Countrymen (hardcover)

In the entire ghastly history of the Holocaust, only two "good" stories stand out, and this is one of them. Denmark, under German Occupation, but with its King and government intact, did something no other country in Western Europe even tried to do. Knowing that German command was coming in 1943 to round up their Jews (there were 7,000 of them) for deportation to the camps, they said no. The King, his ministers, and parliament were all in agreement--those 7,000 people were theirs, they were Danes who happened to be Jewish, and nobody was going to assist in their round-up and certain death. While the government used its limited but formidable powers to manoeuver and to impede matters in Berlin, the warning went out to the Jewish community that crisis was at hand. Over the next 14 days, assisted, helped, hidden, and protected by ordinary people who came together spontaneously to the aid of their countrymen who were suddenly refugees, an incredible 6,500 out of the 7,000 total escaped -- smuggled on big boats, little boats, fishing boats, anything that floated -- to Sweden. Excellent condition