Gilleleje church

The escape to Sweden
On the northern coast of Zealand, approximately 30 miles from Copenhagen, The Gilleleje Museum tells the story of how 7,200 Jewish refugees escaped to Sweden.

The population of Gilleleje responded to the call to assist the refugees on the night of October 1st and early hours of October 2nd 1943. Word had leaked from the offices of the German occupiers to the Danish resistance that the country's Jews were to be rounded up and taken to concentration camps. Instead, they were spirited away to Sweden in fishing boats and dinghies from small hamlets along the eastern coast of the Øresund. Approximately 1,000 Jews escaped from the Gilleleje area during October 1943 thanks to the spontaneous help of the local community. The museum in Gilleleje features several documents concerning the dramatic events and a reconstruction of one of the fishing boats.

Unfortunately, some escapees were not so lucky. In the church attic of Gilleleje church there remain relics of the night of October 6th, when 80 refugees were captured by the Gestapo here before they had a chance to cross the sea to Sweden.

http://www.visitcopenhagen.dk/press/press_information/composite-733.htm