 Armoured car on display outside the Museum. | |
| Established | 1957 |
|---|---|
| Location | Churchillparken, Copenhagen K, Denmark |
| Public transit access | Kongens Nytorv, Østerport |
| Website | www.frihedsmuseet.dk |
The Museum of Danish Resistance 1940-1945 (Danish: Museet for Danmarks Frihedskamp 1940-1945), more commonly known as the Freedom Museum (Danish: Frihedsmuseet) or Resistance Museum, is maintained by the National Museum of Denmark and houses and extensive collection of documents, objects, weapons, photographs and propaganda materials, which tell the story of Danish resistance to Nazi occupation during World War II.
It is located in Churchillparken, in Copenhagen, close to: St. Alban's English Church, the Gefion fountain, Amalienborg Palace, Kastellet and Langelinie.
History edit
The museum's origins are as a the Danish resistance movement's temporary exhibition 'The fighting Denmark' (Danish: Det kæmpende Danmark); which, after the liberation in 1945, was shown to the public at Copenhagen's Masonic Lodge. In 1957 the collection was installed as a permanent exhibit in its current home.
The exhibition has grown over the years and underwent an extensive reorganisation in 1995. It has also been extended to include a nearby air raid shelter.
In addition to the exhibits on public display; the museum also houses an extensive and growing archive of documents and photographs relating to the resistance movement and the Nazi occupation, which is accessible at certain times of the day for research purposes.
Main exhibition edit
The museum's current exhibition is from 1995 and not only celebrates the heroes of the resistance; but also reflects a newer, and more honest, appraisal of some of the more uncomfortable realities about the degree of collaboration by a small minority of the population (including the fact that close to seven-thousand Danes volunteered to serve with the Death Skull and elite Viking divisions of the Waffen-SS). The exhibition is structured as a chronological narrative of the occupation from 1940 onwards, covering such subject areas as:
- daily life under the occupation
- people who escaped the occupation to take up arms in the service of the Allies
- collaboration
- the still divisive subject of the tacit political cooperation that lasted until 1943
- martial law
- how the view of the occupation changed over time
- the resistance movement's development and organisation
- the illegal press
- examples of passive resistance
- sabotage activities
- the scuttling of the Danish navy
- reprisal killings
- the refugee train and the rescue of the Danish Jews
- the support of the Danish Jews deported to Theresienstadt
- RAF air raids (most notably Operation Carthage - the 1945 raid on the Gestapo headquarters in Shell House - which, although judged a tactical success, unfortunately resulted in the deaths of 123 civilians .. 87 of whom were schoolchildren)
- international implications of various aspects of the occupation
- experiences of Danes in the concentration camps
- liberation on 5 May 1945
Air raid shelter edit
Archives edit
Opening hours edit
Tuesday-Sunday 10:00-17:00 (May-September) and Tuesday-Sunday 10:00-15:00 (October-April). Admission to the museum is free and free guided tours, in English, are offered from May to September on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 2 PM.
Churchillparken edit
In 1965, on the twentieth anniversary of the liberation of Denmark by British troops, the parkland surrounding the Freedom Museum was renamed Churchillparken (English: Churchill Park) in memory of Winston Churchill, who had died in January of that year.[1][2]
In addition to a bust of Winston Churchill, the immediate surrounds of the museum also has memorials to two Danes who distinguished themselves whilst serving with the British armed forces during World War II:[1][2]
- Major Anders Lassen; who was killed in action with the Special Boat Service and who as well as being awarded three Military Crosses was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to a member of the British armed forces, and whose medals are on display in the museum.[2][3][4][5]
- Kaj Birksted, the most successful and highest ranking Danish pilot serving with the Royal Air Force during World War II, who was awarded both the Distinguished Service Order and the Distinguished Flying Cross for gallantry and played a key role in organising the fighter air cover for the Normandy landings. By the end of hostilities he was the Wing Commander of Fighter Command's Bentwaters Wing. He returned to Denmark after the war and was the first Chief of Staff of the newly formed Royal Danish Air Force.[6][7][8]
Off to one side of the museum is the 'Såret kvinde' (English: Wounded woman) sculpture, by Bernard Reder. At the artist's request the sculpture was presented to the Danish people, by the State of Israel, in appreciation of their collective effort to assist the escape of over seven thousand Danish Jews, by sea to neutral Sweden in October 1943, and their part in ensuring that over 95% of Denmark's Jewish population survived the Holocaust.[9][10][11][12]
Across the moat at the rear of the museum is a six-metre bronze monument, by Sven Linhart, dedicated to 'Vore faldne' (English: Our fallen); which was paid for by nationwide public subscription and erected in memory of those Danes who gave their lives as volunteers in the service of the Allies of World War II. The monument depicts an ordinary soldier, in British Army battle dress and the characteristic British Tommy helmet; with his head bowed in silent remembrance of his fallen comrades, as his faces the nearby St. Alban's English church.[2][13]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b unknown. Kastellet og udenværker (PDF) (in Danish). Copenhagen: Københavns Kommune. p. 4. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
I tyveåret for Anden Verdenskrigs afslutning blev der opstillet en buste af Winston Churchill, og det meste af parkområdet ved Esplanaden blev omdøbt til Churchillparken.
- ^ a b c d "Seværdigheder". Københavns Kommune. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
Churchillparken .....
- ^ "Major Frederik Anders Emil Victor Schau Lassen VC, MC & 2 Bars - No. 1 Special Air Service Regiment". Victoria Cross and George Cross Association. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
The following Victoria Cross is held by the Liberation Museum
- ^ "LASSEN, ANDERS FREDERICK EMIL V. SCHAU". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
- ^ "The Danish Victoria Cross holders". Dansk Militærhistorie. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
Of the 182 Victoria Crosses awarded during the Second World War, only one was awarded to a foreigner, Anders Lassen.
- ^ "Birksted, Kaj (1915 - 1996)". Danish WW2 Pilots. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
- ^ "Dansk jagerpilot hædres med buste". Kristeligt Dagblad (in Danish). 6 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
Ved 65-året for Danmarks befrielse blev der den 5. maj i Churchillparken ved Frihedsmuseet afsløret en bronzebuste af Kaj Birksted, som er en af landets højest dekorerede modstandsfolk.
- ^ "CROSSING THE BAR - SUMMARY TRIBUTES AND OBITUARIES OF FLEET AIR ARM PERSONNEL". Fleet Air Arm Archive. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
WWII fighter ace (pilot in Royal Danish Navy, Royal Norwegian Air force and RAF. Chief of Staff when Royal Danish Airforce established)
- ^ Shields, Jacqueline. "Denmark". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
Behind the museum in Churchill Park there is the sculpture, "Wounded Woman", which was presented by the State of Israel to the Danish people in appreciation of their support during the Jews' flight from the Nazi occupation in World War II. The sculpture, by the Israeli artist Bernard Reder (1897-1963), was unveiled in 1969.
- ^ "People: May 30, 1969". TIME magazine. 30 May 1969. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
The sculptor's dying wish was fulfilled as the work was quietly unveiled in Copenhagen's Churchill Park. Reder himself had not used the Danish escape route, but, said his widow Gusti, "To us, it seemed like a powerful miracle, a message of universal fraternity, unique in the history of the world."
- ^ "70 Sculptors". LIFE magazine: 113. 20 June 1949. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
The sensation of the show was Wounded Woman (foreground) a maze of women giving aid to a buxom member of their sex.
- ^ "The rescue of the Jews of Denmark by the Danish people" (PDF). Yad Vashem. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
The Danish population's staunch opposition to any discrimination against its Jewish population, including the refugees among them, along with the acts of rescue by transportation to Sweden, and protection of those already deported to Theresienstadt, stands out in the history of the period as an outstanding act of moral and political responsibility.
- ^ "Our fallen". Københavns Kommune. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
The statue represents a private soldier in Allied uniform with the typical flat English steel helmet on his head and a rifle in his arms. He is portrayed immediately after the battle, as he stands with a slightly bowed head for a moment remembering his fallen comrades.
External Links edit
Official website of Frihedsmuseet
Official website of the National Museum of Denmark
Frihedsmuseet at Museums in Copenhagen
Our fallen / Vore faldne at the Copenhagen municipality's index of monuments.