Resistance “Righteous Among the Nations” for their work in saving the 7,500 Jews from Denmark during the War.