It was funny seeing the guard marching through the town, and difficult to take seriously. But there is a military barracks right next to the Rosenberg Slot in the King’s Garden, and those are real rifles the guardsmen are carrying.
But what could the country do if it were invaded? That was the question that was asked when the Germans invaded in April 1940. At first there was an accommodation, as it was called. And after all, the two races were similar and no need to make a big thing of the occupation.
But that balance didn’t hold and eventually the sabotage and the attacks broke whatever the accommodation was supposed to mean.
The Museum of Danish Resistance
The Museum of Danish Resistance (Frihedsmuseet) in Copenhagen is built mostly underground. It tells the history Denmark’s German occupation and underground resistance from 1940 to 1945. And it tells it through the eyes of a handful Danes. One is an out-and-out nazi who joins the Waffen SS. Others are in the resistance. Some die, some survive, and the little country shows its common vision by how it responds to the occupation.
The Jews Of Denmark
Early in the occupation, the Danish government and King Christian X resisted Nazi pressure, refusing to force Jews to wear yellow stars, and refusing discriminatory laws against Jewish citizens and Jewish-owned properties and homes.
In October 1943, after three years of the accommodation, the Germans made their move to round up the Jews of Denmark.
A German diplomat secretly tipped off Danish politicians and the Danes swung into action. Ordinary Danes collectively hid and smuggled 7,500 Jews, more than 95% of Denmark’s Jewish population to safety in neutral Sweden.
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