The Jews of Denmark in the Holocaust

Life and Death in Theresienstadt Ghetto

Silvia Goldbaum Tarabini Fracapane, Silvia Tarabini Fracapane

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9780429514869
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

Based on never previously explored personal accounts and archival documentation, this book examines life and death in the Theresienstadt ghetto, seen through the eyes of the Jewish victims from Denmark.

"How was it in Theresienstadt?" Thus asked Johan Grün rhetorically when he, in July 1945, published a short text about his experiences. The successful flight of the majority of Danish Jewry in October 1943 is a well-known episode of the Holocaust, but the experience of the 470 men, women, and children that were deported to the ghetto has seldom been the object of scholarly interest. Providing an overview of the Judenaktion in Denmark and the subsequent deportations, the book sheds light on the fate of those who were arrested. Through a micro-historical analysis of everyday life, it describes various aspects of social and daily life in proximity to death. In doing so, the volume illuminates the diversity of individual situations and conveys the deportees' perceptions and striving for survival and 'normality'.

Offering a multi-perspective and international approach that places the case of Denmark into the broader Jewish experience during the Holocaust, this book is invaluable for researchers of Jewish studies, Holocaust and genocide studies, and the history of modern Denmark.

1 The Jews in Denmark on the eve of the Judenaktion

German troops crossed the Danish border on the morning of April 9, 1940.¹ On the same day, the government and King Christian X issued a proclamation urging the population not to resist. This marked the beginning of the so-called policy of negotiation adopted by the Danish government and parliament with the occupying power.² This cooperation allowed the Danish government to remain in power and Denmark to be treated as a neutral and sovereign country. Germany and Denmark were never formally at war, and negotiations went through the ministries of foreign affairs of the two countries; Denmark’s Legation in Berlin continued to exist. No Nazi rulership was put in place. On April 10, 1940, a coalition government was formed of members from the previous government (the Social-Democrats and the Danish Social-Liberal Party) as well as members of the Liberal Party and the Conservative People’s Party. Government reconstructions took place in July, and twice in 1942, but the government continued to be composed of members of the same parties. In March 1943 elections were held with a historically high participation of 89.5% of the voters, who supported the principle of a coalition government with 95% of the given votes.³ Danish courts continued to function, and until September 1943 the German Security Police (SIPO) had no executive power.⁴ The Danish police continued to function until it was dissolved on September 19, 1944, when a major part of the police force was deported to Nazi Germany. As long as the Danish government remained in power, until late August 1943, neither executions nor deportations took place. Unlike the rest of occupied Northern and Western Europe, Denmark was not included in the scope of the so-called Night and Fog Directive (Nacht- und Nebel-Erlass), issued by Adolf Hitler in December 1941. The directive decreed that people in occupied countries who were caught for offences against the German Reich would be brought to Germany “by night and fog,” and sentenced by special courts. The exception of Denmark meant that, up until August 1943, a relatively late point of the war, only about ten Danes were serving sentences in German prisons.⁵

On September 7, 1941, an announcement was printed in Danish newspapers that Jews in Germany from the age of six would have to wear markings: “The marking consist of a six pointed star of yellow tissue in size of a palm, which has to be worn sewn on the left breast side of the clothes.”⁶ A few days later, King Christian X noted in his diary a conversation he had had with Minister of Finance Vilhelm Buhl (temporarily replacing Prime Minister Stauning, who was ill) about how to counter an eventual decree for the Jews in Denmark. According to the king, the exchange of words began with Buhl’s:

When one saw the inhuman treatment the Jews were subject to, not only in Germany, but also in other occupied countries, one began to be anxious that the requirement would also once be posed on us, but we would have to purely reject it as a result of their legal position within the Constitution.

I stated, that neither would I agree to such a claim against Danish citizens. If such a claim was raised, we best countered it by all wearing the “Star of David”. The minister of finance inserted that this was after all always a resort.⁷

Markings of Jews were at no point introduced in Denmark.⁸ Even Danish Jews in Germany were, until April 30, 1943, exempted from wearing the star; after that date the vast majority of them had been repatriated.⁹ The Danish government stated on several occasions that it would not consider the so-called Jewish question. During his visit to Berlin to sign the anti-Comintern pact on November 25, 1941, Minister of Foreign Affairs Erik Scavenius met with Hermann Göring, who brought it up, to which Scavenius allegedly replied that there was no “Jewish question” in Denmark.¹⁰

In January 1942 stories began to circulate about King Christian X, who purportedly had threatened to abdicate if Nazi authorities insisted on introducing the Nuremberg laws in Denmark.¹¹ This rumour is an example of how Danes abroad actively tried to better Denmark’s image, to produce positive news to enhance the goodwill towards their homeland.¹² The story made Unterstaatssekretär Martin Luther from Auswärtiges Amt (AA) ask for an explanation as to what the rumour was founded on as he was not aware that any steps to implement such a policy in Denmark had been taken.¹³ A few weeks later, at the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, Martin Luther envisaged that the far-reaching treatment (tiefgehender Behandlung) of the Jews would meet difficulties in the Nordic countries. He continued that it would therefore be advisable to postpone such action, which, in view of the small numbers of Jews, would not, in any case, cause a significant curtailment.¹⁴

Adolf Hitler sent his congratulations when King Christian X turned 72 on September 26, 1942. King Christian answered with a telegram in his usual concise style: “Express my deepest gratitude.”¹⁵ This brief answer caused a crisis in the Danish-German relationship, when Hitler used it as a pretext to change the policy in Denmark by replacing the diplomat Cecil Renthe-Fink with the SS-general Werner Best as Reich Plenipotentiary (Reichsbevollmächtigte). On the Danish side, the Buhl government stepped down, and a new government was led by Scavenius, who, from November 1942, became prime and foreign minister. On January 13, 1943, Werner Best reported to Berlin that Scavenius had declared that he and his government would step down, if a legislation against the Jews was installed. In case of a Judenaktion it would be necessary to send more police and military to Denmark, but for the sake of his policy Best was (like his predecessor) against such a step in Denmark at that time.¹⁶ On April 24, 1943, Werner Best reiterated that it would be harmful to the German policy in Denmark if an action against the Jews was to take place. The Jewish influence in Denmark was rather small, Best stated, and it would not be worth it to risk the Danish government breaking off the cooperation.¹⁷ At the end of June 1943, Heinrich Himmler stated that, for the time being, no measures against the Jews in Denmark were to be taken, until a new order was issued by him.¹⁸

No legislation was introduced in Denmark aimed at the Jews. Jews kept their positions, including in the state administration, even after the government stepped down on August 29, 1943. Einar Cohn, for example, the permanent secretary of the Department of Statistics, continued to work until he fled to Sweden in early October 1943.¹⁹ In a few cases the Danish Broadcasting Corporation exercised a degree of self-censorship with regard to Jewish freelance staff, and on a few occasions the German censorship required them to cancel lectures about or by Jews.²⁰ The research of Jacob Halvas Bjerre has, however, revealed that the exclusion of Jews from businesses who were involved in trade with Germany in the years 1937 to August 1943 was the most successful part of the German Judenpolitik in Denmark. This took place with the silent acceptance of the Danish government, who reacted with flexibility to the informal German demands. Furthermore Danish police actively cooperated with their German counterparts by investigating the “racial” background of a number of Danish nationals and refugees upon German requests.²¹

After August 1943, when the Danish Broadcasting Cooperation fell under strict German censorship Jewish musicians, composers, and actors were banned, and ten of the permanent staff members were asked to present papers documenting two generations of non-Jewish ancestry.²² In a few cases Jews married to non-Jews remained at their posts, even after the Judenaktion, like Siegfried Hartogsohn, head of division at the Danish National Bank.²³

Figure 1.1 Rosa Nachemsohn standing in front of the Danish and Zionist flags on her 75th birthday in January 1943. On December 22 that year, she died in Theresienstadt. Left of her sits Chief Rabbi Friediger. By courtesy of Arthur Arnheim.

The Jewish community

On the eve of the Judenaktion there were about 6,500 Jews in Denmark. The numbers vary depending on the source. The most recent census documenting religious affiliation was recorded in 1921; at that point, 5,875 Jews were registered in Denmark.²⁴ In the minutes of the Wannsee Conference of January 20, 1942, the number of Jews in Denmark is estimated at 5,600.²⁵ On the same day Cecil von Renthe-Fink,²⁶ the German plenipotentiary of Denmark, sent a repor...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 The Jews in Denmark on the eve of the Judenaktion
• 2 The Judenaktion
• 3 Ghetto Theresienstadt and the arrival of the Danish transports
• 4 Housing and work for adults and children
• 5 Relationships inside and outside the national group
• 6 Everyday life
• 7 Despair, disease, and death
• 8 Shipments of parcels
• 9 Danish parcels seen from the ghetto
• 10 The visit of the international delegation, June 23, 1944
• 11 After the visit
• 12 Witnessing the transports
• 13 The last months in Theresienstadt
• 14 Life after the ghetto
• Conclusion
• Appendix 1: list of people on the transports
• Appendix 2: demography of the deportees from Denmark
• References
• Illustration credits
• Index
• Map of Theresienstadt