Nazi collaborator monuments in Denmark
A stone commemorating Nazi collaborators of Free Corps Denmark was detonated by veterans of the Danish resistance, then reconstructed
National Socialist Workers’ Party of Denmark headquarters, Copenhagen, 1940/1942 (Nationalmuseet – National Museum of Denmark via Wikimedia Commons). Image by Lev Golinkin
By Lev Golinkin April 27, 2022
This list is part of an ongoing investigative project the Forward first published in January 2021 documenting hundreds of monuments around the world to people involved in the Holocaust. We are continuing to update each country’s list; if you know of any not included here, or of statues that have been removed or streets renamed, please email [email protected], subject line: Nazi monument project.
Ans — In a grove just off the road in the small town of Ans on Denmark’s Jutland peninsula stands a memorial stone inscribed with the sun cross (a pagan symbol often associated with neo-Nazis) and dedicated “To the memory of the 4,000 Danish volunteers 1939–1945.” The memorial commemorates fallen Nazi collaborators of Free Corps Denmark (Frikorps Danmark) a volunteer formation that fought in the Waffen-SS (the military arm of the Nazi Party) against the Soviet Union. The Free Corps, which eventually totaled 7,000 men, was created and recruited for by the National Socialist Workers’ Party of Denmark (DNSAP), the country’s largest Nazi party, together with Nazi Germany. It’s a small, pro-Nazi relic from a nation famous for saving its Jews.
A Free Corps veteran organization created the Ans memorial in 1969. The “justification” given for honoring these soldiers is that they fought against Communism.
A week after its unveiling, the memorial stone was detonated by veterans of the Danish resistance. “We could easily have blown up the entire memorial park, but we wanted to leave something for the other resistance groups from the region who have stated that they will launch similar operations,” a saboteur told a local paper, according to “The Battle for the Nazi Memorial,” a fascinating article by the Danish Broadcasting Company (DR).
However, the memorial grove was reconstructed and still stands. The site has become an object of attention for neo-Nazi groups which, like many other neo-Nazi organizations covered in this project, use monuments to WWII collaborators as focal points for networking and inspiration.
In the above right photo, Free Corps Denmark volunteers are shown being sworn in in July 1941. Below left, Dutch Nazis recruiting for Free Corps Denmark in Copenhagen, 1940/1941. The recruitment frames fighting for Hitler as a way to combat Communism: “Against the Enemy of the World” reads the poster on the right, which shows a skeletal figure with Communist symbols. The below right photo depicts DNSAP headquarters in Copenhagen in 1940 or 1941.
For more commemorations of Danish SS volunteers, see the Estonia section. For a similar type of memorial, see the Stekene entry in the Belgium section.
Many thanks to the Forward reader who emailed us suggesting we take a look at this memorial and to Dr. Claus Bundgård Christensen for providing information about the memorial’s history.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
