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In the fall of 1943, Danish citizens helped more than 90 percent of Denmark's estimated 8,000 Jews escaped Nazi deportation by ferrying them to Sweden. The target date was October 1, 1943, the second day of Rosh Hashanah. Denmark was the first Scandinavian country to permit Jewish settlement. This occurred in 1622 when a small group of Sephardic Jews settled from Amsterdam and Hamburg. There are about 8,000 Jews living in Denmark at this time centered around Copenhagen, the capital city, where there are two synagogues, a day school, three kosher butchers, a large community center and library. Traveling to Denmark can be an enlightening experience ... very much so! Be sure to visit the Museum of the Resistance on the Esplanaden where much can be learned about the wonderful Danish people and their personal ties to the Jews.
Full size map can be viewed at
During WW II, there were a total of 486 Jews in Theresienstadt, the vast majority of whom were "stateless", i.e., they were refugees to Denmark, and had no roots there. At the outbreak of the war in September, 1939, there were about 8,000 Jews in Denmark. Of these, 3500 belonged to old, assimilated families, which immigrated during the 15th century from Germany and Holland, whereas about 3,000 had come from Russia and Poland following the big pogroms at the turn of the 20th century. The old families were well established, well off and conservative, while the Jews from the pogroms were poor artisans leaning towards socialism and Zionism. After Hitler's seizure of power, these Jews tried to make themselves as scarce as possible. Between April 9th, 1940 and May 5th, 1945, Denmark was occupied by Nazi Germany. Compared to the other occupied countries, Denmark had a unique position that can be summed up in two concepts: Peace Occupation, and (2) the policy of negotiation. An excellent site to find information about most European countries is at Global Gazetteer is a great web site. It is a directory of 2,880,532 of the world's cities and towns, sorted by country and linked to a map for each town. A tab separated list is available for each country. Archives Archives - Rigsarkivet - in Copenhagen Danish Emigration Archives - Danish State Archives; includes the Danish National Archives, Provincial Archives, Danish Business Archives and the Danish Data Archives - David Simonsen Archive - at the Danish Royal Library in Copenhagen. David Simonsen was a scholar, rabbi, philanthropist and much more. Site is in Danish and English. Stanford, California Danish Collection - At Stanford University is the intact collection of the Danish Jewish community. It includes close to 2,000 works printed in over 115 locations from 1517 to 1939. A wide range of topics are covered and among them are some publications relating to documents about the religious life in Jewish communities of Denmark and other Northern European countries Copenhagen - when visiting this city, walk around the Israelplads (Israel Square) in the center of this clean, lovely city. A wonderful, larger-than-life statue of Moses on Norregade is the work of a Danish sculptor. The headquarters of the Danish Jewish community (Mosaik Troesamfund) is at Ny Kongengade 6, and contains a small museum, a library and a Mikvah. Jewish Community of Copenhagen Denmark SIG This SIG is a forum for researchers with interest in Jewish genealogy and history, primarily in Denmark, but, because of the close ties and significant mobility between the Scandinavian countries, Faeroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the Danish West Indies, these areas are also included and discussed. Denmark SIG might be of interest to you if you have or have had ancestors or relatives in Denmark. It might also prove helpful because of the on-line passenger lists for emigrants that passed through Denmark. They have a list of approximately 1,000 names compiled from books on Jewish history in Sweden and it is now online. This list gives information about : Emigration to America; Birthplaces and other genealogical information. At times the Danish shipping lines were cheaper than others, and emigrants therefore chose to go to, or via, Denmark. All who bought a ticket through one of the Danish shipping lines agents are in the on-line searchable databases of the Danish Emigration Archives: and also on the Danish Demographic Database The Immigration Museum has on-line searchable database for: Although the name is 'Denmark SIG', it is endeavored to cover as far as possible, the other parts of Scandinavia, because the mobility was very significant. So you might find someone born in Latvia, married in Sweden, having children born in Norway and later on in Sweden or/Denmark, living in Denmark and the father working in Sweden, etc. There is also some information on the Northern part of Germany (Schleswig-Holstein) because that it belonged to Denmark for a long time. The first Danish Jews were invited to settle there in 1622. Many of the members of the DenmarkSIG are experienced and knowledgeable genealogists and historians, so if you are in need of help or want some information, please subscribe to the DenmarkSIG discussion group and post your requests for help or information there. To join, then go to and follow the instructions (be sure to check the box in front of the SIG you want to subscribe to!) Much of the information above is attributable to Elsebeth Paikin, Coordinator & Webmaster of JewishGen Denmark SIG http://home.worldonline.dk/epaikin/index There is also a discussion group where you may subscribe http://www.jewishgen.org/listserv/sigs.htm http://www.jewishgen.org/scandinavia/ Danish Royal Family http://www.royalty.nu/Europe/Scandinavia/Denmark.html Denmark: Introduction to Danish research Emigrants from Lithuania found in Denmark - there are registers that were found in the Danish Archives as accountancy books for immigrant relief including names from Kovno and Vilna. Check the Denmark SIG website Europages - business 2 business company directory and business in Europe, yellow pages access, international and European business directory (professional services, addresses and business classifieds Fourth of July - Since 1912, Danes have celebrated America's Independence Day to showcase their strong ties with the U.S. Jewish Museum -
To see photos of this new museum under construction which plans to be opened in June 8, 2004, go to The Foundation of Danish pianist and satirist Victor Borge donated $250,000 toward this Museum. Borge, born Boerge Rosenbaum in Copenhagen in 1909, performed in several Danish venues and movi Maps Art Source International offers a large selection of antique maps, prints and globes at Art Source International Map of Denmark Royal Danish Library - has one of the largest Jewish book collections in the world. Search for individuals - from the Danish census taking from 1787 to 1916 at http://ddd.sa.dk/kiplink_en.htm Surname Navigator - here is one search window for searching the Danish Emigration database, Ancestral File (Mormons), Google genealogy and more at For the surname Cohen, for example, the search returned: the Source, Name, Sex, Age, Marital Status, Birthplace and much more including the last known address - all nicely laid out in 31 pages. Telephone Directories on the Web - Translating Translating Services - Click Here Translating - there are many translating services, some for free, available to help with your translating needs in most languages including Danish. One of these sites is Just in case you didn't think of it, contact a nearby university or college's foreign language department. They may offer to write letters and translate letters into English. A nominal fee is usually charged. Translation Service - a commercial site offering many language translating programs
Please let me know if there is a favorite link of yours that is not included in my site and I will be happy to add it to Jewish Web Index more to come ... | |||
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