The Dane's Unique Moral Courage

I ran across The Englishman's Castle tonight and found some interesting stories. I ended up reading there a while and following his links around the internet.

One story in particular is of interest. In his post Surrender Monkeys he quotes from the childrens book Sandi Toksvig, Hitler's Canary.

The story of how the Danish, uniquely, stood up to the Nazi invasion of their country by smuggling out virtually their entire population of Jews, thus saving them from the gas chambers, is one that should be better-known. The broadcaster and comedienne, Sandi Toksvig, is herself half Danish, and she has woven the tales her father told her about the occupation of Copenhagen with Edmund Burke’s famous dictum that “the one condition necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” ...

There are not as many classic children’s novels about the Second World War as there should be, but this is one of them. Yet this was a war in which children, above all, were victims and heroes, and Toksvig’s enchanting and inspiring tale reminds us of how even the smallest people made a difference.

In my own reading about this story,

There does seem to have been something unique in the spirit of this brave little country, in which King Christian could ride around the streets, guarded only by the love of his subjects, and in which there has never been a ghetto thanks to Denmark being the first country to grant the Jews full, unconditional emancipation. As Bamse’s father tells him, “There are large Danes, small Danes, lazy Danes, hard-working Danes, even Great Danes…but we are all Danish. That’s all."

I hadn't been aware of this story before. I'm learning so much about the Danes now. In the Englishman's Castle comments there is the story of a man from Greece who helped Jews escape. Following his last trip, the English told him he had been found out by the Nazis. He couldn't return home. He fought along with the British army until after the war, his family not knowing what had become of him.

It's always interesting to me how the ordinary person has the capacity to make an enormous difference in the lives of the people around them and in the world. Everyday people can exhibit enormous bravery and astounding cowardice.

Ordinary people are the bedrock upon which our society is built.

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Linked to: Bright and Early; TMH's Bacon Bits; Stuck on Stupid; Third World County; The Real Ugly American; Jo's Cafe; Basil's Blog; Bloggin Out Loud; Cao's Blog; Prying 1; Is it just Me?; The Bullwinkle Blog; Stop the ACLU; Atlas Shrugs

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Woman Honor Thyself is one of my favorite blogs. She writes well and doesn't mince words (I like that). She has been trying to trackback her article Painful Images without success. She writes about the power of images and relates it to the degradation of women through pornography.

Perhaps women and men of true conscience ought to learn a lesson from all of this madness.

Not advocating amputation and random murders like barbarian savages are doing all over the world now in response to the perceived offense..

but SPEAK OUT ...let your voices be heard.

Go check it out :)