Ren Religion (Pure Religion)

LEFT: Ruth Fanni Niedrig was only 23 years old when she was killed in Auschwitz. Her husband survived the stay and managed to get to Canada, where he died in 1987. Photo: Mads Nissen (Source: Politiken.dk)

RIGHT: Ruth and Schulim Niedrig's portraits in the refugee passports that they were never issued. Two sets of passports were made, which to this day lie unused in the National Police Chief's archive. In the middle, the love letter from Schulim to Ruth, which an officer in Vestre Fængsel has scratched an angry rejection. (Source: Berlingske.dk)

Brandla Wassermann thought her luck had changed in October 1942 when a young Dane helped her and her three children, Ursula (7 years), Jacky Siegfried (5 years) and Denny (2 years) and brought them from Berlin to Copenhagen. Brandla had believed that their lives would now be spared.

But the Danish government was not as kind as that Danish man. Brandla and her three children were expelled from the country, marched back to the German border from where they were sent straight to Auschwitz. The children were murdered immediately. The mother was executed by an injection of phenol into the heart in Auschwitz on 15 December 1942. Researchers found a list of her belongings made by Berlin authorities from her apartment in Keipelstrasse 41, which were secured to compensate for the rent she didn’t pay when she was in Copenhagen[1].

Why is it that Brandla was not afforded any of the sympathy afforded 7,300 Danish Jews who were secretly transported to safety in Sweden? The answer is quite simple. Anti-Semitism didn’t stop at the German border but infiltrated into Denmark. Danes saved Danish Jews because they were Danes first and their religion was secondary. But in the case of Brandla and other Jews, their religion came first.

In the report about Brandla, written by a Dane and Nazi sympathizer at the Department of Immigration of the Danish State Police, it says: “She is a pure Jew, also of religion[2].”

Then there is the story of Schulim and Ruth Fanni Niedrig, a young Jewish couple that was expelled by the Danes in 1940. Ruth was bitten to death in Auschwitz by dogs in 1943; while Schulim survived Auschwitz and was one of the few survivors from Danish expulsion of Jews from 1940-43[3].

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former Danish prime minister, apologized on behalf of Denmark for the extradition of innocent people to Nazi Germany during World War II, calling it "shameful." Now, he agrees that an apology cannot change history, but he believes "it can contribute to recognize mistakes made in history and hopefully help future generations to avoid similar mistakes in the future.[6]"

And yet, Denmark is trying to send back Syrian refugees, saying Syria is a safe place to return to. In 2019, the Danish government notified about 1,200 refugees from the Damascus region that their residency permits would not be renewed. Many reports suggest that Denmark’s policy towards asylum seekers and refugees has become notably more hostile in recent years and the current Danish government shas declared that Denmark wants zero asylum seekers[4].

However, shortly after Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine, the Danish Immigration Service reportedly asked Denmark’s 98 municipalities to assess their capacity to take in Ukrainian refugees. This same agency recently began stripping Syrian refugees of their residency permits in a bid to force them back to Syria, asserting that parts of Syria are safe[5].

So much for learning from our mistakes.

Demonstrators march with a banner reading "Syria is not safe" during a protest against the government's policy of returning some Syrian refugees in Copenhagen on November 13, 2021. (Source: CNN)

UDDRAG AF MANUSKRIPT NAZISYMPATISØRER: DANMARK’S BESKIDTE HEMMELIGHEDER. Forfatter: Sanne Melgaard. (Excerpt from the manuscript, Nazi Collaborators: Denmark’s Dirty Secrets by Sanne Melgaard)

[1] Vilhjalmur Orn Vilhjalmsson, Medaljens Bagside: Joediske flygtningeskaebner i Danmark 1933-1945 (Copenhagen: Forlaget Vandkunsten, 2005)

[2] Rescue, Expulsion, and Collaboration: Denmark’s Difficulties with its World War II Past - Vilhjálmur Örn Vilhjálmsson and bent blüdnikow. (n.d.). Retrieved July 8, 2021, from Jcpa.org website: https://www.jcpa.org/phas/phas-vilhjalmsson-f06.htm

[3] Vilhjálmur Örn Vilhjálmsson. The Jews who were deported from Denmark 1940-43. A consequence of the WW II Collaboration Policy in Denmark. (N.d.-b). Retrieved July 8, 2021, from Blog.is website: https://fornleifur.blog.is/users/5c/fornleifur/files/deported1940-43_18062.pdf

[4] Weronika Strzyżyńska. ‘Zero asylum seekers’: Denmark forces refugees to return to Syria. May 25, 2022. Retrieved February 25, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/may/25/zero-asylum-seekers-denmark-forces-refugees-to-return-to-syria

[5] Nadia Hardman. Denmark’s Mismatched Treatment of Syrian and Ukrainian Refugees. March 16, 2022. Retrieved February 25, 2023. https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/16/denmarks-mismatched-treatment-syrian-and-ukrainian-refugees

[6] Denmark apologizes for WWII 'mistakes'. The New York Times. May 5, 2005. Retrieved February 25, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/05/world/europe/denmark-apologizes-for-wwii-mistakes.html