Holocaust education needs greater depth

At some point in our school careers, we learn about the horrors of the Holocaust. But what information is presented to us in that academic setting? Perhaps the teacher delves into a brief history ranging from January 1933, when Hitler became chancellor of Germany, to May 1945, when the Nazis surrendered.  Maybe we read Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl or Elie Wiesel’s Night. While both broad history and personal accounts are crucial to Holocaust education, other important aspects are not covered, leaving gaps in our collective knowledge. The rescue of the Danish Jews by Danish gentiles during Nazi oppression is one of them.

When the Nazis first invaded Denmark in April 1940, they allowed the Danish government to maintain ruling status. That all changed in summer 1943, when the Danish resistance movement grew and became more aggressive in its tactics. The Nazis demanded that the Danish government introduce a curfew and sentence any caught saboteurs to death. Unwilling to accept and implement these terms, the Danish government resigned. The Jews, who had been safe under Danish sovereignty due to the government’s and citizens’ unwillingness to betray their Jewish neighbors and friends, were now in imminent danger, and the Nazis planned to deport them.

Georg Duckwitz, a Nazi attaché who had been living in the Danish capital of Copenhagen for several years, learned of the ordered deportation of the Danish Jews, and warned crucial gentile politicians, who in turn alerted Jewish leaders. The news spread like wildfire, and almost the entire nation of Denmark — people from all walks of life — assisted their Jewish neighbors in some capacity, getting them across the Sound into neutral Sweden, which had agreed to house the Jewish refugees. According to the United States Holocaust Museum, approximately 7,220 out of the about 8,000 total Danish Jews escaped to safety. Unfortunately, roughly 500 Danish Jews were captured and deported to Theresienstadt. Even then, Danish politicians took care of them, pressuring the Germans not to send Danish Jews to death camps, and dispatching the Danish Red Cross to Theresienstadt to look after the citizens being held there. In 1945, shortly before the Nazi surrender, surviving Danish Jews were released to the Swedish Red Cross and later taken to Sweden due to an agreement between Swedish and Nazi officials over Scandinavian prisoners.

The most important takeaway here is the solidarity of almost an entire nation to save their Jewish neighbors and friends. As a result, approximately 95 percent of Danish Jewry survived the Holocaust — yet we don’t hear about this act of humanity often, and it’s not typically touched upon in school curricula.

One day, a friend of mine and I were discussing the Holocaust, and they wondered why none of the prisoners had fought back against the Nazis, and why no one — Gentile or Jew — had seemingly resisted Hitler. I answered that people did in fact challenge the Nazis, and cited the example of the Danish resistance and rescue. This experience, among many others, highlights the need for education on this facet of history. It is crucial for students to be aware of those that fought back against the Nazis in order to eliminate the false idea that resistance didn’t happen.

It’s true that schools don’t have enough time to cover every detail of the Holocaust since it’s generally not the only history unit of the year, but more depth would be valuable to add another dimension to lessons on the Holocaust. A former friend of mine, after a few weeks of our Holocaust studies in English class, told me that they felt the Holocaust was “shoved down our throats.” Leaving aside the tactlessness of this comment, it makes me wonder if talking about the Righteous Among the Nations — gentiles who saved Jews during the Holocaust — might be a little light in the overall darkness of the topic.

Lessons on the Holocaust should not be watered down or diverted from discussion of the horrors — that would be an insult to survivors and those that perished. But examples of resistance, including the Danish Rescue, should become another focal point, thereby presenting a more well-rounded understanding of the time period at large.

We can never forget the Holocaust. But we must also never forget the people, especially Gentiles, who did not allow Nazi hatred to prevail.

 

Alexa Kempner is a student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.