The happiest people: How Denmark's Jews were saved in World War II

Presented to the Club by Erik Bruun on Monday evening, January 20, 2014

1. Do Tell A Lie

The author's father, Bertel Bruun, drawn by a
 Latvian refugee in a camp overseen
 by his grandfather.

When the German army invaded Denmark virtually unimpeded in the early morning of April 9, 1940 in World War II, my father was 2 1/2 years old. He lived in a fishing village called Skaelskor about 60 miles from the nation’s capital Copenhagen. His father, Erik Valdemar Marie Andre Ley Bruun, was the town doctor.

Unlike many Danes who at first accepted the German occupation with quiet resignation, my grandfather (Bedstefar to me) opposed the new turn of events. He headed a family with four children and was the only doctor in town so he carried a heavy weight of responsibilities. Nonetheless, Bedstefar was among the many doctors and nurses in Denmark who joined the Resistance.

The Danish medical community developed an elaborate system of transportation networks, secret hiding places, passwords, and links to fishermen who shuttled men, women and children on the run across the Oresund straights to safety in Sweden. Copenhagen’s hospitals served as a clearinghouse for downed American and British pilots who were shuttled to Sweden, and played a central role in the historic and nationwide rescue of Danish Jews. Doctors such as my grandfather received extra gas rations and so were in a position to transport refugees and rescued airmen.

Danish Resistance members, Odense, 1945

By 1943 Danish public opinion had turned very strongly against the German occupation. An active Resistance emerged. My father (now aged 5) eagerly joined the effort by wearing red, white and blue beanie caps designed to resemble the British Royal Air Force insignia. This, he liked to say, was his contribution to the war effort.