Come along to a special event in connection with the 80th anniversary of the Nazi occupying power's attempt to arrest and deport all Danish Jews. The event includes a live talk between director of the Danish Jewish Museum in Copenhagen Janus Møller Jensen and city archivist Johnny Wøllekær, a mini-exhibition and an eyewitness account.

On 2 October, it is 80 years since the Nazi occupying power tried to arrest and deport all Danish Jews. With the help of other Danes, more than 6.000 Jews managed to seek refuge and escape to Sweden.

The Jewish action in Denmark in October 1943 has traditionally been presented as a positive story, where the Danish people stood up and helped their Jewish compatriots to safety in Sweden. Especially in the first years after the occupation, the Jewish action was made a high point in the Danish people's resistance against Nazism. Both nationally and internationally, the Jewish Action in Denmark is a positive light in the darkness of the Holocaust, but must we also dare to look at the many nuances or dark sides of history? The 472 Jews who were arrested and sent to Theresienstadt have mostly been mentioned only fleetingly as a side note to the rescue story. And often with the addition that it was mainly about old, orthodox Jews. The focus has been on the fact that almost everyone was saved, and "only" approx. 7% were sent to Theresienstadt – and here the arrests on Funen help to push the figure up.

"October '43" has since become a marker for the importance of social cohesion, civil courage and personal responsibility. The question is whether the Jewish action in 1943 was the "rescue" or whether it should rather be described as the "escape", because a large part of the Jews saved themselves by selling their possessions to pay to get to safety.

The House of History marks the historic date on Monday 2 October at 16.30 at a special event that includes a live talk between the director of the Danish Jewish Museum in Copenhagen Janus Møller Jensen and city archivist Johnny Wøllekær, a mini-exhibition and an eyewitness account.

Program for the event:

• 16.00: Opening of the staircase exhibition
• 16.30: Live podcast (Part 1) in front of the audience (Janus Møller Jensen and Johnny Wøllekær in a conversation about Oct. '43)
• 17.00: Playing a short file of eyewitness Birthe Kjeldsen, who talks about the escape to Sweden in October 1943
• 17.10: Live podcast (Part 2) in front of the audience (Janus Møller Jensen and Johnny Wøllekær in a conversation about Oct. '43)
• 17.30: Closing