Right Place, Right Time

Before leaving Aarhus this morning, we couldn’t resist learning a little more about our hotel. So we asked a 10-year employee.

We didn’t learn anything new about Nazis, but we wish we’d seen the bees!

Originally, Lauren had planned to ride back to Copenhagen from Aarhus. Some additional meetings and a trip to Sweden cut into our travel time so we agreed to take the train – and it’s a good thing because as soon as we boarded it started to rain. Also a 3-hour train ride is an excellent opportunity for a nap.

We woke up in Copenhagen as the rain was stopping, and biked 10 miles south to Dragor, a small fishing village and one-time home of the Gerda III. Tomorrow we’ll meet a local historian so today we visited the tiny history museum and walked around Dragor’s harbor and old town. We saw the Gerda IV, which replaced the Gerda III and is still a working boat.

We walked out to an old fort the Nazis occupied and from there could see the lighthouse Henny’s boat serviced. This regular route, and the Resistance members who came to know the Gerda III’s crew, first suggested using the boat to run people and supplies back and forth to Sweden.

Maybe the best chance encounter was with this woman, whose grandparents hid Jews in their harborside home.

We just ran into her and overheard her telling someone else this story.

What stuck with us the most of this story was her memory of her grandmother’s fear, even decades later. Rescuers at every level took a real risk.

Oddly enough, when we got closer to her grandfather’s house – where her parents now live – we noticed another Star of David window!! These have to mean something. There were a few more around town too – we will ask the historian tomorrow about them.