Description
Object description
Danish civilian member of Communist Party of Denmark in Denmark, 1932-1939; civilian in Denmark, 1940-1941; member of Danish Resistance working on newspaper 'Free Denmark' in Denmark, 1942-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Denmark, 1912-1932: family; education. Recollections of period as member of Communist Party of Denmark in Denmark, 1932-1939: membership of the Communist Party between 1932 and 1939; reasons for leaving Communist Party of Denmark, 1939; fragmented nature of Danish fascist movement; his presence at Oswald Mosley's rally at Olympia in London, GB, 1934; work aiding Jewish refugees heading for GB; arrest by Gestapo in Warnemunde, Germany after attending left wing conference in Prague, Czechoslovakia, summer 1937; exodus from Communist Party of Denmark because of Nazi-Soviet Pact and Finnish War, 1939; Aksel Larsen's reaction to his letter of resignation from Communist Party of Denmark. Aspects of period as civilian in Denmark, 1940-1941: sight of German invasion, 9/4/1940; his concern on German invasion because he knew he was blacklisted; initial reaction of Danes to German invasion, 4/1940; toleration of members of Communist Party of Denmark by Germans until 6/1941; how he was not arrested; breakdown of German political system in Denmark, 8/1943.
REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of period as member of Danish Resistance in Denmark, 1/1942-5/1945: abortive attempt to start resistance journal, 1/1942; article he was commissioned to write on hundredth anniversary of birth of Georg Brandes, 2/1942; attempt of Danish Minister of Justice to ban meeting celebrating Georg Brandes at which he was to speak, 5/1942; launch of Danish Resistance newspaper 'Free Denmark', 6/1942; request for him to spread 'Free Denmark' groups to provinces; making contact with lawyer to establish 'Free Denmark' in Odense, summer 1942; receiving warning from courier that he was about to be arrested by Danish Police, spring 1943; going into hiding in Copenhagen and assuming cover name 'Sander'; financial plight of family on his going underground in 1943; pretence of nervous breakdown as cover for being absent from teaching post; how he secured help when underground from eminent occulist.
REEL 3 Continues: work organising 'Free Denmark' in Jutland; use of false identity; contact with Jørgen Kieler at Horsens; regular contact with editorial board of 'Free Denmark' in Copenhagen; centrality of Professor Mogens Fog to Danish Resistance, 9/1943; formation of Freedom Council; his escape from playwright's house, 29/4/1943; mass arrest of resistance members, 29/4/1943; how he renewed contact with resistance; organisation of work in Jutland; nature of his contacts; arrest of printer working for 'Free Denmark' in Zealand; how he discovered a printer in Aarhus and secured printing equipment.
REEL 4 Continues: details of his production of 'Free Denmark' and size of it's circulation; necessity of specialisation in resistance work; suspicions of Grethe Bartam as possible German agent; discovery that Grethe Bartam worked for Gestapo and her activities; story of how Grethe Bartam escaped execution; local editions of 'Free Denmark'; growth of Danish Resistance, 1944; National Strike against German occupation whilst he was operating in Jutland, 9/1944.
REEL 5 Continues: story of how he was stopped at German checkpoint when he was carrying incriminating material and subsequent escape at Ringkoping, 19/9/1944; boring elements to his work; his work replacing groups which had been wiped out through informers; how ex-maid in his parents' household recognised him; narrow escape from Gestapo round up at Horsens, summer 1944; problem of informers in Horsens; suspicions that he was a Gestapo agent because he hadn't been arrested; Dane who worked for Gestapo who wished to switch sides, autumn 1944; how he discovered what Gestapo knew about him; how he saw Gestapo agent with his photograph, autumn 1944; his consequent flight from north Jutland; assuming 'Free Denmark' activities in Copenhagen, 10/1944; arrest of Professor Mogens Fog and his task of passing on news to rest of Danish Resistance leadership.
REEL 6 Continues: arrest and escape of Professor Mogen Fog; how two minute silence was arranged during play after Gestapo murder of Danish playwright Pastor Kaj Munk; what happened to him on day of Royal Air Force raid on Gestapo Headquarters in Shellhus, Copenhagen, 21/3/1945; his assumption that Professor Mogen Fog had died in raid; receiving news that Professor Mogen Fog had survived raid; ability to have fun during German Occupation; how resistance ordered three famous Royal Theatre actors to go to Sweden; composing of resistance song and hope that British Broadcasting Corporation would use it in broadcasts to occupied Europe; problems of getting 'Song of Freedom' through Sweden to GB; attempt to exploit Gestapo personnel into releasing prisoners from concentration camp, 4/1945.
REEL 7 Continues: attempt to follow up German offer of a capitulation in Denmark, 4/1945; reasons for capitulation offer falling through; opinion that Germans would not be able to maintain their occupation of Denmark; importance of news of German defeat at Stalingrad to resistance, 2/1943; his fear of arrest and torture; type of people because of natural caution who would not resist German occupation; character of individuals who would collaborate; continuation of 'Free Denmark' after Second World War; reaction to news of D-Day, 6/6/1944; admiration for GB, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
