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.