Publications
Brochures on the history of the rescue of Jews in World War II in Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, including questions about the lessons of this history, are available for events and exhibits by contacting tts@ajc.org
(Please describe your event and the number of brochures that you will need.) The following brochures are available for download (as PDF) by clicking on the cover images:
Bulgaria:
Beginning of March, 1943, 11,343 Jews from Macedonia and Thrace, territories then under Bulgarian control, were deported to the death camps of Treblinka and Majdanek. King Boris III did not act to prevent the deportation. While Jews living in Bulgaria proper were saved, the king was complicit with the Nazis in murdering the Jews of other lands.
Whether the deportation occurred as a result of German pressure, which some argue was harder to refuse in dealing with the non Bulgarian citizens, is debated today.
Even as we recall the rescue of Jews from within Bulgaria’s border, we remember and mourn the murder of Jews in these territories.
Sweden
Keeping up with its 100 year old tradition of neutrality Sweden managed to keep out of both world wars. Though Sweden harbored close cultural and economic ties to Berlin in the 1930s, the vast majority of Swedes did not favor the Nazis. As the German Army suffered major defeats in the beginning of 1943, the Swedish Government’s fear of invasion lessened. This paved the way for a more proactive policy towards helping refugees of the war though Sweden still maintained its trade with Germany.
Denmark
Why did the Danes save their Jewish neighbors when so many other s in Europe turned their back on the Jews during that period? Was it because King Christian X when asked about the “Jewish question” replied: “There is no Jewish question in this country. There are only my people.” Was it because the people, inspired by their churches said: A Dane is a Dane and nobody comes between us.” Other Danes explained it this way: “It was the natural thing to do.” Or: “It was exactly the same as having your neighbor’s house on fire. Naturally, you want to do something about it.” Was it because some of the Germans in Denmark turned a blind eye when Jews were rescued? Some say that the German soldiers stationed in Denmark for years were influenced by the tolerant actions of the Danish people.
Norway
Norway’s Quisling government cooperated with the Nazi and persecuted Norway’s small Jewish community, sending half of them to their deaths in Auschwitz. Other Norwegian Jews were rescued thanks to the heroic efforts of a small brave resistance. The sudden invasion of Norway in 1940 made it difficult for the resistance to organize itself. However a number of anti-Nazi military units and civil groups rose to the occasion by improvising and later organizing the rescue of approximately half of the small Norwegian Jewish population and other targets of Nazi wrath over the Swedish border and by boat to Shetland. They also executed military strikes and sabotaged the German occupying forces' supplies. Forty-one members of the Norwegian resistance have been recognized individually by Yad Vashem as Righteous among Nations.
