Sixty Years Ago This Month

Sixty Years Ago This Month - We're three weeks into the third year of a war that truly has no end in sight.

As bad as that feels in the pit of the gut sometimes, it helps to consider the example of people who fought against vastly worse odds than we face today, also with no end in sight.

I've studied one form of military history or another for decades. My favorite subject, of course, is World War II - and one of the most interesting topics of the war was that of the various resistance movements that sprang up, especially in the intensely pacifistic countries of Scandinavia and the Low Countries. I believe it's no coincidence that some of the most pacifistic countries in Europe (Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway) have some of the largest, best-equipped militaries, relatively speaking; all suffered under Nazi occupation, and all have vowed "never again" to whatever extent.

Especially interesting are the Danes; while their nation has a pacifistic reputation, their troops were among the most respected in Bosnia (because, unlike most UN troops, they had no problems meeting snipers and mortars with machine guns and tanks - they tended to accomplish their mission first, and worry about lace-panty UN buncombe later); their special forces are among NATO's best; they, alone among continental Western European nations, contributed combat forces (a submarine) to the war in Iraq (and I don't believe for a moment that the boat was "gathering intelligence"; Polands GROM naval commando unit has trained extensively with the Danes, and was tasked with taking and holding offshore oil rigs; I'll bet dimes to dollars there's a connection).

So about two weeks ago, I finished reading The Savage Canary, David Lampe's history of the Danish Resistance in World War II. It's a story we all need to remember in these dire times.

Especially this story.

Sixty years ago this month, over the course of about three weeks in October of 1943, the Danish Resistance managed to find and smuggle nearly all of Denmark's Jewish population to Sweden. They started with some terrible handicaps; Denmark's few synogogues had detailed membership records of most native Danish Jews (Danes are a thorough people), while many more Jews were refugees from Germany and Eastern Europe who were working on the farms, and stood out from the general population.

Using a network of churches, unions, resistance fighters and sympathetic Danish citizens, the Danish resistance managed to to spirit over 7,000 of the 8,000 Jews in Denmark into fishing boats and freighters and smuggle them across the narrow straits into Sweden, evading German patrols on land and ships at sea. The story is an inspirational one - and, unfortunately, a unique one.

Of 30,000 Danes that were active in the resistance, 3,000 were killed in action, executed by the Germans, or died in concentration camps. Certainly not the worst odds of the war (Polish resistance troops had about a 1 in 4 chance of surviving), but not good either.

As the world notes the passing of Leni Riefenstahl, who did much to herald the rise of Nazism, I'd like to make sure the world notes a countervailing act of courage and resistance that has passed nearly unnoticed in the United States. It's important to remember - partly to pay homage to the anniversary of one of history's great acts of bravery and compassion, and partly to help us remember that in a world full of terrorists and their enablers, great selfless courage still exists.

UPDATE: A commenter and an emailer both noted that Norway also smuggled out many of its Jews - about 3/4 of them, according to the B'nai B'rith's "Black Book". Very true - and equally heroic. But it was carried out in smaller numbers, over a much longer time, while the bulk of the Danish action took place almost completely within a month - thus, easier to commemorate with a time-linked article.