Medical student Abraham Steinbock shared the 25-foot fishing boat with his brother, sister, parents, another Jewish family of six – the Altmans – a police officer, a fisherman and 700 kg. of eels. They did not turn on the motor until they were well clear of Danish soil, out in Øresund Sound and after a close run in with a German frigate. The 23-year-old Steinbock was fleeing the Nazis around the time of Rosh Hashanah 1943, with the news from Copenhagen getting worse by the day.
The 11 souls on that boat were a mere handful of the 8,000-10,000 Danish Jewish who escaped to Sweden. Some 500-1,000 of the remaining Jews were sent to Theresienstadt. In Steinbock’s memoirs he mentions the many Danes who helped him and his family live to tell the tale.
That boat, purchased by the Steinbocks and the Altmans, is now one of the centerpieces of The Museum of Danish Resistance. The Copenhagen museum celebrates the selflessness of the Danish population and in particular the bravery of the country’s resistance movement.
Since its reopening in July 2020, more than 37,000 people visited in the period prior to COVID-19 lockdown. That included 50 school classes.
The museum is centrally located in Copenhagen between the Queen’s Castle and The Little Mermaid.
With Holocaust Memorial day coming soon (Coming Thursday, April 8), it is very important to keep telling these stories and also remembering these who did good in that dark period.
From an article in The Jerusalem Post Read the rest of the article here
