Seventy-five years after Denmark’s Resistance movement rescued Danish Jewry by spiriting them across the sea to neutral Sweden, Gittel Davidson held a seudas hodaya at the Koritz Restaurant in Jerusalem. Forty-five survivors and second-generation descendants from all over the world attended. What Gittel didn’t realize until three weeks later was that this celebration had received a stamp of approval from Above.
Let’s go back to the beginning. On April 9, 1940, Nazi Germany invaded Denmark. With little choice, the Danish government surrendered, but resistance to German rule bubbled strongly. In the summer of 1943, unable to continue meeting the Reich’s demands, the Danish government resigned. That same day, the Germans declared martial law. Plans for the arrest and deportation of Danish Jewry got underway – but were foiled from the inside.
German naval attaché Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz leaked word of the planned deportation to Hans Hedtoft, chairman of the Danish Social Democratic Party. Hedtoft contacted the Danish resistance movement and the head of the Jewish community, C.B. Henriques. On September 29, erev Rosh Hashana, during the morning selichos prayers, Jews were urged to go into hiding immediately. The word spread. The Danish underground and regular citizens, including intellectuals, priests, policemen, doctors, and blue-collar workers, worked together to track down Jews and find ways to hide them.
When the Nazis began their hunt of on October 1, Rosh Hashana night, most Jews were already hiding in fishing villages along the coast. The Danish Resistance arranged and partly paid to ferry the Jews over the Øresund strait to refuge in Sweden’s welcoming arms. While 483 Jews were captured and deported to Theresienstadt, 430 Jews survived thanks to continued Danish intervention. In contrast to survival rates in other European countries, 99 percent of Denmark’s Jewish population survived the Holocaust. Jews will never forget the courage and generosity of the Danish and Swedish people.
Gittel Fuchs Davidson, the seventh child born after the war when her family left Stockholm and returned to Denmark, has always maintained contact with the Danish community of her childhood. Earlier this year, Gittel decided that it would be fitting to hold a seudas hodaya to celebrate 75 years after the rescue.
Hashem blessed the celebration from the beginning of the preparations. Happier outside of the kitchen, Gittel, who had made sheva brochos at the Koritz Restaurant in Geula several years earlier, decided to turn to the restaurant again. A quick phone call confirmed that the date Gittel wanted was available. Siyata d’shmaya number one.
“My kindergarten neshama started to work,” says Gittel. What would the program consist of? What would the décor be? What theme-based gifts could be given out? “About a week and a half before the celebration, I went to Geula to look for small boats and key rings. In the very first shekel shop, I stepped into, I found key rings of little ships with colored flashlights. I bought 50 to make sure I’d have enough,” she says. Siyata d’shmaya number two.
On the bus on the way home, Gittel started to recite the chapters of Tehillim that are set for Friday. The first chapter of the day, Psalm 107, serves as the source for the Gemara in Brachos that discusses the requirement to publicly recite birkas hagomel upon safely crossing the desert, being freed from prison, recovering from a serious illness, or completing a sea journey. “As I thanked Hashem in my heart for His help, I read the following words:
Let them give thanks to Hashem for His kindness and His wonders to the children of man…. Then they cried out to Hashem in their distress and He saved them from the straits. And let them slaughter offerings of thanksgiving and relate His works with joyful song. Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do their work in great waters, they have seen the deeds of Hashem and His wonders in the watery deep.
It was clearly siyata d’shmaya number three. “On the spot, I decided that we would recite these verses at the seudas hodaya, with the lights off and the lights of the key ring ships flashing,” says Gittel.
Baruch Hashem, the celebration was a success. And then came siyata d’shmaya number four. Gittel has a standing lotto ticket with a woman who provides a nifty service and lets her clients know when they have won. A week after the seudas hodaya, this woman called Gittel to let her know that she had won. “When I went to collect my winnings, I saw that I had won with the numbers that corresponded to my parents’ dates of birth. Six of the five numbers corresponded exactly. Only the month of my father’s birth was out,” says Gittel.
And the incredible siyata d’shmaya continued. “I had won exactly the amount of money that I had spent for the seuda, including the ship key rings, the sifrei Tehillim, and the four cakes I had bought to bring to the restaurant for dessert (remember, I’m not fond of cooking!),” says Gittel. Even the money she had put out to pay for the taxi for some attendees who were coming from B’nei Brak was included in the win. “If I had won a greater sum, I would not have made the connection. I felt like I was getting regards straight from my parents in Gan Eden,” Gittel says.
An inscription on the monument at Kikar Denia (Denmark Square) in Jerusalem reads: “Danish courage and Swedish generosity gave indelible proof of human values in times of barbarism. Israel and Jews everywhere will never forget.” Neither will our Father in Heaven.