Overview of Documentary

In offering an in-depth look at an exceptional episode, The Danish Solution introduces a new perspective with striking characters.

The documentary features the spontaneous uprising by Danish citizens in response to leaked news about a planned German raid.

Almost 8,000 Jews were hidden in hospitals, attics and summerhouses and then, within a few weeks, smuggled out of Denmark aboard fishing vessels to Sweden. Even though 481 Jews were arrested and interned in Theresienstadt concentration camp, Danish government officials negotiated their preferential treatment with German authorities.

Most prisoners returned to Denmark after the war along with those refugees sent to Sweden. Over ninety-five percent of Denmark's Jews survived Hitler's plans.

Approach and Elements

The story is told with passion and humor by five Jews whose lives were threatened in wartime Denmark. Max Asernikow whose brother, Max, was a popular Jewish musician who fled to Sweden with all his family except his father who was captured and taken to Theresienstadt concentration camp near Prague, Czechoslovakia. Jytte Bornstein who was taken to Theresienstadt as a child and then returned to Sweden before the war ended. Nils Koppel who recounts his memories of an early arrest and then the adventures of his entire family leaving. Gustav Goldberger, now an American citizen, who tells about his family's experiences. Rabbi Bent Melchior who tells about his father's role and his memories of the event.

In addition seven Danes who helped make the rescue happen are introduced. Most well-known is Jørgen Kieler was a medical student who became an important figure in the Danish resistance and the rescue before his arrest. The other Danes recounting their experiences are Gudren Nielsen, Agnete Bay, Torkil Antonsen, Jens Møller, Frede Svendsen, and Lisbeth D. Abrahamsen.

Two historians share their considerable knowledge: Therkel Stræde and Sofie Bak.

The unique archival material includes rare photographs, footage and material from private collections in Denmark, and primary written sources.

Supplementing the archival material, newly shot color footage captures emotions and intimate moments of characters.

Why tell this story again?

The story of the 1943 rescue of the Jews in Denmark contributes to an understanding of history and the motivation of people to help others.

The Danish Solution offers both intellectual substance and dramatic power. The film, presenting an in-depth scholarly analysis of the rescue, offers the intellectual substance and dramatic power to engage a broad audience.

The documentary introduces a new perspective with striking characters that have not been previously spotlighted, among them, Werner Best, on the policies, practices, even inconsistencies of Nazi Germany.

SS general Werner Best, the new German high commandant of Denmark in 1942, when he arrived in Denmark. (The Museum of Danish Resistance 1940-45).

Insights into German behavior in Denmark are offered illustrating how Germans deliberately behaved differently in a variety of occupied countries.

It challenges traditional stories such as the false claim that the Danish King wore a Star of David in support of the Jewish community - in fact no one in Denmark was ever required to wear the Yellow Star. In the process of deflating such romantic myths, a deeper understanding is gained of the motivating factors of the rescue and the Danish resistance.

Through illuminating a series of interconnected historical events and complexities leading up to the rescue and its aftermath, this program achieves its objectives to present a factually accurate, detailed, de-mythologized account of a significant event and probe its many ethical, political, social and psychological dimensions.

This documentary film and the story it portrays can offer inspiration to contemporary Americans about the possibilities for service and altruism among ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. (Denmark in the early 1940s was a sophisticated, modern society with a high standard of living.)

We believe, and our scholars concur, that this exploration of a particular event in the midst of war and occupation, has broader philosophical and cultural implications for many societies and cultures, including our own.