It also included the more recently arrived “Russian Jews” who were first generation immigrants, and, perhaps more surprisingly, the not insignificant number of stateless Jews, mostly German refugees on the run from Nazi persecution. In the case of Denmark in the 1940s, the inclusion not only related to the well-established Jewish families who had been part of Danish society for centuries. Whom do we see as part of society and thus under the protection of the communality? And whom do we see as strangers living among us? But it may be less obvious who would in that case be considered countrymen. We have no reason to believe that Danes or other Europeans would not today act on their own initiative to help their countrymen at peril.

And yet, the history of the escape of the Danish Jews shows to us the critical importance of the answers.

The question goes to the heart of one of the most intense discussions of modern democracies: who are “we” and who belongs to our society? What does it take to be British – or Danish, or for that matter German? And who, living in Britain or in Denmark, are not seen as part of the national “us”? These questions find no easy answers.

This unique story begs the question whether the same would be true today? Would Danes – or for that matter any other people – in a comparable situation rise up and act spontaneously to rescue their countrymen, even at the risk of their own safety? But it is clear that the resistance of the Danes towards discrimination and persecution of their Jewish countrymen made it possible for the Danish Jews to escape. It is hard to conclude that something similar could have been achieved elsewhere under different conditions. The Danish opposition to the action caused the Nazis to hesitate and at the same time stimulated a consideration in Berlin of whether the action against the Danish Jews was worth the price? The continuation of “Model-Protectorate Denmark” with provisions of foodstuffs to Germany proved to be more important to the Nazi leaders than deporting and killing the Danish Jews. The Germans anticipated the popular Danish reaction in defense of their countrymen and sought to downplay the raid in order not to stir up too much trouble in the occupied country. This attitude provoked a surprising reaction on the part of the Nazi leadership which not only hesitated and postponed the measures that were put in place elsewhere, but also softened the blow when finally, on October 1, 1943, the raid against the Danish Jews was executed.

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