Talking to Strangers

Today we started chasing the story, literally. We rode about 32 miles from Copenhagen to Helsingor, weaving in and out of about a half dozen small harbor towns along the way. Most are beach destinations, with charming little shops and restaurants dotting historic wharfs. A few have historic markers memorializing the town’s role in the rescue effort.

Sweden is right across the Sound to the east.

But it’s easy to imagine these places in 1943. You can see Sweden across the narrow Oresund – from Helsingor, it’s only 2 miles away and a ferry runs all day. The homes and buildings are older, and as we rode and admired thatched roofs and views of the water I couldn’t help wondering which buildings may have been hiding places and who lived in the homes? Did they know? Could they see? Did they help? And who remembers?

These towns remember. We talked to everyone we met. Here, there is pride in this chapter of local history, and families are personally connected. Here are a few of the stories we heard:

Tom worked in a restaurant with secrets

Benjamin takes pride in his grandparents’ role

Soren was a small boy when his Copenhagen home was sabotaged.

The absolute best of today’s accidental interviews came at the end of the day. Lauren and I arrived in Helsingor, checked into our hotel and cleaned up a bit then went out for dinner. It doesn’t get dark until after 10pm here so it’s easy to forget how late it is…and it was getting late. But we decided to take a walk around town before going back to the hotel.

We met Peter, who struck up a conversation about the architecture of a very old church. He grew up in Denmark and now lives in Sweden. We got to talking and learned that his grandfather was a Resistance leader who established an underground newspaper and likely knew Henny of the Gerda III. Amazing stories, recorded in 4 parts – I hope you watch them all.

Part 1: An overview and introduction

Part 2: Secrets

Part 3: Why

Part 4: How the war changed Denmark

I really hope you made it through all of those. Walking around these harbors and towns I want to talk to everyone – I know nobody will ever hear all the stories or put them all together in a way that is complete or definitive – but we are really enjoying asking the questions.

And that is why we should talk to strangers!