Antisemitism, Christian Ambivalence, and the Holocaust

1. Belated Heroism: THE DANISH LUTHERAN CHURCH AND THE JEWS, 1918–1945

Belated Heroism 1 THE DANISH LUTHERAN CHURCH AND THE JEWS, 1918–1945 Thorsten Wagner A Light in the Darkness? Compared to most other countries, the Danish-Jewish experience seems to stand out as a remarkable exception in modern European history. Obviously, this perception is intrinsically linked to the unique rescue e√ort of the Danish people in October 1943, causing Nazi Germany ’s attempt at rounding up and arresting Danish Jews to fail: only a few hundred Jews ended up being deported to Theresienstadt, and even of these, only about fifty—less than 1 percent of the more than seven thousand Jews living in Denmark at the time—perished. One may date the origins of the positive image of Danish-Jewish relations back to the seventeenth century, when Glikl von Hameln, a merchant woman from Hamburg-Altona, praised the Danish king as just, pious, and extraordinarily benevolent toward Jews.1 The only dissertation on Danish-Jewish history published so far, Nathan Bamberger’s Viking Jews, traced this presumably exceptional phenomenon throughout Modern Danish history and concluded: ‘‘In the admirable history of Danish Jewry, one cannot overlook the Danes’ strong humanistic values, their sense of decency, and their care for all citizens.’’2 Organizations such as ‘‘Thanks to Scandinavia’’ promote the Danish commitment to human dignity and ethical values in World War II as a role model for moral behavior today by stating: ‘‘The selfless and heroic e√ort of the Scandinavian people through the dark days of Nazi Terror is a shining example of humanity and hope for now and tomorrow.’’3 In addition, 4 Thorsten Wagner books such as Moral Courage under Stress and The Test of a Democracy attest to this glorification of the Danish past in a Jewish perspective.4 Over the last two decades, in the collective memory of American Jews, Denmark has become the antithesis of a Nazi-dominated Europe bogged down by the collaborators’ active complicacy and the bystanders’ indi√erence. Despite this dominating perception of Denmark as a Righteous Nation—even honored as such by Yad Vashem—recent political developments suggest that it may be necessary to take a closer look at these positive portraits of Danish-Jewish relations. In 1999, the nationalistconservative publishing house Tidehverv, run by Jesper Langballe and Søren Krarup, right-wing theologians and clerics, republished Martin Luther’s On the Jews and Their Lies. Langballe and Krarup are also both highly influential members of parliament for the Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti), a populist radical right-wing party that constitutes the parliamentary basis of the present center-right government. In the introduction, the editors stress the work’s ‘‘contemporary relevance’’ in a≈rmative terms without any critical commentary, while employing anti-Jewish traditions to legitimize their xenophobic populist agenda. In light of the enduring positive image of Danish-Jewish history, this republication—and even more the fact that it did not provoke any academic protest, let alone public outcry—indicates that this perception deserves more scrutiny. Recently, however, a series of newspaper articles that focused on Krarup and his anti-Jewish rhetoric sparked public criticism of these tendencies. Repeatedly, Krarup has attempted to exculpate Harald Nielsen , a writer who welcomed Nazi antisemitic legislation and favored the introduction of the Jewish star. Krarup has also sympathized with Nielsen ’s attack on the Danish-Jewish literary scholar Georg Brandes by stating, ‘‘Because of his Jewish blood he felt no reverence towards or intimate connection with the country’s past.’’5 Krarup reacted to allegations of antisemitism by emphasizing his rejection of racism and racial antisemitism as ideologies incommensurate with a Christian worldview . He also emphasized that his family had fought in the nationalconservative resistance against the Nazi occupiers in Denmark. Through his reference to Christian convictions and nationalist orientations, Krarup positioned himself in line with key dimensions of Danish memory culture. To many observers, the most salient event in the history of the Jews of Denmark was their successful attempt to escape the Nazi roundup action of October 1943. As hundreds of non-Jewish Danes assisted them, this rescue operation over the Øresund added to the triumphalist narra- Belated Heroism 5 tive of successful integration that dominates the perception of DanishJewish history. This narrative, augmented by the sense of gratitude displayed by many Danish Jews for the rejection of antisemitism, has helped to view Danish Jews as the exceptional case of the European-Jewish...