by Paul Lines

Created on: November 06, 2011   Last Updated: November 07, 2011

Of the four Scandinavian countries on the European mainland, which include Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, three declared a position of neutrality at the outset of World War II, with Finland being the only exception. However, despite adopting this position, as will be seen from this brief overview of events in Scandinavia during the Great War, in some cases, the neutral stance was not honoured completely and in others, the protection that neutrality was supposed to provide for the nation did not materialise.

Denmark

Denmark, together with Sweden and Norway indicated its neutral position at the onset of hostilities. The governments reasoning for this declaration, which took the form of a non-aggression treaty signed with Germany, was designed to ensure that, by not taking sides in the war, it would protect its citizens from the type of suffering they had been subjected to in the previous war. However, as history reveals, it was not to be long before the German army decided to ignore the boundaries of neutrality as it applied to Denmark.

Less than a year after the treaty with Germany was signed, and in direct contravention of its conditions, Germany invaded Denmark. Despite having been warned of invasion, Denmark’s government had taken no steps to protect itself or its borders. Within days, and at the cost of 16 Danish soldier’s lives, the government surrendered sovereignty to Germany in what was proclaimed to be a peaceful occupation to protect the Scandinavian country from the allies.

During the next year or so, due mainly to the fact that Germany did not import its ‘Jewish persecution’ issue into Denmark, there was little resistance to the occupation, despite the fact that most of the Danish citizens were opposed to it. Nonetheless, this was to change significantly, not least because of Germany’s invasion of Russia. As the latter stages of the war approach the strength of this opposition resulted in increasing acts of sabotage, resulting in Germany declaring Denmark to be ‘enemy territory’ in 1942. In an effort to crush the resistance, Germany introduced severe penalties for those found guilty of belonging to the movement, including execution. It also began a programme of persecuting the Jews. However, the latter was not to prove successful as many Danish citizens collaborated to provide Jews with protection and the means of escape from Denmark.

In many ways, Denmark’s increased resistance to German occupation

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>