G. F. Duckwitz and the Citizens of Denmark

Collaborators in Compassion (1943 - 1945)
by Amelia Frye

Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz was born September 29, 1904 in Bremen, Germany.  After college he began a career in the international coffee trade and spent some time in Scandinavia during the ‘30s as a result of his work.  He joined the Nazi party in 1932 and was assigned as a maritime attaché during the Nazi occupation of Denmark.

In 1940 when Germany attacked Denmark, the government – realizing armed resistance would be futile – surrendered.  In return for providing food and industrial equipment the Danish government stayed in power and continued to function. The Nazi occupation initially treated Denmark’s Jews with moderation in order to secure continuing cooperation.  However, as the occupation continued, resistance amongst Denmark’s citizens grew.  In 1942, in response to the unrest, the civilian administrator was replaced with Werner Best.  Best was known as a brutal man from his work organizing the Gestapo.  He continued the policy of moderation for a few months.  During this time he worked closely with and began to confide in G. F. Duckwitz. 

In late 1943 the Nazis began to organize the deportation of the Danish Jews.  The plan was to round up the Jews, taking them by surprise during Rosh Hashanah.  Of Denmark’s 7,500 Jews, 5,000 were to be transported to Germany by two boats waiting in the harbor at Copenhagen.  The other 2,500 were to be transported by bus. 

On October 1, 1943 Werner Best told G. F. Duckwitz of the deportation plans.  Duckwitz first traveled to Berlin to attempt to stop it though official channels.  When that failed he then traveled to Sweden to arrange sanctuary for Denmark’s Jews.  Duckwitz then returned to Denmark and leaked news of the deportation to the Jewish community and the Danish resistance.

When Copenhagen’s Jews arrived at Rosh Hashanah services they were told by the rabbi not to return to their homes because of the deportation planned for that night.  Word quickly spread though the community, with Denmark’s Christian community hastily arranging sanctuary for their Jewish counterparts.  Some civil servants went so far as to begin calling everyone in the phone directory with a Jewish sounding name to warn them.  At the hospital, hundreds of Jews were hidden in the morgues and psychiatric wards.  When the Germans arrived to make the arrests, they found that most of Denmark’s Jews had disappeared. 

Over then next few weeks the Jewish citizens of Denmark were smuggled to the coast to be transported in fishing boats and other craft across to neutral Sweden, where they would be sheltered.  At first some of the boat captains charged for this service, but as the Danish resistance became more organized they prevented anyone form taking money for transport.  The Germans realized how the Jews were leaving the country and that the Danish authorities were turning a blind eye to the smuggling.  They began to use dogs when inspecting boats leaving the harbors, in an attempt to locate the hidden cargo.  To counter this tactic, scientists in the resistance developed a mixture of powdered rabbit’s blood and cocaine.  Handkerchiefs permeated with this mixture were distributed to the boat captains.  The rabbit’s blood attracted the dogs, and the cocaine temporarily disrupted their sense of smell preventing them from locating the Jews hidden on the boats.

Of the 7,500 Jews living in Denmark, less than 500 were arrested by the Nazis.  These were sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, but they were not abandoned by their neighbors.  The Danish government arranged food, medicine, clothes, and other supplies delivered to their citizens in the camp.  The government also pressured the Nazis into allowing the Red Cross to regularly inspect the conditions.  While some of the Danes in the camp died of disease, at the end of the war more than 400 were bused back to their homes in Denmark.  At the same time, many of those who had escaped to Sweden were also returning.  Unlike the Jews in other countries who returned to find looted homes, the Danish Jews returned to find their plants watered, their pets fed, and their homes cared for by their friends and neighbors.

G. F. Duckwitz served as West Germany’s ambassador to Denmark after the war.  Both he and the Danish Resistance have been honored at Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.

Amelia Frye, administrative assistant at Gratefulness.org, is a Veterinary Technician Student studying through Purdue University's online program.  She volunteers three days a week at a veterinary clinic in Ithaca, NY.

Lest We Forget: Georg F. Duckwitz
Rescue of the Danish Jews (Wikipedia)

For a Newbery award-winning account of the Danish evacuation of Jew – written for 9-12 year olds but also riveting for teens and adults – read Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars.