During 1943 the Germans occupied Denmark and made plans to deport Danish Jews to the death camps. During the night of September 30-October 1, however, thousands of Danes took part in transporting their Jewish countrymen to safety in Sweden. While most other nations in Nazi-occupied Europe cooperated with the deportation of Jews, the Danish rescue was so successful that not a single Danish Jew is known to have died at the hands of the Nazis.
During the war, Knud Dyby served on the Danish police force. He played a significant role in the rescue of the Danish Jews and for his work has been recognized as a "Righteous Gentile" by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. Mr. Dyby's talk, which will focus on the Danes' struggle to save the Jews, will be preceded by a short film, Rescue in October.
At OSU, we have observed Holocaust Memorial Week every year since 1987. This program grows from the belief that educational institutions can do much to combat prejudice of all kinds, and to foster respect for the diversity that is America, by promoting an awareness of the Holocaust, perhaps the most horrific historical indicator of the high cost of prejudice. It is particularly important to teach young people about the Holocaust, so that coming generations will not forget the lessons that a preceding one learned at such cost. This emphasis recalls the motto of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: "For the dead and the living, we must bear witness."
Holocaust Memorial Program | | Oregon State UniversityNote: Many captions are auto-generated and may contain errors.
