Askov American., 1943-12-16
HISTORY OF BRAVE DANES EX-
PLAINS THEIR STAMINA

(Scottish Rite News Bulletin)
That portion of the public which
has wondered how tiny Denmark
could stand up to the Nazis and defy
them will find the explanation by
looking into the history of that coun-
try and its brave people. Defying
the German is no new experience
for them.
A thousand years ago the Queen
of King CORN the Old, Thyra Dane
bod, caused to be built across South
Jutland a line of Notifications to
keep out the Germans. In 1340, Niels
Ebbesen of Randers slew Count
Gerhard and thereby released Den
mark from German bondage. Again,
in 1848, the Danes had to fight the
Germans and, in 1864, in the Second
Slesvig War they lost South Jutland
to the Prussia of Bismarck.
Although the Danes lost that war,
they determined to ''win within what
they had lost without" They culti-
waited the barren land. They drained
the marshes and secured the shifting
sands of the North Sea dunes by
growing lyme-grass. They then re-
forested this sandy moor. By this
means they obtained 100000 acres of
new timberland and more than
100000 acres of new farmland.
They have continued that process of
reclamation.
But their cultivation of the soil
did not cause them to neglect the
cultivation of the mind and soul.
They adopted and extended Bishop
Grundtvig's idea of adult education,
which idea emphasized education in
character, civic responsibility and
service. Their rural folk schools de-
veloped into schools of democracy
and from them they acquired an in
ner capacity for working together.
However, the people of South Jut-
land who fell under German rule in
1864 never surrendered their Danish
nationality. German oppression never
broke their determination to remain
Danes and Danish. For Sc years they
nurtured the spirit of revolt and, in
1920, a plebiscite brought them back
into Denmark.
The stalwartness of the Danes is
shown in many ways, yet their re-
volt of August 20, 1943, was after
all merely a hitherto-hidden revolt
that had become visible, for the Danes
had been in revolt against the Nazis
ever since the invasion of April 9,
| 1910.
Nevertheless, despite the fact that
Hamlet was referred to as 'the mel
ancholy Dane," the Danes are very
far from being melancholic. In fact,
they have keen sense of humor,
from the king down. When King
Christian was being taken from his
country home as prisoner of Nazi
officer and heavily escorted by Ger
man soldiers, he waved to the people
and called to them: ''I'm happy to
hear our Danish language still spoken
in old Denmark. Keep on" The
phrase "speak Danish is used to in
dicate your intentions and in this
way King Christian was telling the
Danes that he hoped they would con-
tinue their course of defiance of the
Nazis.
Another story has to do with the
Germans requisitioning the Forum
a hall big enough to accommodate
10000 people. The Germans wanted
it for barracks to be ready by Aug
ust 28th, when they moved into
Copenhagen. The Germans also
wanted beer, so the Danish under
ground smuggled time-bombs into
the crates of beer, the Forum was
wrecked and that, according to the
Danes, was Danish beer with kick
in it.
A bookseller placed in the window
of his store two pictures-one o.
Hitler and one of Mussolini-and be-
tween them a copy of Victor Hugo:
Les Miserables. This cost the book
seller a term in Jail.