--- title: Rosh Hashanah History: The Warning That Saved Denmark's Jews description: The Jewish New Year, which begins Sept. 13 this year, was the occasion for a daring World War II rescue canonical: https://time.com/4026472/rosh-hashanah-world-war-ii-denmark/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-13T16:00:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:04:57.298Z article:section: History og:title: Rosh Hashanah History: The Warning That Saved Denmark's Jews og:description: The Jewish New Year, which begins Sept. 13 this year, was the occasion for a daring World War II rescue og:url: https://time.com/4026472/rosh-hashanah-world-war-ii-denmark/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd03765da516839e0/698862d5428a9ed0feccf048/denmark.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: WWII Denmark og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rosh Hashanah History: The Warning That Saved Denmark's Jews twitter:description: The Jewish New Year, which begins Sept. 13 this year, was the occasion for a daring World War II rescue twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd03765da516839e0/698862d5428a9ed0feccf048/denmark.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Rosh Hashanah Warning That Saved Denmark's Jews > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: TIME Remembers: The Day The Berlin Wall Fell [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Remembers: The Day The Berlin Wall Fell](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jV5CSSDl.m3u8) (2:02)  _Published 2014-11-07. Take a look back in time to the fall of the Berlin Wall with two reporters who were working when it happened_  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 13, 2015 4:00 PM UTC  German troops parade in Copenhagen, Denmark on April 20, 1940, to celebrate Hitler’s birthday. German troops parade in Copenhagen, Denmark on April 20, 1940, to celebrate Hitler’s birthday. AP  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 13, 2015 4:00 PM UTC After Nazi Germany [invaded](http://time.com/vault/issue/1940-04-22/page/24/) Denmark in 1940, the idea was put forward by its occupiers that the Scandinavian nation was not in fact occupied. [Rather](http://time.com/vault/issue/1941-07-21/page/24/), it was a “model protectorate,” a country under the Nazi wing, supposedly happy for German help and guidance, even as its economy and culture faltered and resistance bubbled under the surface. By the summer and early autumn of 1943, that resistance was no longer so subterranean: [fighting](http://time.com/vault/issue/1943-09-06/page/29/) broke out in the streets, ending several years of a relatively passive German stance on Denmark’s Jewish population. On the eve of Rosh Hashanah — the Jewish New Year, which begins on Sept. 13 this year but began on Sept. 29 in 1943 — the Danish resistance led to one of Word War II’s most notable moments of heroism. When Copenhagen’s Jews gathered to mark the holiday, the chief rabbi, Marcus Melchior, instead of welcoming the new year in the usual way, canceled the religious services that are some of the most significant of the Jewish calendar. He had been tipped off by a diplomat that a Nazi round-up was planned to take place during the holiday, when the Jewish population would be at home or at their synagogues. He urged people to hide or flee. What happened next was no secret—at least not after it was over—but the incident received only a [short notice](http://time.com/vault/issue/1943-10-11/page/31/) in the Oct. 11, 1943, issue of TIME: --- > “” --- That “upwards” is key: by the [count](http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007740) of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, more than 7,000 Danish Jews—out of a population that was actually well shy of 10,000—were ferried by fishermen to Sweden. However, as explained by a [telling](http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/stories/historical%5Fbackground/denmark.asp?WT.mc%5Fid=wiki) of the story by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Israel, later scholarship has suggested that German authorities actually knew what was going on. The Axis power had an interest in maintaining the image that Denmark was peacefully controlled by its occupiers, and that peace would have been destroyed had the Nazis resorted to their usual means of getting rid of the nation’s Jewish population. Letting them slip away to a neutral neighbor was a way to leave Germany with a peaceful but Aryan Denmark. That bit of machination does not decrease the courage shown by those who escaped and those who aided them, all of whom believed they were risking their lives to do so. Nor does it suggest that a less-than-stark future would have faced them had they stayed behind: nearly 500 Danish Jews who did not make it out in the fall of 1943 were eventually deported to Theresienstadt. ## Transcript [ NOISE ] 1989 was, was a year no one expected to be very interesting, and it turned out to be just revolutionary. That night is one that just stands out, it, it's like yesterday. That was huge. Well it was, it was stunning. I mean, nobody knew what was going on. Something was bubbling early in that week. They weren't sure what. And I was thinking the Wall will never fall. What are you thinking now? The Wall will fall. I mean, this represents a huge victory. Straight to the United States, after 40 years of the Cold War. It was huge. I mean, we got to the moon. We built three different kinds of nuclear weapons. [ MUSIC ] [ APPLAUSE ] People were cheering, and shouting, and laughing. And, it was very confused, nobody knew what to do. These people didn't know if they were going back or not. And he hooks the hand of stopping the West Berlin. And it's destroying the world with soot ash, it's dumped. And probably my most distinct memory of the whole night was this huge crowd, very happy, partying. I mean they were screaming tore out, tore out, open the gate. The reply was swift. And the next day, it was this bright, clear, just blindingly sunny day and I went out to one of the crossings. And if someone had laid planks across the sand into no man's land. And people were streaming through. They were just walking through from the east to the west. And as I got to the west side there was a crowd oh, several hundred people, West Germans. And they were just applauding. Nothing else no cheering, just applauding. And it was really just a stunning moment and I think I realized at that point, you know, this is done. I don't know what's gonna go on with reunification but the wall is, is history. 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