King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid of Denmark attended services at the Copenhagen Synagogue yesterday commemorating the 25th anniversary of the escape of nearly all the 8,000 Jews of Denmark to Sweden under the eyes of the German Army, the New York Times reported from Copenhagen. The services were conducted by Chief Rabbi Marcus Melchoir who, from the same pulpit on Sept. 29. 1943, warned his congregation of Nazi plans to deport Danish Jews. The plans had been leaked to Danish leaders by a German consular official in Copenhagen. Seated in the crowded synagogue were many of the Danes who helped hide Jews in churches, beach-side inns and woods and then smuggled them in small boats across the narrow straits to Sweden, the Times story said.
(Between the end of September and the middle of October, 1943, nearly 8,000 Jews had escaped to Sweden. Only 472 were captured by the Germans and they were shipped to the camp at Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia. Of them, 52 died. The others, along with those in Sweden, eventually returned to Denmark. There are about 6,000 Jews comprising 1,900 families in Denmark today, Times correspondent John M. Lee reported. They support a Jewish day school, three kindergartens and three old-age homes. In addition to the large Copenhagen Synagogue, there is a small Orthodox congregation in Copenhagen.)
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
