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"He wore civilian clothes. I had no idea who he was." | |||
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Leif Donde Born 1937 Copenhagen, Denmark 
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Leif was born to a Jewish family in the Danish capital of Copenhagen. Both of his parents were active in the Jewish community there, and his father owned a small garment factory. The majority of Denmark's 6,000 Jews lived in Copenhagen before the war. Despite its size, the city's Jewish population supported many Jewish organizations, often aiding Jewish refugees from all over Europe.
1933-39: I went to a Jewish nursery school, which was next to a girls' school in Copenhagen. I didn't like my school because they made me take a nap in the afternoon. At school, we learned how to spell and read and sometimes we even sang songs. I played with all kinds of children--some of them were Jewish and some of them were not. I didn't really care; they were all my friends. 1940-44: The Germans occupied Denmark in April 1940. On August 28, 1943, the same day they took over the government, my parents took us to Tivoli Gardens, a huge amusement park in the center of Copenhagen. Leaving the park, we saw people gathered in the street as a convoy of German tanks passed by. Later, my father told us to prepare to leave the city. My parents were scared but it seemed like an adventure to me. We collected warm clothes and took a train south. In October we were smuggled to Sweden on a fishing boat. After German troops in Scandinavia surrendered on May 4, 1945, Leif and his family returned to Denmark. |
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Preben Munch-Nielson Born 1926 Snekkersten, Denmark 
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You couldn't let people in...in need down. You can't turn the back to people who need your help. There's...there must be some sort of decency in a man's life, and that wouldn't have been decent to turn the back to people in need. So, there's no question...uh...of why or why not. You just did. That's the way you're brought up. That's the way of the tradition in...in my country. You help, of course. And therefore I don't think it's...I...could you have remained your self-respect if you knew that these people would suffer and [you had] said "No. Not at my table"? No. No way. So that's not a problem of...of--you just have to do it. And nothing else. | ||
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Agnes Mandl Adachi Born 1918 Budapest, Hungary 
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Raoul went after these people all the way to the Austrian border. But one of these occasion he had Per Anger with him too, and he had a big black book. And on the way to the railway station he stopped and screamed at the Nazis, in German, he spoke perfect German, "How dare you are taking our people, they all are protected people," and "All of those people who have my papers turn around." And there was one of my very good girlfriends from here now, she said well what can happen they kill her anyhow. She turned around. She didn't have any paper, and her sister and her mother. And then, "Get on the truck." Okay. And then he started to open his black book and started to read names like a machine gun. The people caught on, those who could still walk, and they walked up, whether that was their name or not. And he brought them, a thousand people, back to Budapest, to the safe houses. And on the way home, Per Anger said to him, "Raoul, I didn't know we have a black book and you have names. When did you do that?" And Raoul start hysterically laughing, he says, "I show it to you when I've done it," and he opens it up and not one single name. Nothing. But that was his idea. He had to do something. He had to save people. And the same thing, he had drivers' licenses, and, and, and insurance papers, whatever he could find in Hungarian that the Germans couldn't read. And he took it all away to the train and he demanded to open the doors and yell to the people "I have your papers here, get out Mr. so-and-so." And that to some people, you know [gave them the idea] "Oh, maybe we can get away." And, and he handed them...some of them got the Schutzpass [protective pass] not with their name but who cares, you know, and insurance papers and tax papers, you name it. And he brought them back. | ||
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Agnes Mandl Adachi Born 1918 Budapest, Hungary 
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Budapest is uh, two cities, and in the middle is the so-called Blue Danube, for me it is the Red Danube, but that's what it was, and they took people down there, the Hungarian Nazis, and they roped three people together, and they shot the middle one, so they all fell in. And if they saw a movement, they shot again so they'd be sure. But many people by themselves somehow got out. But it was a terribly cold winter, as I said, and the Danube was frozen with big slabs of ice. So Raoul came home the third night, and there was no moonlight, no stars, just cold and dark. And he turned to us the first time, usually he only talked to the men and the Red Cross, and "How many of you can swim?" I have a big mouth, I put up my hand, I said, "Best swimmer in school." He says, "Let's go." And as you saw me coming in like a teddy bear, that's how I was dressed, and a hat and a glove. And we went down on the other side, the Hungarians didn't even hear us coming because they were so busy roping and shooting, and we stood on the left, way over, we had doctors and nurses in the cars and then we had people outside to pull us out. Four of us, three men and me, we jumped and thanks to the icicles, the the ropes hang on to it, and we saved people out, but only fifty, and then we were so frozen that we couldn't do it anymore. But without Raoul Wallenberg, we wouldn't have saved even one single person. | ||
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