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The Second World War
and the German Occupation

Soon an active Danish Resistance Movement developed. The father of Chris's close friend, Marie Sorenson, was a member, and she remembered him quietly leaving the house to attend meetings.

Ten Commandments from a Dane:

You must not go to work in Germany or Norway.
You must do bad work for the Germans.
You must practice working in slow motion for the Germans.
You must destroy all the tools and machines that could be useful to the Germans.
You must try to destroy anything that can be profitable to the Germans.
You must delay all transports to Germany.
You must boycott German and Italian newspapers and films.
You must buy nothing from German shops.
You must behave with the traitors according to what they deserve.
You must protect whatever is pursued by the Germans.

(From Jacques Semelin, Unarmed against Hitler: Civilian Resistance in Europe, 1939-1943 (Westport Conn./London: Praeger, 1993)

The Second World War
and the German Occupation

During 1942, the resistance carried out sabotage raids against railroads and factories. In August 1943, the Danish government resigned amidst the crisis, and the Germans began running the country directly.

Cover of the June 1943 edition of Vestjyden (The Western Jutlander), an illegal paper published by local communists from 1942 to 1945. (Archives of Danish Occupation History, 1940–1945, Esbjerg)

The Danes still struggled to maintain independence and control. The government refused to implement anti-Jewish legislation, for example, and in October 1943, the resistance movement collected millions of Danish crowns to help more than 7,000 Danish Jews escape to Sweden. As a result, 95 per cent of Denmark's Jews survived the war.

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