Review of A Light in the Northern Sea, by Tim Brady, pub. Citadel Press 2025

[sheenaghpugh]

"So unprepared were most people; so little did a large part of Denmark’s population understand what had happened; so little had a majority grasped the nature of Nazism."

This is an account of the Nazi occupation of Denmark in World War 2, with special reference to Danish Jews and the largely successful efforts of the resistance and others to save them from genocide.  But its relevance goes beyond that one situation; it also concerns the difficulties of deciding how to deal with aggressors and madmen in power, which could hardly have more contemporary relevance.

While Sweden’s neutrality was respected, Denmark, like Norway, was invaded and occupied by Germany early in the war (1940). They were caught unprepared: “Intelligence had suggested for weeks that German forces had been building on the border near Jutland in obvious preparation for an invasion, but Danish leaders in the foreign ministry had decided that any defense preparations would be viewed as provocative by Hitler, so they opted to do nothing, which left the Danish Army and Navy with their hands tied” (I should mention that Brady is American and hence naturally uses US spelling conventions). Now faced with vastly superior forces, the king (Christian X) and government reluctantly decided to submit, under protest, rather than resist at the certain cost of many Danish lives.

This did not sit well with most Danes. There were some, especially near the border with Germany, who supported Hitler, but most were indignant and ashamed at having been invaded and without resistance – sabotage, on a small scale, began almost at once and soon escalated when SOE were able to help. But it is hard to see what else the Danish authorities could have done, except be better prepared in the first place. Resistance, once the invasion had begun without warning, would not only have cost many lives but would also have been futile. The king, especially, hoped to be able to influence the course of events and protect his people better by staying and wielding at least some authority.

For some time, this seemed to work. The Germans, warned by their men on the spot about the Danish character – “The Dane is freedom-loving […] He rejects every coercion and every subordination. He lacks a sense of military discipline and authority” – adopted a hands-off approach. Saboteurs were dealt with under Danish law rather than shipped off to Germany and there was at first no persecution of Jews, the king having made it very clear that “there is no Jewish question in the country. There is only my people.”

With hindsight, the first hint of trouble came when, after invading Russia in 1941, the SS demanded the arrest of Danish Communists. “Would the Danish government insist on their protection as Danish citizens? […] The answer to that last question was no, […] Danish Communists were rounded up and taken to a Danish internment camp, Horserod, in August. Soon after, the Danish Ministry of Justice drafted a law making any Communist activities and organizations illegal in Denmark”.

Danish Communists had made themselves unpopular with their fellow-citizens by supporting the Soviet Union’s invasion of Finland. But resistance fighters, like the Kieler family, recognised that this was the thin end of the wedge, an admission that Denmark could not rely on being able to protect its own citizens from the invader. But the Communists were at least still in Denmark, and many still allowed themselves to hope things would get no worse. This, by and large, included Denmark’s Jews. They had had a long and mostly untroubled history of settlement in Denmark, since the 17th century when Sephardic Jews came to escape Tsarist pogroms in Russia. They were very assimilated. “The Jewish population, in general, felt as certain as most other Danes in the hope that the country’s culture, its democratic traditions, its king, and its economic importance to Germany would save it from the usual depredations visited on Germany’s own Jews and the Jews of Eastern Europe. If they just kept their heads down; if they stayed as invisible as possible, they might make it through.”

But imitating the action of the ostrich can be risky, when faced with an unpredictable and capricious opponent. Hitler’s attitude to Denmark apparently hardened after he sent Christian X a rather fulsome birthday greeting in 1943. This seems to have disgusted the king, already no fan of his, who replied with a curt 4-word note of thanks. Hitler went into a tantrum, as mad despots tend to do when they feel insulted; indeed much as Trump does these days. From then on, the Jews of Denmark were in as much danger as elsewhere, but it would still take a lot to convince them.

Fortunately there was by now a flourishing Danish resistance. In response to their increased activity the Germans demanded that the Danish government declare a state of emergency and enact draconian laws. The government refused and abdicated its functions, while Christian X declared himself a prisoner of war. “The next day, the citizens of Copenhagen awoke to find German troops swarming everywhere in the city, guarding and occupying all government buildings. In addition, von Hanneken ordered the roundup of hundreds of Danish leaders, including military figures, intellectual and political leaders, and, for the first time, leaders of the Jewish community.”

The resistance now applied themselves not just to sabotage but to helping the Jews to escape. But many would not have been persuaded of their danger in time, had it not been for a German diplomat, Georg Duckwitz, who tipped off both the Danes and Sweden that arrests were imminent and urged Sweden to accept the refugees. The physicist Niels Bohr, whose mother was Jewish, had also been working to this end and continued to do so once he had escaped to Sweden.

From then on, the book describes the efforts of good and brave people to thwart the genocide. Led by the young surgeon Dr Karl Koster, the staff of Bispebjerg Hospital turned the whole place into a safe house. The Kieler family, Henny Sinding and others organised boat crossings to Sweden and raised money both for the emigrant families, and for the fishermen who were risking life and livelihood by carrying them. “During a particularly busy moment at the height of the evacuation, Dr Koster found the coffers bare just as a group of Jews were being prepared for transport. In searching around for some source of emergency funds, he remembered that King Christian was being held under house arrest in nearby Sorgenfri Palace. In a move that was considered as audacious as it was necessary for the rescue of the refugees, Koster sent two of his most trusted nurses to the king to ask for his charity. According to Koster’s own account of the incident, ‘They were not disappointed’.”

The book focuses on individuals and is the livelier and more absorbing for this. But the message it left with me concerned the danger of the ostrich approach. If it looks like a fascist, talks like a fascist and acts like a fascist, don’t waste time hoping it may turn out to be a pussycat. Believe that it will do what it says. 95% of Denmark’s Jews were saved, but the conduct of the Nazis toward those they did lay hands on, including all the inhabitants of an old folk’s home, indicates what would have happened were it not for people like those in this book. Don’t think you can appease the beast either; you probably can’t. Elsebet Kieler, one of the resistance, was conflicted because she was a confirmed pacifist and hated the idea of causing death. She consulted the pastor, poet and resister Kaj Munk, who advised “Burn all your literature on this topic, at the present moment it is not relevant, or is simply a millstone round your neck—and learn how to use a machine gun”. Munk was eventually killed by the Nazis.