Pedal to the Past

Two old friends travel Denmark by bike, chasing an amazing story

We Have a Map!

Melanie here.

If we’ve ever met, you know better than to ask me for directions. Anywhere. And that’s in a familiar place and language. But planning this trip has been surprisingly easy, geographically speaking.

I mentioned in the first post that this trip was inspired by the Gerda III, the small Danish boat on display in Connecticut. Howard Veisz, one of the people who cares for the boat at Mystic Seaport was so fascinated by its history that he researched the story and wrote a book – Henny and Her Boat. Turns out, the Gerda III crew was led by a 22-year-old woman, Henny Sinding, who borrowed her father’s boat. Yet another reason to love this story.

One of the first things we did after Lauren was awarded this grant was to read the book and reach out to Howard. His book, and others we’ve read since, literally set us on a path dotted with places to stop and people to meet. Here’s the general route:

  • Copenhagen (home of the international airport!) was where Henny brought the Gerda III (it was based just south, in Dragor). We’ll start with visits to the Museum of the Jewish Resistance, the Danish Jewish Museum and Mindelunden, a memorial to fallen resistance fighters. We’ll also pick up rental bikes.
  • Next we’ll ride north along the coast through harbors used in the escape effort – Taarbaek, Niva, Snekkersten and ending north of Helsingor. Lauren has promised me this is only about 30 miles in total – but looking at this map I’m not so sure!
  • After a good night’s sleep we’ll ride to Gilleleje, where we’ve connected with a local tour guide who will walk us through the harbor and church where Jews were hidden – and on one terrible night captured. There’s a music festival in Gilleleje in July, so we may catch some of that too.
  • Next we’ll ride to Sjaellands Odde and catch a ferry to Aarhus, Denmark’s second largest city and home to the Occupation Museum. We’ll spend a day with the curator there, who has offered to bring us around town to meet both rescuers and people who were rescued. While in Aarhus we also hope to meet a museum friend of a museum friend, who can provide perspective on the interpretation of the Holocaust in museums across Europe. And of course, the Dokk1 library is highly recommended and we’ll be stopping there!
  • We’re planning to take a train back to Copenhagen, and then bike south to Dragor, where the Gerda III began. We’re hoping to arrange a boat ride from there to Sweden…or at least to a lighthouse that was an important guidepost for the Gerda III.
  • From Dragor we’ll bike back to Copenhagen and meet with the head rabbi at the Great Synagogue, who is a descendent of the rabbi there in 1943. After that meeting we’ll return our bikes, and head back to the synagogue for evening services.

Phew! It’s a lot in a short time and I know all but the pedaling will go too fast!

A word about the people we’re meeting along the way. We didn’t know anyone in Denmark two months ago. We sent a few emails and made a few Facebook posts and suggestions came flowing in. Every person we’ve reached out to has led to another introduction…and they’re still coming. Lauren attended a reception for grant recipients, where she was strongly advised not to over-schedule the trip. We’re trying hard to keep some flexibility, but wow – people have been incredibly generous with their time and contacts and we can’t wait to hear their stories.

So yes, we’re still taking suggestions 😊. And we’re glad you’re along for the ride.

Past Posts:

Back to Class

Lauren is back in the classroom – sharing Denmark’s rescue story with her students.

by Melanie Baron

Miles and The Extra Mile

Today we started our 2-day ride from Gilleleje to Aarhus. But first we took one more spin around Gilleleje. We set out to find the rest of the city’s plaques, but we found much more. Yesterday we visited the church’s sanctuary, but the attic where Jews were hidden and captured is only open on Thursdays,…

by Melanie Baron

Reaching the Heart

For the last fifty miles, people have told us to go to Gilleje for the story…and now we’re here!

by Melanie Baron

Context

Today was our first real day of study-tourism, and we started with some background. Jewish context We began the day at the Danish Jewish Museum. I’ve been admiring Danish architecture since we got here, and this one is no accident. It’s a mitzvah. The Hebrew word mitzvah means good deed, large or small. The museum,…

by Melanie Baron

First Impressions

They say you only have one chance to make a first impression, and Copenhagen does not disappoint. It’s beautiful here! Even the SAS plane was gorgeous, flight attendants in crisp uniforms with pillbox hats throughout an 8 hour red eye. Everything is clean, and it works, and what a difference from the chaos and construction…

by Melanie Baron

Packed

Or, how to bike for two weeks with three pairs of socks.

by Melanie Baron

Better Together

The part of this trip I’m looking forward to the most is traveling with an old friend.

by Melanie Baron

Training Wheels

I must really want to go to Denmark, because I don’t sweat on purpose, and I have a very low tolerance for pain.

by Melanie Baron

The Backstory

Pedal to the Past? What is that, anyway? Who’s doing all this pedaling and where are they going?

by Melanie Baron

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