Customer Reviews

Darkness Over Denmark: The Danish Resistance and the Rescue of the Jews

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Bravery, courage, and selflessness, characteristic of the Danish resistance during WWII, are bright glimpses of hope during a dark period of world history. The history of the Danish resistance is recorded chronologically, with individual rescue stories woven throughout. This beautifully rendered acount, including photographs, is printed on thick, rich paper, underscoring the beauty of what was accomplished by the Danish people. Recommended for young adults and adults interested in the topic.

The Danish resistance and rescue of the Jews receives in-depth treatment for grades 5-7, with vintage black and white photos accompanying the story of the resistance and rescue of the Jews of Denmark. Levine interviewed dozens of Danes from rescuers and survivors to those captured for this inviting probe.

The courage of the Danes in World War II just blew me away when I read this book. I first read it because Lois Lowry's book Number The Stars struck my intrest. When I read the stories of the Resistance and the Jews, I can admit I cried. The author tells their stories perfectly. She conveys the courage these people had and how brave all those young Resistance leaders were but does not leave the hardships endured by these people. It is certainly a wonderful reference book for anyone doing a project on the Holocaust. There was only one thing that disappointed me. There wasn't a reference to the permeated handkerchief that fishing boat captains used after the Nazis started using dogs to search the boats.

Through all my reading on the topic of the Holocaust, I was always deeply struck by the courage of the Danish people, who refused to give up their Jewish citizens to the Nazis. This book does an above average job of chronicling the Danish resistance and how they rescued the Jews from certain annihilation. The author Ellen Levine has done an admirable job of compiling exhaustive interviews with fighters, rescuers, the Jews who were rescued and those less lucky. There are pictures scattered throughout that add to the narrative, and it feels more like a story being told than of an event being chronicled. Highly recommended for students of the subject, and everyone interested in the Holocaust.

This is a well-written account of the remarkable thing that happened in Denmark during WWII, when a small country refused to separate a group of its people and send them on to certain death. There are many terrific individual stories in the book (many are told first-hand), among them the description of how, during the height of the war, a man in Denmark was arrested and convicted of vandalizing a synagogue in Copenhagen - right under the noses of the Nazis.
It is not a fawning work; the book deals with the Danish Nazi collaborators. But above all it is a tale of a people who did not look at their neighbors and see Jews, but looked at their neighbors and saw Danes like themselves.

My Neighbor, Sven Svendsen now dead, was a member of the Danish Underground. These were Danes that risked their lives daily through the entire Nazi occupation to save the lives of Jewish people. I have actually held in my hand an object made sacred - the grey snd red armband worn by my neighbor Sven and by the members of the Danish Underground.

Our hearts are moved by Oscar Shindler, by Roal Wallenberg, and by Irena Sendler, who at the risk of their lives, saved numberless Jews, and by the noble Dutch people that hid Anne Frank and Corrie Ten boom. (See my review of the motion picture "Boy in the Stripped Pajamas.")

In the book "Darkness Over Denmark," we learn of an ENTIRE NATION that strove to hide and save thousands of Jewish people. My admiration for the Danish people swelled as I read and saw photographs of their heroism in this beautiful landmark book. It will lift you to heaven to make this book a part of your life. The book concludes with something so wonderful it is hard to believe: For the Danish Jews (not saved by the underground) that were deported to the death camps, the Danish people still saved for those Jews their apartments, their homes and their belongings (even knowing that they would probably never return)! God should save a special place in heaven for such noble people.

See all of my Reviews. I write only about books, events, or motion pictures that have changed the course of history or unforgettable books or motion pictures that will totally change peoples lives.

A very thorough and comprehensive look at the heroic efforts of the Danish people during the Nazi occupation of Denmark during WWII. A great resource for parents reading Lois Lowry's Number the Stars. Moving and inspiring.