The Miracle in Denmark

This tour is about Jewish Copenhagen, and an important chapter in the history is of course the Rescue Action during World War II.

The first Jews were invited to come to Denmark as early as in the 17th Century by King Christian IV, but it took many years before the Jews were given the same conditions as Danish citizens. Amongst others Jews were not accepted in guilds, and only after the Constitution was ratified in 1849 Jews were allowed to practice their own religion.

The Synagogue in Krystalgade is pulled back from the street level in order to appear more subtle, however today the Danish Jews are fully integrated in the Danish society. Denmark counts several famous personalities of Jewish origin, e.g. Niels Bohr, Victor Borge and Arne Jacobsen.

Where the Danish people were rather xenophobe in the past, they stood together to protect the Jews during the Nazi occupation from 1940-45. It was the Danish Resistance who organized the Rescue Action in the fall of ’43, where almost 7000 Danish Jews succeeded in fleeing the country and go to Sweden, and thus avoided to be sent to concentration camps.

All this and much more shal we hear about as we visit the Danish Resistance Museum and when we continue on the Jewish Museum, which is located in Christian IV’s old boathouse. Here Daniel Libeskind has decorated the rooms with Danish oak and Swedish birch representing the Danish fishing boats that sailed across the sound to freedom in Sweden.

We shall also hear the legend of The King and the David Star and learn where the Torah scrolls were hidden from the Nazis.