It’s Different Here (in Aarhus)

We spent the whole day today with Klaus Bertelsen, curator and historian at the Aarhus Occupation Museum. A day of walking, touring, laughing, thinking and questioning. And tonight, we have a new friend. I hope and expect to stay in contact with Klaus as he continues his research.

Klaus met us at our hotel to outline a plan for the day – and suggested we start with the Nazi administrative headquarters in Aarhus, since we were already there. That’s right…our hotel was occupied during the Occupation!

hotel history and Klaus’ research

Klaus also shared that he’s just begun work on a book about Jews in Aarhus, a subject that has not been well-researched or documented. He’s the guy to do it. He’s been working with the city archivist and others to find the type of primary source material we discussed with Niels in Gilleleje to support the stories he hears. For example, he’s matching cemetery names with property deeds and other records to trace families and because the community was so small and well-assimilated, the work is tedious.

In 1943, 95% of Denmark’s Jews lived near Copenhagen. Aarhus is on the peninsula of Jutland, to the northwest of Zealand, the island where Copenhagen sits. There were about 200 Jews in Jutland and the island of Funen, and Klaus and his colleagues have so far identified 60 in Aarhus, and they’re still counting.

There was not a synagogue, the rabbi was regional and travelled between Aarhus and other towns when needed, and Jews were highly assimilated and hard to identify.

As Klaus walked us around the city sharing stories, we recognized that not only was the journey to Sweden more geographically distant from here – it was also more difficult because the Jewish population was so small and less interconnected. Unlike Copenhagen, there wasn’t an announcement at synagogue prompting an immediate response and emergency coordination.

Here are the stories Klaus shared:

A businessman who took 6 years to return and found his business still intact

A tailor who fled to Sweden ahead of his wife and children, helped by a seamstress. His home and business did not survive.

A ballerina from Berlin fled Denmark to Sweden and her employee successfully maintained the dance school until she returned

Another tailor whose business was sold during his absence

The rest of the story

Like the other stories we’ve heard, each of these families depended on others to help them escape and to maintain homes and businesses while they were gone. Some returned to find their properties well-managed, and others lost everything.

Klaus was careful to point out that he didn’t find evidence of anti-semitism as a motivation and believes the poor outcomes were “crimes of opportunity.”

Klaus too is fascinated by upstanders and what motivates them. He spoke of a member of the resistance who, when asked why he participated, said it was “a feeling in his gut.” He had to. We also talked about the Danish culture of social service and support, and the commitment to helping those returning from the war get back on their feet.

Interestingly, in Denmark there is a legal expectation that citizens will assist others in a crisis or emergency. In Sweden, there is no obligation to help. And in the US, a Good Samaritan law protects a person from being sued while trying to help. What does this say about each culture?

Klaus acknowledges that for some, motivations weren’t so pure. We explored the theory Niels shared, that the lead Nazi officer sent from Germany to oversee Denmark – Werner Best – may have set the rescue mission into motion. He told Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, another German diplomatic official, that roundups were imminent and Duckwitz told a Danish politician who told Rabbi Melchior of the synagogue in Copenhagen. This prompted the Jews to go into hiding and escape.

So, why would a Nazi officer leak information he could have predicted would tip off the Danish Jews? Klaus’ theory, like Niels, is that for Best the Jews were a commodity. He needed to prove himself to higher-ups, and he was in a tough position. Hitler wanted the Jews out of Denmark, but he also wanted to maintain the perception that Denmark was an example of a peaceful occupation and keep Denmark’s food and other resources flowing to Germany.

It was a strategic move, and it worked. The Jews were out, the supply chain was uninterrupted, and Best got the military backup he wanted from Berlin. And this self-serving Nazi just may have triggered the escape of the Danish Jews.

Occupation Museum

At the museum, Klaus interpreted more stories for us, meticulously researched and documented. The museum is housed in a former police station that served as Gestapo headquarters. Exhibits in authentic interrogation and torture cells were chilling. Others were tragically heartfelt – like a letter from a child to his father imprisoned at Buchenwald, from a collection saved by the family and shared with Klaus by that child, now in his 80s.

Other exhibits explored the very questions we’ve been considering – complexities of motivation. When the law conflicts with ethics and morals, who is a hero and who is a villain? What should be punished and what should be forgiven? Is it reasonable to expect or require that we help one another, even at great personal risk? Or is that judgement a privilege of hindsight?

These are the questions a good interpreter of history grapples with. And we were so fortunate to spend the day with one. We’re looking forward to his book!