The Rescue of the Danish Jews: Moral Courage Under Stress

Leo Goldberger

NYU Press, 1987 - History - 222 pages

"An immensely valuable ocntribution. As the last generation of witnesses to the Holocaust testify to its horrors, tehy must also testify to its heroes - those who risked all to safe lives. These movingly told stories restore our faith in the human spirit."
—William Shirer
"The mystery of the rescue phenomenon will probably always elude us. As the rescuers' narratives in this remarkable volume show, the acts of saving Jews seemed spontaneous and natural, and thus the mystery of the rescue act begins to unravel radiantly. The insights which this interdisciplinary collection of essays subtly pieces together s how in unique fashion the preconditions, or the possibilities, of individual and collective courage."
—Dennis B. Klein, author of Jewish Origins of the Psychoanalytic Movement
A distinguished group of internationally known individuals, Jews and non-Jews, rescuers and rescued, offer their enriching first-person accounts and reflections that explore the question: Why did the Danes risk their lives to rescue the Jewish population?

Contents

• The Rescue of Denmarks Jews: 3
• The Danish Jews and the German Occupation: 13
• The Danish Jews in the Twentieth Century: 55
• HERBERT PUNDIK: 77
• A young woman with the allied emblem: 80
• Jørgen Gersfelt: 87
• Valdemar Koppel: 98
• VALDEMAR KOPPEL: 99
• Horserød camp: 109
• Sam Besekow: 118
• SAM BESEKOW: 119
• Jette HechtJohansen: 128
• Jørgen Kieler: 140
• JØRGEN KIELER: 141
• An act of sabotage: 149
• Tivoli amusement park: 156
• LEO GOLDBERGER: 157
• Leo Goldberger and his father: 163
• Introduction to the Conference Moral Choice: 171
• Grundtvigs Influence: 173
• N F S Grundtvig: 175
• Observations on the Danish Rescue: 191
• Germany defeated: 211
• Bibliography: 215

About the author

Leo Goldberger is Professor of Psychology at New York University. He is editor-in-chief of the journal Psychoanalysis and ContemporaryThought and is coeditor of Handbook of Stress. He was among those who escaped to Sweden from Denmark in 1943.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Rescue of the Danish Jews: Moral Courage Under Stress
• Author: Leo Goldberger
• Editor: Leo Goldberger
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: NYU Press, 1987
• ISBN: 0814730116, 9780814730119
• Length: 222 pages
• Subjects: History / Europe / Scandinavia; History / Holocaust; History / Military / World War II; Religion / General