How long was denmark occupied

They continued to fight to maintain and expand their territory, conquering parts of Germany and Estonia. In , with the Kalmar Union, Denmark incl.

The Kalmar Union lasted until Sweden broke away in , the first shot in a long rivalry between Denmark and Sweden for dominance in the region. In , the sovereignty of Norway was transferred to Sweden too. Iceland gained independence in This move led to the war with the Germans which Denmark won. But tensions continued and Denmark was defeated by Germany in a renewed conflict in As a result, Denmark had to cede all three duchies. Denmark remained neutral in World War I.

A small German minority still lives in the region. People and Culture. Since the end of the last Ice Age - approximately 10, BC - people have migrated from the Eastern and Southern parts of Europe to the Northern area we now know to be Denmark.

The flat terrain, rich soil, close proximity to water and at times harsh climate, has shaped Danish history and culture ever since. Seventy years ago this month, an extraordinary mass escape happened from Nazi-occupied Denmark.

Tipped off about German plans to deport them to concentration camps, almost the entire Jewish population - several thousand people - fled their homes and left the country. As he stepped onto the fishing boat that was meant to carry them across the Baltic sea to safety, year-old Bent Melchior feared he might never see his home again. A week earlier, he had left the home in Copenhagen he shared with his parents and four siblings.

It was 8 October and Denmark was under Nazi occupation. Along with thousands of other Danish Jews, Bent and his family were fleeing the Germans. They set off after dark. There were 19 people on the boat, hiding below deck in case German planes should spot them from overhead. The night air was chilly and the sea rough. Melchior and his family were part of a mass escape. That autumn night, 2, Jews set sail for neighbouring Sweden from Danish beaches and ports, in rowing boats, canoes, as stowaways on ferries and cargo ships.

Some even swam across. In September that year, the Nazi secret police - the Gestapo - had decided to deport all Danish Jews to concentration camps, just as they'd done to millions of other Jews across Europe. The raid was scheduled for Friday 1 October, when they had hoped to find families gathering for the Jewish Sabbath dinner. But when they raided their homes, they found fewer than people still there. A few days earlier, Georg Duckwitz, a German naval attache working at the German embassy in Copenhagen, had tipped off Hans Hedtoft, a leading member of the Danish Labour party.

Hedtoft, who later became Denmark's prime minister, warned the Jewish community to leave. So my mum started ringing other Jewish families, encouraging them to 'take a holiday in the countryside'," Melchior recalls.

Eventually, the Jews of Holland, Belgium, Germany, Poland and other occupied countries were deported to concentration camps and death camps. But Germany needed Denmark's help.

This unique relationship benefited Denmark: non-Jewish and Jewish citizens alike were protected from Nazi persecution. No Danish Jew was ever forced to wear the yellow star.

Despite the protection received from Germany, Denmark grew weary of the Nazi presence in its country. By the summer of , outside pressure from Allied sources for the Danes to actively resist German occupation increased.

The tone of the German occupation changed in early Allied victories convinced many Danes that Germany could be defeated. While there had been minimal resistance to the Germans during the first years of the occupation, labor strikes and acts of sabotage now strained relations with Germany. The Danish government resigned on August 28, , rather than yield to new German demands that German military courts try future saboteurs. The following night, the German military commander, General Hermann von Hannecken, declared martial law.

German authorities arrested Danish civilians, Jews and non-Jews alike, and Danish military personnel. Under the state of emergency German authorities took direct control over the Danish military and police forces. Hitler approved the measure nine days later.

Before the final order for deportation came to Copenhagen on September 28, Duckwitz, along with other German officials, warned non-Jewish Danes of the plan. In turn, these Danes alerted the local Jewish community. In the intervening days, Danish authorities, Jewish community leaders, and countless private citizens facilitated a massive operation to get Jews into hiding or into temporary sanctuaries.

When German police began the roundup on the night of October 1, , they found few Jews. In general, the Danish police authorities refused to cooperate, denying German police the right to enter Jewish homes by force, or simply overlooking Jews they found in hiding. Popular protests quickly came from various quarters such as churches, the Danish royal family, and various social and economic organizations.

The Danish resistance, assisted by many ordinary Danish citizens, organized a partly coordinated, partly spontaneous rescue operation. Resistance workers and sympathizers initially helped Jews move into hiding places throughout the country and from there to the coast; fishermen then ferried them to neutral Sweden. The rescue operation expanded to include participation by the Danish police and the government. Over a period of about a month, some 7, Jews and of their non-Jewish relatives traveled to safety in Sweden, which accepted the Danish refugees.