Today is April 9th.
At dawn in 1940 Denmark was occupied by Germany and that was the beginning of "the Five Cursed Years" as it has become known here in DK.
There were skirmishes in predominantly Southern Jutland but also around Amalienborg before a ceasefire went into effect.
Christian X, who was very much a military man to the bone and at the best of times not particularly diplomatic (he was a lousy hippocrite) took the occupation as a personal affront.
It was dark but more than that it was uncertain times. Will Denmark be at war? And with whom? How long will the Germans stay? There were still heavy fighting in parts of Norway. Would the Germans incorporate all of Denmark or just Southern Jutland into Germany? Would the British start bombing?
Then on 16th April a Princess was born. Margrethe. The Light in the Dark as it was labelled.
Let's have a look at some pics from that period.
http://www.bt.dk/sites/default/files-dk/node-images/311/6/6311210-.jpg
A genuine photo taken at the very early hours of 9th April. Patrols and small groups of Danish soldiers like these were scattered around in Southern Jutland, waiting for the Germans. And this was their combat position! - For fear of provoking the Germans the government had forbidden the army to prepare proper positions.
http://b.bimg.dk/node-images/40/7/7040991-tyskere.jpg
German soldiers rolling up through Southern Jutland on that day. As you can tell, some were pleased to see them, not least in Southern Jutland, where there was, and still is, a considerable German minority. And there were also genuine Nazis here and there. But most people looked on in bewilderment, curious, shocked, dazed, uncertain.
http://www.denstoredanske.dk/@api/deki/files/2367/=21227106.jpg
A German troop transport sneaked into Copenhagen harbour at dawn and moored at Langeline. The quay stretching from Amalienborg up to the Little Mermaid a couple of kilometres or so away. Here they poured into Copenhagen and also towards Amalienborg.
The ship had been noticed and the coastal artillery was ready to fire. But the canons didn't work. Sabotage? Incompetence? Treason? It has never been established.
During the day thousands of Copenhageners went to see the ship. In an era without TV and where newspaper reports with photos were only available many hours later, people felt a need to see with their own eyes what was happening.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/King_Christian_X_in_Copenhagen_1940.jpg
Shortly after the Occupation Christian X went to visit Soutern Jutland, greatly reassuring people there. As you can tell, he became the rallying point for intense national feelings.
He was not a popular King before the war, respected, but not popular. During the war he was practically venerated as a living national symbol. And so too, was the rest of the DRF, not least the CP family, who was followed closely. Would you imagine? CP Frederik was even seen pushing the pram with one of his daughters! A man! Oh yes, he was a modern father.
CP Ingrid wasn't particularly popular before the war. She was Swedish. She always looked fashionable. Her performance when on the job was a little too perfect. She spoke the lingo with accent. And (whisper) she was a cleptomaniac. She too became a rallying point. During the war and certainly after, she became popular (more and more so in fact) but first and foremost she became hugely respected.
http://www.bt.dk/sites/default/files-dk/node-images/40/7/7040969-povl.jpg
This man, who went public recently, was a member of the Resistance. Povl. He worked in a bank on 9th April and returned to the same bank after the war, never talking about what he did.
He liquidated eleven people during the war. Eight men and three women.
To this day he positively hate and loathe the Danish war-time government, especially one party, that is still in Parliament. In fact the party is in the current government coalition today.
http://www.kriminalsager.dk/Lock-Hansen/Myter/images/Grethe_Bartram_foedt_1924_Aarhus.jpg (WARNING: full frontal nudity. *)
This woman, Grethe Bartram, was one of the most notorious informer or snitch if you will, during the war. It is to this day not certain how many were executed, send to concentration camps or just prison, often after being tortured, because of her.
Here she, very ironically, is posing for a Communist art group. The Communists were the first to geniunely form a resistance after 1941 and they suffered accordingly.
After the war she was sentenced to death but pardoned, as the autorities didn't wish to execute women. - She was lucky. She wasn't liquidated during the war and she excaped the revenge assassinations after the war.
In the years after the war around 500 were sentenced to death and some 50 were executed, the rest were pardoned. It was cynically decided by the Parliament that a number of people should be executed "to quench the thirst for revenge among the people". They were nothing but human sacrifices, because with a few exceptions those sentenced and executed first were small fish. The trials of the more serious offenders took longer, so they were sentenced later and thus pardoned.
*) It is actually one of the very few pics of her where she has been 100 % identified.
Here is one more of her, with her clothes on:
http://a.bimg.dk/node-images/360/2/620x/2360006-grethe.jpg
The first picture is the most famous of her, parly for obvious reasons, but also because she is positively identified on the picture, and just as crucially it emphasized her questionable character. Models were generally considered being of ill repute and Grethe Bartram is claimed (and she probably was) to be a semi-prostitute. She was certainly not someone you took home to meet mom and dad!
Today is also a flagday. Dannebrog will fly on half mast until noon, where it must be raised to full mast and remain there for the rest of the day. Danneborg is never ever lowered from half mast.
- Some may find this irrelevant, so be it. I think it's important to help understand the historical, national and cultural background Mary and our Marie have become a part of.
