The Danish fishing boat, Astrid, which was part of a flotilla of small craft that ferried nearly 8,000 Danish Jews to safety in Sweden in October, 1943, was permanently land bound today as a monument at the foot of Mount Carmel to the bravery of the Danish people. The monument was dedicated in the presence of hundreds of former Danish Jews whose lives were saved by their fellow Danes 25 years ago and a like number of former Danish resistance fighters who took part in that rescue operation and are now visiting Israel to commemorate the event.
Among the latter was Capt. Jonas Borgesen, master of the Astrid when she made her rescue voyage across the narrow strait separating Denmark from Sweden on the night of Oct. 4, 1943. With tear-filled eyes, he accepted flowers from four Israeli boys and girls – children of men and women whom he had helped save from deportation by the Nazis. The Astrid, now property of the Haifa Maritime Museum, was purchased by Lawrence Schacht. South Orange, N.J. businessman, who is one of the leaders of the United Jewish Appeal’s Israel Education Fund, which is building the Denmark High School, Israel’s largest secondary school.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
