The Holocaust is certain to be remembered as humanity's blackest chapter of the century - between 1941 and 1945, the German dictator Adolf Hitler and his Nazis murdered some 6 million Jews. In 1933 nine million Jews lived in the 21 countries of Europe that would be military occupied by Germany during the war. By 1945 two out of every three European Jews had been killed. 1.5 million children were murdered. This figure includes more than 1.2 million Jewish children, tens of thousands of Gypsy children and thousands of handicapped children.

The Holocaust is a history of enduring horror and sorrow. It seems as though there is no spark of human concern, no act of humanity, to lighten that dark history. 

Yet there were acts of courage and kindness during the Holocaust - stories to bear witness to goodness, love and compassion. Amidst the madness of war, there were moments of hope and illumination. One such instance was the Danish Jews’ escape from Hitler’s genocidal plan to eradicate all Jews from Europe. 

Risking their own lives, the Danes quickly rallied round to save their fellow citizens, and almost all of the country's Jews were able to escape the clutches of the Nazis and find refuge in neutral Sweden.

The rescue of the Danish Jews is an inspiring story from a terrible time in human history. In most other Nazi-occupied countries, the Germans found it easy to deport the Jews. No one defended them the way the Danes did. 

Danish Jews escape

Almost the entire Jewish population of Denmark was rescued and survived the war years, mostly in neutral Sweden and a few hundred in the KZ camp Theresienstadt under the distant but constantly protective concern of the Danes.