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Oral history interview with Jørgen von Führen Kieler

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1995.A.1285.24 | RG Number: RG-50.149.0024

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    Oral history interview with Jørgen von Führen Kieler

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Jørgen von Führen Kieler describes growing up in Horsens, Jutland, Denmark; his family; his education; traveling around Europe frequently with his family; being a student in Germany, Paris, France, and Cambridge, England from 1937 to 1938; attending a Hitler-Mussolini meeting in Munich, Germany in 1937; the antisemitic exhibition; the metro strike in Paris in 1937; the friends he made at Cambridge University; his attitude towards the Nazi regime; learning of the existence of Dachau in 1937; his attitude towards German Danish relations; the neglect of Danish defenses; the Munich crisis in 1938; being a medical student in Copenhagen, Denmark from 1939 to 1940; volunteering for service in the Finnish Winter War at the end of 1939; the German occupation of Denmark in 1940; the appearance of the German Air Force over Copenhagen September 4, 1940; his reaction to the lack of resistance against Germans; joining the Danish Resistance in 1942; his membership in the Free Denmark Resistance group from 1942 to 1944; his resistance contacts; propaganda activities; the controversy over the collection of food aid for inland in 1943; the origins of the Aalborg Resistance in the spring of 1942; the start of the Communist KOPA resistance group (Borgerlige partisaner) in the autumn of 1942; reasons for the change in Hitler's policy towards Denmark in September 1943; the Special Operations Executives' contact with the Danish Resistance (1940- 1943); the arrival of Flemming Muus in 1943; the contrasts in attitude towards sabotage by Danish Communists; the collaboration between Finland volunteers and Danish Communists for sabotage; his decision to start his own sabotage group in Jutland, Denmark in the spring of 1943; the initial sabotage attempt at Horsens; the German attitude towards Danish sabotage; the Danish Government's aid to Germans; the German take over of Denmark in August 1943; the beginning of the persecution of Danish Jews in 1943; the lack of German Army co-operation in antisemitic policy; the role of his group in the campaign to save Danish Jews by removing them to Sweden in 1943; the orders to deny the Danish Navy to the Germans; Germans not pursuing boats taking Jews to Sweden; Danish motives for protecting Jewish civilians; their methods of securing explosives in late 1943; the capture of a resistance leader; the treatment of captured resister by Germans; the orders to stop sabotage in December 1943; moving to Jutland and the sabotage carried out; returning to Copenhagen to sabotage a shipyard; the capture and interrogations by the Gestapo in early 1944; his capture in Copenhagen harbor during the sabotage operation; being interrogated; his sentence for attempting to escape to Sweden; his release and move to south Jutland; being captured by Germans in 1944; meeting with a former group leader in a Gestapo cell in Copenhagen; the execution of the group leader in April 1944; the requirement for him to sign a confession; how a general strike led to his deportation to Porta Westfalica concentration camp; being an inmate in Porta Westfalica and Neuengamme from 1944 to 1945; mining work; stoning because of failure to work fast enough; how being transferred to a job in the camp hospital saved his life; the arrival of Red Cross parcels; his memories of Nikolai, a Danish inmate from south Jutland, and how Nikolai stopped Russians attacking Danes over Red Cross parcels; the death of Nikolai from starvation in the infirmary; the effects of starvation on inmates; how he was the last Danish prisoner to leave Neuengamme on April 20, 1945; reuniting with his mother and a colleague from Cambridge in May 1945; more details on Porta Westfalica, including the organization of camp and the beatings; and the effects of his experiences and his attitude towards Germans.
    Interviewee
    Jorgen Kieler
    Date
    interview:  1994 March 12

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Extent
    3 sound cassettes (90 min.).

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
    Conditions on Use
    Restrictions on use. Permission to copy and/or use recordings in any production must be granted by the Imperial War Museums.

    Keywords & Subjects

    Topical Term
    Anti-Nazi movement--Denmark. Anti-Nazi propaganda--Denmark. Antisemitism--Denmark. Communists--Denmark. Concentration camp inmates--Medical care. Concentration camps--Psychological aspects. Forced labor. General strikes--Denmark. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Denmark--Personal narratives. Jews--Persecutions--Denmark. Jews--Persecutions--Germany. Medical students. Miners. Prisons--Denmark--Copenhagen. Russo-Finnish War, 1939-1940--Participation, Danish. Sabotage. Starvation. Strikes and lockouts--France--Paris. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Denmark. World War, 1939-1945--Jews--Rescue--Denmark. World War, 1939-1945--Psychological aspects. World War, 1939-1945--Underground movements--Denmark. World War, 1939-1945--Underground movements--Personal narratives. Men--Personal narratives. Resistance Groups (ushmm)

    Administrative Notes

    Holder of Originals
    Imperial War Museum
    Provenance
    The interview was conducted by the Imperial War Museum as part of their retrospective oral history interview program. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum acquired a copy of the interview with Jørgen von Führen Kieler from the Imperial War Museum in February 1995.
    Record last modified:
    2023-11-16 08:17:24
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn510832

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