Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz (Sept. 29, 1904 — Feb. 16, 1973) was a German Nazi (reportedly out of nationalistic, not antisemitic reasons) diplomat living in occupied Denmark. When he learned the Nazis were planning to deport the country’s Jews to concentration camps, he alerted the Danes and arranged with Sweden to give them refuge, As a result, the Danish resistance organized a sea rescue that brought almost all of the Jewish population to safety. Israel honored Duckwitz by naming him one of the “Righteous Among the Nations.”
Quote:“The operation went on for three weeks and in its course seventy-two hundred Jews and some seven hundred non-Jewish relatives of theirs were taken to Sweden. The costs of the operation were borne partly by the Jews themselves and to a large extent contributions made by the Danes. [For its part] the Danish police not only refused to cooperate with [the Nazis] but also helped the rescue operation. An order was also issued prohibiting German police from breaking into apartments in order to arrest Jews.”
Sources: Wikipedia, Facing History and Ourselves
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Photo: Heroes of the Resistance
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