Harboring Hope

Seating is first come, first served and requires advanced registration.

In 1943, years after the Nazi occupation of Denmark began, word spread of the Gestapo’s insidious plan to round up the Jewish population and deport them to concentration camps. Angry at this attack on their friends and fellow Danes, many in Denmark organized and fought back, including a young woman named Henny Sinding. At only twenty-two years old, she and the crew of Gerda III, a lighthouse supply boat, risked everything to smuggle their Jewish compatriots across the Øresund strait to safety in Sweden. In Henny’s words, “It was the right thing to do so we did it. Simple as that.” But what happened when their operation’s cover was blown and it was Henny’s turn to escape?

Told by award-winning author Susan Hood, Harboring Hope is the moving true story of how Henny and her fellow resistance fighters helped defend democracy and the Danish Jewish community during Germany’s occupation of Denmark in World War II. A signing will follow, with books available for purchase.

Susan Hood is the award-winning author of many books for young readers, including ALIAS ANNA; LIFEBOAT 12; ADA’S VIOLIN; BROTHERS IN ARMS; THE LAST STRAW: Kids vs. Plastics; and SHAKING THINGS UP: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World; Susan is the recipient of the E.B. White Honor Award, two Christopher Awards, the Américas Award, the International Latino Award, the SCBWI Golden Kite Award, and the Bank Street Flora Stieglitz Straus Award, given to “a distinguished work of nonfiction that serves as an inspiration to young people.” Recently, ALIAS ANNA was named a 2023 Sydney Taylor Notable Book and a finalist for the 2023 National Jewish Book Awards.

 This program is made possible in part by support from the Battery Park City Authority.