16 | JULY 27 • 2023 

D

uring a recent tour 
of the Zekelman 
Holocaust Center, 
Mike Smith, president of 
the Danish Brotherhood 
Organization in Michigan, 
donated $35,000 to the Center 
in memory of heroic Danish 
citizens who saved their 
Jewish brethren. 
About 20 members of 
the Danish Brotherhood, a 
fraternal organization founded 
over 100 years ago to assist 
Danes coming to the United 
States, were in attendance, as 
was Dave Christensen, the 
Danish Consul in Michigan.

WHY WERE THE DANES 
REMARKABLE DURING 
THE HOLOCAUST?
Approximately 8,000 Jews 

lived in Denmark when 
the Nazis invaded on April 
9, 1940, and took over the 
country. The Germans 
considered the Danes their 
ethnic equals and allowed the 
Danes to run the country as 
before the invasion.
During the Nazi occupation 
of Denmark, the Danes did 
not allow discrimination 
against their Jewish citizens. 
In August of 1943, the Nazis 
decided to arrest and deport 
the entire Jewish population 
to Nazi concentration camps. 
The Jews were to be taken on 
Oct. 1, 1943, the first night of 
Rosh Hashanah, because the 
Nazis believed that the Jews 
would all be at their homes.
Seventy-two hours before 
the Nazis launched their 

campaign against Danish 
Jews, Jewish citizens received 
a secret warning. First, 
arrangements were made with 
Sweden, a neutral nation, to 
accept Danish Jews. Then 
the Danish population went 
to work and hid almost their 
entire Jewish population in 
private homes, churches and 
hospitals, and secreted them 
to the Danish coast, where 
more than 300 private boats 
made more than 1,000 trips, 
ferrying the Jews across the 
narrow strait separating 
Denmark from Sweden. 
Unfortunately, 580 Jews 
were unable to leave, but they 
were not deported to death 
camps. Rather, they were sent 
to Theresienstadt, where all 
but 51 survived as a result 
of the pressure the Danish 
government placed on the 
Nazis.
In the end, the citizens of 

Denmark saved 90% of their 
Jewish citizens. As a result, 
the entire Danish population 
was recognized as “Righteous 
Among the Nations” by 
Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. 
Denmark is the only nation to 
have been so honored by Yad 
Vashem.
What is equally remarkable 
is that when Danish-
Jewish citizens returned to 
Denmark after the Shoah, 
they found their homes and 
their businesses perfectly 
maintained and the synagogue 
and all their Jewish relics 
preserved. The Danes are 
a truly remarkable people; 
had other people in other 
countries made similar 
choices, there may not have 
been a Holocaust. 

Bernie Mindell is a docent at the 

Zekelman Holocaust Center in 

Farmington Hills. 

OUR COMMUNITY
Michigan Danes 
Donate $35,000 
to Holocaust 
Center 

BERNIE MINDELL SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE HC

Brotherhood President Mike Smith 
presents a check to Center CEO 
Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld.

Danish Brotherhood 
membership at the 
Zekelman Holocaust 
Center.

