Georg Duckwitz: From Nazi Official to Jewish Rescuer at Great Risk
Righteous Among the Nations [collection]
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14m
In September 1943, Nazi Germany ordered the deportation of Denmark’s Jewish population. Instead of mass arrests, German police found empty homes. At the center of this extraordinary rescue was Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, a German diplomat who, at great personal risk, warned Danish leaders and secured Swedish acceptance of Jewish refugees. Within days, the Danish resistance and ordinary citizens organized a daring escape operation, smuggling more than 7,200 Jews to safety in neutral Sweden. Over 99 percent of Denmark’s Jewish population survived the Holocaust—one of the most remarkable acts of collective resistance in World War II.
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