The Big Question

It’s easy to get distracted by the biking aspect of this trip – but we’re not just training our muscles. We’re also preparing our brains.

This is a research trip. We’re going to Denmark to learn more about the rescue of the Danish Jews in 1943. Not the logistical part – that’s well-documented in books and museums. We want to understand the human part. WHY did the Danes do it? What made the people of Denmark risk their own safety to help a small minority, often strangers? Lauren and I have been researching like crazy, and everything we read or watch leads us down a new rabbit hole of questions:

Could this have happened anywhere else? Why was Denmark different?
Was sentiment toward Jews different in western Denmark, near the German border?
Did a lot of Jewish people emigrate to Denmark after the war?
How is the Holocaust taught/remembered in Denmark compared with the rest of Europe? In tone and in substance?
Why don’t more people know about this story?

Seriously, every answer brings more questions. I work for a man who always gets to the heart of the story. When I told him about this trip, he said two amazing things:

Go. This will be life-changing. Don’t worry about vacation time. You have to go.
Get the story of the upstanders. That’s what students and the world need to understand.

He said a bunch of other stuff too, but these are the biggies.

So to Dr. Edwards, thank you for the vacation time. And even more, for helping us focus. I think he’s right. This is a story about making the morally right choice. Even when it’s hard to do. All the other questions support this big one.

On our way to the big question…what else do you want to know? Leave your questions in the comments, and we’ll do our best to find answers!