Elsinore Sewing Club

The Elsinore Sewing Club (Danish: Helsingør Syklub), was a Danish organization established in 1943 which covertly transported Danish Jews to safety during the Nazi occupation of Denmark. The town of Helsingør (known as Elsinore in English) was only two miles away from Sweden, across the Øresund, allowing transport of refugees by local boats.[1]

The group, under an innocuous code name, formed amongst friends in Elsinore. The members combined their skills and resources to find vacant housing, fishing boats, and rationed gasoline to help Jewish refugees from across Denmark. They primarily used small fishing boats, with occasional successes in using a mining ferry, a stolen larger boat, and a speedboat the club purchased with donations.[1]

After the flow of Jewish refugees stopped, the club remained active ferrying resistance members and downed Allied pilots to Sweden. The club was forced to dissolve when it was betrayed by informers, and leader Erling Kiær was sent to a concentration camp in Germany.[1]

The members of the club all survived the war,[1] and revenge was taken against the informers. One informer was then throttled and dumped overboard during a boat trip to Sweden, while the other was machine-gunned during dinner in his apartment.[2]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Ann Byers (2011). Rescuing the Danish Jews: A Heroic Story from the Holocaust. Enslow Publishers, Inc. pp. 57–66. ISBN 978-0-7660-3321-4.
  2. ↑ Rupert Butler (1 February 2014). Legions of Death: The Nazi Enslavement of Europe. Pen and Sword. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-84415-042-7.

See also