‘’I will remember this visit for the rest of my life,” said Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark after visiting Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, as part of a state visit to Israel on Wednesday.
“On a personal note, it is fantastic to be in Israel and to visit so far the museum and to witness also the part that tells a positive story during World War II about Danish Jews being shipped and rescued on small boats across from the shores of eastern Denmark to Swedish shores, that was a very bold act of good Danish citizens who came from all walks of life and who did not hesitate to act when it was very necessary,” he said.
Israeli President Shimon Peres, who received the prince at the presidential residence, expressed profound thanks to the people of Denmark for their effort to save the country's 7,800 Jews during the Holocaust, 70 years ago, by evacuating them to the safe shores of neutral Sweden.
“Let me express the appreciation of our people and of myself for your timely visit to our land and to Jerusalem. Denmark is an exemplary country in the world, a state based on peace, social justice and caring for people. I believe that’s why you’re admired,” Pere said.
“I want to express our profound thanks to your people for what they did during the Shoah. Among all other countries it was Denmark that made a supreme attempt to save the lives of the Jewish people in your country either by hiding them, defending them or shipping them to Sweden. Most of them were saved and we shall never forget it, we consider it a historic act.”
Following the invasion of Denmark by the Nazis, more than 7,500 members of the Danish Jewish community were ferried in small boats to unoccupied Sweden to escape persecution, a measure financed by Danish King Christian X who is said to have worn the Star of David in sympathy for the Jewish plight.
‘’This was a courageous deed by Denmark's citizens from all walks of life who did not hesitate to act when it was necessary, Peres said. "We shall never forget this historic act," he told the prince who was accompanied by the Danish Minister of Education, Christine Antonini.
“What is unique about this story is that it was not the act of one or two or three people – it was an act by all the people of Denmark who came together to rescue the Jewish community because Jews were an integral part of their society,” the Danish ambassador to Israel, Jesper Vahr, said.
The Crown Prince, who toured Yad Vashem where he attended a memorial ceremony, is not only the first Danish royal to visit Israel, but the first Scandinavian royal.