Czechs in Denmark

This project reveals how Danish families and local communities supported displaced young people during WWII.

In 2010, I discovered the story of 80 Czech Jewish teenagers who left Czechoslovakia in 1939. They travelled to Denmark, where they lived in foster families across the country. This rescue operation was organized by the Jewish community in Copenhagen and by Danish members of international organization Women League for Peace and Freedom. 

Czech Jewish teenagers stayed mainly in Danish countryside and worked on farms, as they were expected to continue to kibbutzim in British Mandate Palestine. In October 1943, the most of them escaped to Sweden. These teenagers survived four years in Denmark thanks to Danish foster families, and in 1943 the most of them escaped to Sweden with the help of the Danish resistance and local fishermen.

The moment of escape marked a long interruption of contact, often lasting decades, until I was able to trace individual life stories through archival research and personal testimonies. 

This research is based on letters, diaries, photographs, and recorded memories in Denmark, Czech Republic and Israel, and can be used for exhibitions, public talks, or educational formats focusing on personal narratives and everyday life during the occupation.