Resistance and Rescue: Denmark and the Holocaust
Judy Glickman Lauder (American, b. 1938). Jens Møller, Gilleleje, fisherman and rescuer. Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist. © Judy Glickman Lauder
JENS MØLLER, GILLELEJE
“We went to Pårup station [the last stop before Gilleleje] to fetch a whole trainload of people and distribute them among the big farms. But there were so many that there was not enough room and the rest were so unhappy. We took an elderly couple and a young couple with twin babies to our house, and some to the carpenter’s. And the neighbors [Frede Svendsen’s mother] brought bread and butter. For three days they stayed. And I stood by and ran back and forth from the harbor to see when there would be room for them to get across.”
Judy Glickman Lauder (American, b. 1938). Karl Egon Petersen, Gilleleje, fisherman and rescuer. Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist. © Judy Glickman Lauder
KARL EGON PETERSEN, GILLELEJE
“I was walking in the street, and somebody came up and asked me if my name was Karl Egon Petersen. I didn’t have to do anything, just tell them where I lived, then they would manage. And then thirty-six Jews moved into my small two-room apartment. I was so scared, I didn’t dare go home. But at eight o’clock I went back and found the apartment empty. I thought the Germans had taken them. The same night I had arranged to help some people in Rågeleje, and I rowed over there. It was agreed that a light would be turned on in one of the windows. But there was no light. I rowed in anyway, and suddenly a flashlight was lit in my face—luckily by the people whom I was to help. There was room for six at a time in the boat, with heavy suitcases, and I rowed back and forth many times. I recognized some of them: they were the same people who had hidden in my apartment. On the last transport we left the hatch slightly open to give the people a little air. Then we were boarded by two [Danish] policemen for inspection. They quickly figured out what was going on and said, ‘Why don’t you open it up and give them a chance to breathe!’”
Judy Glickman Lauder (American, b. 1938). Rabbi Bent Melchior, son of Dr. Marcus Melchior, survivor and Chief Rabbi of Denmark (1970–1996). Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist. © Judy Glickman Lauder
RABBI BENT MELCHIOR
Bent Melchior comes from a family with a long rabbinical tradition and deep roots in Denmark. On September 29, 1943, his father, Dr. Marcus Melchior, interrupted the morning service at Krystalgade synagogue, Copenhagen, to relay the momentous warning of the imminent German roundup of the Jews in Denmark. Twenty years later, in 1963, Bent was ordained as a rabbi, and in 1969 he was named chief rabbi of Krystalgade, succeeding his late father.
Judy Glickman Lauder (American, b. 1938). Dr. Ole Secher, organized resistance efforts. Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist. © Judy Glickman Lauder
DR. OLE SECHER
As a young medical student, Ole Secher organized rescue efforts from the Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen, including staging a fake funeral. Dr. Secher went on to become one of the leading medical authorities in Denmark.
Judy Glickman Lauder (American, b. 1938). Karen Lykke Poulsen, organized resistance efforts. Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist. © Judy Glickman Lauder
KAREN LYKKE POULSEN
During the October rescue, Karen Lykke Poulsen was active in the Communist underground. She organized rescue operations and handled the transport of hundreds of Jews from the southern coast of Zealand.
During the massive German occupation of much of Europe during World War II, the people of Denmark rescued more than 90% of the country’s Jewish residents from German deportation, brutal internment and starvation, and systemic murder. In the early 1990s, photographer Judy Glickman Lauder took portraits of Danes who had protected or rescued Jews and of Jews who were rescued. The stories accompanying each photograph convey the power of moral courage in confronting hate and atrocities.
The German occupation of Denmark began in April 1940. Unlike in other countries, the Danish government was allowed to continue to control its domestic affairs. For the next three years, Danish Jews were not required to register their property, identify themselves based on their religion, or give up their homes and businesses. The Jewish community continued to function and hold religious services.
Then, in August 1943, the German military commander in Denmark declared martial law, took control over the Danish military and police forces, and implemented a plan to capture and deport Danish Jews. Some German officials warned non-Jewish Danes, who in turn alerted the Jewish community.
Danish authorities, Jewish community leaders, and countless private citizens mobilized a massive operation. The Danish resistance, assisted by many Danish citizens, organized a rescue operation that helped hide Jews and move them to the coast, where fishermen ferried them to neutral Sweden. In just a few weeks, about 7,200 Jews and 700 of their non-Jewish relatives traveled to safety in Sweden.
Despite these rescue efforts, about 470 Jews in Denmark were deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto camp in occupied Czechoslovakia, but Danish protests deterred the Germans from transporting them to killing centers. After the war, almost all of the survivors returned to Denmark, where most found their homes and businesses intact because local authorities had refused to allow the seizure or plundering of Jewish homes.
About the Artist
Judy Glickman Lauder is an internationally recognized photographer, humanitarian, and philanthropist. Her work is held in private collections and public institutions around the world, including the J. Paul Getty Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
Her photographs related to the Holocaust were published in the monograph Beyond the Shadows: The Holocaust and the Danish Exception (Aperture Foundation 2018). These photographs are the subject of two traveling exhibitions—Holocaust: The Presence of the Past and Resistance and Rescue: Denmark’s Response to the Holocaust—which have been presented at scores of institutions around the world. Other works by the artist are collected in Upon Reflection: Photographs by Judy Ellis Glickman (2012). She also authored For the Love of It: the Photography of Irving Bennett Ellis (2008) about the work of her father, a physician with a passion for photography, who took several photographs for Eastman Kodak Company advertisements.
Sponsored by Drs. Bruce Barnes and Joseph Cunningham in memory of Moïshé and Rivelé Sztrymfman, who were deported from France and killed at Auschwitz, and in honor of Héna Sztulman, who bravely, steadfastly, and selflessly rescued and protected their son, Isaac.
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