-By Rhonda Barnet

During World War II, the citizens of Denmark became protectors of the country’s Jewish community. In fact, King Christian, then the king of Denmark, promised that, “If the Germans want to put the yellow Jewish star in Denmark, I and my whole family will wear it as a sign of the highest distinction.”

Charlotte and Ronen Thalmay, fourth generation Danes, shared that history at a recent program at Community Synagogue of Rye. Fern and Steven Kaplan, Rye Brook residents and synagogue members, met the Thalmays in Copenhagen when they took a tour of Jewish history there. When the Kaplans learned that their tour guides would be visiting the United States, they arranged a presentation on the history of Danish Jews, which was attended by more than 50 people at the synagogue.

“In this world post-October 7, to know about kindness in the world is uplifting,” Charlotte Thalmay said after the couple was welcomed by Rabbi Daniel Gropper.

After explaining that the Danish king merely offered to wear the Star of David, but never actually donned one, The Thalmays, taking turns presenting the history, explained that in October, 1943, the Danish Jewish community learned that the Nazis would begin deporting Jews to concentration camps. With that knowledge, flotillas of small boats gathered and carried away Danish Jewish families to the safety of Sweden. The Ronens showed the small cloth bags the refugees had used to hold their essentials. At the time, it was not known if the Swedes would accept the Danes, but they did.

At the same time, the Danish Lutheran Church, led by Bishop Hans Fugisang-Damgaard, sent a protest to all priests in Denmark, to be read during service in all churches. The protest was also sent to the German authorities. “In every place where Jews are prosecuted it is the duty of the Christian Church to protest, because:”

The Jews and the Old Testament is part of the history of the Christian Church.

Prosecution of Jews is against our belief that every human life is treasurable in the eyes of God.

It is against Danish justice and culture. And the law provides freedom of religion in Denmark.

We do understand that we have a duty to obey the ruling authority, but in this case, we claim the right to obey God above humans.”

The Thalmays referred to that protest as the “courage to act” by Danes. Seven thousand Jews were rescued. And, a Danish church, the Church of the Trinity, sent an ambulance to retrieve the Torah scrolls from the Danish synagogue and hid them safely in a crypt until the end of the war.

Danes rallied to keep up the homes of those who had fled to Sweden, which meant that at the end of the war, the Danish Jews returned. But not all Danish Jews had made it out of the country. Some stayed and were sent to the Therensienstadt concentration camp. Yet the Danish government found a way to get care packages to the Danes. Overall, they said, 97 percent of Danish Jews survived World War II — a war in which six million Jews perished.

But the Thalmays said that even though the country defended them, Danish Jews were not exempt from persecution in their own country. Yes, the Jews had been invited from Amsterdam 400 years ago, and King Frederik VI made a Declaration of Jewish Civil Rights in 1814, but there were riots against the Jews in Copenhagen in 1819, when Denmark was facing financial difficulties.

Both Charlotte and Ronen Thalmay were at the Jewish Community Center in February, 2015 for the Bat Mitzvah of a girl named Hannah when there was a terror attack. They stressed that the Danes responded with care, as they have done after Oct. 7. Queen Margrethe was among those who attended a synagogue service to show support for the Danish Jewish community.

While it has been reported that antisemitism is rising in Denmark as it is in other places, there is tremendous pride in the history of the Jews in Denmark, the Thalmays said. Many emigrated from Eastern Europe and then, instead of boarding ships to America, decided to make their home in Denmark.

They also recounted some well-known stories of heroism, including when Swedish actress Greta Garbo helped get Niels Bohr, a Danish Jewish physicist, to Sweden and then on to Britain and the United States, where he became part of the Manhattan Project.

But one story was new: Hans Christian Andersen was, according to the Thalmays, sent by his father to a Jewish school. Andersen remained close to the Jewish community throughout his life and indeed wrote a novel titled “The Jewish Girl,” they said.