Book presentation: The history of the extraordinary rescue of Jews in Denmark in Second World War

Buchvorstellung auf Englisch mit Übersetzung auf Deutsch. Moderation: Gianfranco Ceccanei Historian Andrea Vittelo gives a lecture on his book focussing on the rescue of Jews in Denmak in the period of nazi occupation. The Danish people managed to save almost all the Jews present in Denmark. The Danish case is unique because, unlike other rescues during the Second World War in other countries, in Denmark the entire population, from the king to the lower classes, contributed to the rescue of the Jews. The figure of the German Nazi Duckwitz was extremely important, as he was the only Nazi politician to oppose the deportation of the Jews. Years after the end of the war, Duckwitz and many Danes would be recognized as "Righteous Among the Nations" by Yad Vashem. When on September 28, 1943, German Nazi Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, a member of the German embassy in Copenhagen, was informed of the imminent deportation of approximately seven thousand Danish Jews to concentration camps, he immediately alerted his friends in the Social Democratic Party, who raised the alarm of the impending danger to the Jewish community. Thus, the Jews, aided by the Danish population, first managed to hide from the Nazi raid that took place on the night of October 1st and 2nd, and then escaped to Sweden, a country that had remained neutral. Andrea Vittelo has a master's degree in Historical Sciences and a diploma of specialization in Holocaust education in Jerusalem at Yad Vashem, the International School for Holocaust Studies.