Danes Ferry Their Jewish Neighbours to Safety in Sweden

On September 28, 1943, German diplomat Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz quietly warned Hans Hedtoft, chairman of the Danish Social Democratic Party, that an imminent roundup of Denmark's Jewish population had been ordered. Hedtoft promptly passed the warning to the head of the Jewish community, C. B. Henriques, who alerted acting chief rabbi Marcus Melchior. The following morning, during synagogue services just before Rosh Hashanah, congregants were urged to scatter into hiding immediately and notify their networks. Danish civil servants, churches, and political leaders across the spectrum swiftly joined in opposing the planned deportations.

The German authorities had set the operation for the night of October 1 to 2, calculating that families would be gathered at home for the Jewish New Year. German police and Danish SS volunteers went door to door with lists of addresses in Copenhagen and northern Zealand. Their searches yielded few people, as most Danish Jews had already fled into temporary lodgings, cottages, and coastal woodlands. On Sunday, October 3, a letter from the Danish bishops condemning the persecution of the Jews was read from pulpits across the country, a unified public stand against the roundup.