The Helsingør Syklub (Elsinore Sewing Club) was one of many groups formed specifically to smuggle Jewish refugees from German-occupied Denmark, across the Øresund Strait, to neutral Sweden. The Club began in October 1943, as a small group of men: Erling Kiær (1903-1980), a bookbinder, Borge Rønne (1911-2001), a newspaper journalist, Thormod Larsen (1909-1998), a police detective, and Ove Bruhn, a police clerk. These four men became the leaders of the Club, working with many of their neighbors, to ensure the refugees escaped safely. They gave the group the code name, “Helsingør Syklub” to draw less attention to their actions.
Germany invaded Denmark on April 9, 1940, but allowed the Danish government to remain in control. In mid-1943, Danish resistance efforts increased, and when German authorities pushed the Danish government to prosecute resistors, the government declined and resigned. At the end of August, German authorities declared martial law, and developed a plan to deport the roughly 8,000 Jews in Denmark to concentration camps in early October, at the end of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
On September 28, 1943, Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, a German diplomat, secretly informed Danish politicians of the deportation plan, and they warned Chief Rabbi Marcus Melchior. On September 29, the start of the holiday, the Rabbi cancelled services and urged people to go into hiding or flee. By the time the Gestapo moved to round them up, there was almost no one left in the cities. Most Danish police refused to cooperate with German authorities, denying them entry to Jewish property, and not reporting any Jews found in hiding. Many ordinary Danish citizens protested the round-ups and supported efforts to hide and then smuggle the Jewish refugees to Sweden, which had agreed to take them in because they felt it was the right thing to do.
Once they reached the coastal areas along the strait, many refugees did not know what to do next or whom to ask to help get them to Sweden. Some were so desperate and frightened that they killed themselves and their families to avoid capture by German patrols, while others tried to row across the strait on their own, drowning when small boats capsized in rough water. The Club was formed to address this situation in October 1943. Initially, the Club tried to move refugees to the north to cross the strait, but German patrols made this difficult. Kiær and the club acquired a boat so they could carry refugees across themselves. Their first boat was borrowed, but only made the crossing a few times before Kiær wrecked it. Not long after, a wealthy Jewish man from Helsingør, came to the group and paid the money needed to buy a fast motorboat, Lurifax, which they called ”02.” Kiær learned to pilot the boat for their treacherous plan, maneuvering past German patrols at night. Sympathetic port authorities drew up false pilot’s papers for him, and the group acquired a third boat. Hoping to blend in, the Club painted the boats a flat gray to match the coloring of Swedish Coast Guard vessels. While the boats were being painted, there was a mix-up regarding the numbering (now removed) and the exact identification of each boat. Consequently, Club members would often refer to the boats by numbers that did not match the painted ones.
The Club charged only what was necessary to fund the rescue operation itself. This included the cost of the gasoline, maintenance for the boat, and shelter for Kiær in Helsingborg, Sweden, where he and the boat remained during the day. Wealthier passengers were charged a higher sum to cover passengers without the means to pay. Local couriers and resistance members, like Preben Munch-Nielsen, met refugees at train stations and other designated locations and would move them to select hotels or their neighbors’ homes. The refugees would wait there until the courier returned and guided them to a designated spot along the shore to board a boat. Local guides were essential because they could move around comfortably without lights, which might alert the German patrols of their movements during Denmark’s blackout order. The Club also worked closely with local and harbor police, who would warn them when and where patrols were expected. Other officers would stand watch as the refugees boarded a boat. Bruhn managed the Club communication, and kept the financial records that were later destroyed. Rønne made sure that refugees had places to stay while waiting to cross. Larsen managed their network of police informants and back-up security. Kiær served as the pilot, and made the crossing a couple of times per evening in good weather, carrying 12 to 14 passengers each time.
The majority of the Jewish refugees were smuggled to Sweden in October 1943. After that time, the Club continued to run their route, carrying non-Jewish relatives, resistance members, weapons, and valuable information. The Club utilized colored signal lights and designated patterns to indicate safety, danger, and landing areas along the darkened coast of Denmark. The complicated process did not always go smoothly. On January 20, 1944, there was a mix-up regarding German patrol movements, and the noise of the boat engine altered a nearby patrol, which opened fire. The boat managed to escape quickly and no one aboard was seriously injured. Larsen was hit in the stomach and smuggled to Copenhagen, where he went into hiding to recuperate. Rønne fled for Sweden the next day, and Bruhn eventually went underground. On May 12, 1944, a German patrol, likely tipped-off by an informant, captured Kiær during a crossing. They arrested him, and confiscated or sank his boat, “03” (mistakenly marked as “02”.) Kiær was tortured in several German-run prisons in Denmark, including Horserød camp, Vestre Prison, and Frøslev camp one. Later, he was deported to Neuengamme concentration camp in Germany, before being transferred to the Porta Westfalica subcamp complex, where he worked as a slave laborer. Beginning in March 1945, Danish and Norwegian prisoners, including Kiær, were transferred back to Neuengamme and evacuated by the Swedish Red Cross as part of the Bernadotte Campaign.
On May 4, 1945, German forces in Denmark surrendered. Later that year, Larsen bought the Lurifax from Ronne. During the eight months that the Club operated, it smuggled approximately 1,400 refugees, relatives, and resistance members across the strait to Sweden, including more than 700 Jews. During that time, Kiær crossed the strait an estimated 142 times round-trip. The members of the Danish resistance, including the Elsinore Sewing Club, asked that Yad Vashem not recognize members individually, preferring to be honored as a group, because they viewed their rescue efforts as a collective act, not an individual one.
