Denmark marks 70th anniversary of rescue of Jews

On Tuesday, a light show on a bridge between Denmark and Sweden will commemorate the escape

By AP 30 September 2013, 10:00 am Edit

Jerusalem's Kikar Denya (Denmark Square), a memorial to the Jews rescued in the Danish operation 70 years ago. (photo credit: public domain via Wikipedia)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A ceremony has been held in Denmark to mark the 70th anniversary of the evacuation of 7,300 Jews during World War II to prevent their deportation to a Nazi concentration camp.

At Copenhagen’s synagogue Sunday, Jewish community leader Finn Schwarz told several hundred people it was “almost a miracle” that the October 1943 operation in Nazi-occupied Denmark dodged German patrol boats to deliver the Jews across a waterway to neutral Sweden.

In that year, Denmark’s Jews were ordered deported, but a German official tipped off Danish lawmakers who told Jewish leaders.

Some 481 elderly and sick Danish Jews who couldn’t get out were deported to a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia, and 53 died there.

On Tuesday, a light show on a bridge between Denmark and Sweden will commemorate the escape.