Preben was born to a Protestant family in Snekkersten, a small fishing village. The Germans invaded Denmark in 1940. Preben became a courier in the resistance. When the Gestapo (German Secret State Police) began hunting down Jews in Denmark in October 1943, Preben helped hide refugees in houses near the shore and led them to boats which took them to Sweden. Preben himself had to take refuge in Sweden in November 1943. He returned to Denmark in May 1945.
Leif Donde was born to a Jewish family in 1937 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Three years later in April 1940, Nazi Germany occupied Denmark. For more than three years, the Danish government (which maintained significant autonomy) was able to protect Danish Jews. However, that changed after the Danish government resigned on August 29, 1943 and the Germans imposed martial law. Roundups of Jews started on October 1, and Leif’s parents decided to flee. The family was smuggled by fishing boat to safety in Sweden, where Leif attended school and his parents worked in a garment factory. They survived the war and later returned to Denmark.
In this clip, Leif recounts the night his family packed up and started their journey out of Denmark and towards Sweden. Leif, who was six at the time, describes feeling both afraid and excited.
Germany occupied Denmark in April 1940. The Danish government remained in existence and was able to protect Jews in Denmark from anti-Jewish measures. In late August 1943, however, the Danish government resigned after refusing to accede to new German demands. In early October 1943, German police began arresting Jews. Tove and her family decided to flee. They made their way to the fishing village of Snekkersten, from where they were able to sail to safety in Sweden. Tove returned to Denmark in May 1945.
Preben was born to a Protestant family in the small Danish fishing village of Snekkersten. He was raised by his grandmother, who was also responsible for raising five other grandchildren. Every day Preben commuted to school in the Danish capital of Copenhagen, about 25 miles south of Snekkersten.
1933-39: There were very few Jews in Preben's elementary school, but he didn't think of them as Jews; they were just his classmates and pals. In Denmark they didn't distinguish between Jews and non-Jews, they were all just Danes. By fifth grade, Preben and his classmates heard rumors of a German military build-up. But later, in 1939, his parents said that Hitler had promised not to invade Denmark, which made them feel relatively safe.
1940-42: Occupation. In April 1940 Preben arrived in Copenhagen, where he saw planes overhead and German officers in the street. He joined the resistance as a courier, but he became more involved in October 1943 when the Gestapo began hunting down Danish Jews. They began to help Jewish refugees. They hid them in houses near the shore and brought them to waiting boats at an appointed time. Under cover of darkness, they took up to 12 Jews at a time across the straits to Sweden. The four-mile trip took about 50 minutes.
Preben helped transport 1,400 refugees to Sweden. He fled to Sweden as well in November 1943 when the Germans seized the Danish government. Preben returned home in May 1945.
Leif was born to a Jewish family in the Danish capital of Copenhagen. Both of his parents were active in the Jewish community there, and his father owned a small garment factory. The majority of Denmark's 6,000 Jews lived in Copenhagen before the war. Despite its size, the city's Jewish population supported many Jewish organizations, often aiding Jewish refugees from all over Europe.
1933-39: Leif went to a Jewish nursery school, which was next to a girls' school in Copenhagen. He didn't like his school because they made him take a nap in the afternoon. At school, they learned how to spell and read and sometimes they even sang songs. He played with all kinds of children--some of them were Jewish and some of them were not. Leif didn't really care; they were all his friends.
1940-44: The Germans occupied Denmark in April 1940. For more than three years, the Danish government (which maintained significant autonomy) was able to protect Danish Jews. However, that changed after the Danish government resigned on August 29, 1943, and the Germans imposed martial law. Roundups of Jews started on October 1, and Leif’s parents decided to flee. His father told them to prepare to leave the city. His parents were scared but it seemed like an adventure to Leif. They collected warm clothes and took a train south. In October they were smuggled to Sweden on a fishing boat.
After German troops in Scandinavia surrendered on May 4, 1945, Leif and his family returned to Denmark.
This boat, named "Sunshine" (formerly "Lurifax"), was used during World War II to transport Danish refugees from German-occupied Denmark to neutral Sweden.
Germany occupied Denmark in 1940. When the Germans decided to deport Jews from Denmark in August 1943, Danes spontaneously organized a rescue operation and helped Jews reach the coast; fishermen then ferried them to neutral Sweden. The rescue operation expanded to include participation by the Danish resistance, the police, and the government. In little more than three weeks, the Danes ferried more than 7,000 Jews and close to 700 of their non-Jewish relatives to Sweden, which accepted the Danish refugees. The Germans seized about 500 Jews in Denmark and deported them to the Theresienstadt ghetto in Bohemia. The Danes demanded information on their whereabouts. The vigor of Danish protests perhaps prevented their deportation to the killing centers in occupied Poland.
Most individuals in occupied Europe did not actively collaborate in the Nazi genocide. Nor did they do anything to help Jews and other victims of Nazi policies. Throughout the Holocaust, millions of people silently stood by while they saw Jews, Roma (Gypsies), and other "enemies of the Reich" being rounded up and deported. Many of these bystanders told themselves that what they saw happening was none of their business. Others were too frightened to help. In many places, providing shelter to Jews was a crime punishable by death.
In spite of the risks, a small number of individuals refused to stand by and watch. These people had the courage to help by providing hiding places, underground escape routes, false papers, food, clothing, money, and sometimes even weapons.
Denmark was the only occupied country that actively resisted the Nazi regime's attempts to deport its Jewish citizens. On September 28, 1943, Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, a German diplomat, secretly informed the Danish resistance that the Nazis were planning to deport the Danish Jews. The Danes responded quickly, organizing a nationwide effort to smuggle the Jews by sea to neutral Sweden. Warned of the German plans, Jews began to leave Copenhagen, where most of the almost 8,000 Jews in Denmark lived, and other cities, by train, car, and on foot. With the help of the Danish people, they found hiding places in homes, hospitals, and churches. Within a few weeks, fishermen helped ferry some 7,200 Danish Jews and 680 non-Jewish family members to safety across the narrow body of water separating Denmark from Sweden.
The Danish rescue effort was unique because it was nationwide. It was not completely successful, however. Almost 500 Danish Jews were deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia. Yet even of these Jews, all but 51 survived the Holocaust, largely because Danish officials pressured the Germans with their concerns for the well-being of those who had been deported.
Compared to other nations that came under Nazi Germany’s control, Denmark enjoyed several advantages that helped make the rescue of its Jewish population possible. It was only lightly occupied and, until August 29, 1943, had a largely independent government that had not adopted antisemitic measures, such as marking Jews. Copenhagen, where Denmark’s small Jewish population was concentrated, is less than twenty miles from Sweden, which, as the roundups began, announced it would admit them. In addition, the German military and even most Nazi officials in Denmark made little effort to prevent Jews from escaping. The situation was very different in countries like the Netherlands and Poland that had much larger Jewish populations and that came under total occupation and direct rule by Germany. There, the possibilities for rescue were far smaller and the risks far greater. Nevertheless, without the Danes’ widespread support for Jews and active resistance to Nazi policies, few if any Jews would have survived the Holocaust in Denmark.
There are numerous stories of brave people in other countries who also tried to save the Jews from perishing at the hands of the Nazis. Nearly 12,000 Jewish children were rescued by clergymen in France who found housing for them and even smuggled some into Switzerland and Spain. About 20,000 Polish Jews were able to survive in hiding outside the ghetto in Warsaw with the assistance of non-Jewish Poles. Some Jews were even hidden in the Warsaw Zoo by the zoo's director, Jan Zabinski.
Last Edited: Sep 23, 2025
Author(s):
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC
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