Opening on October 10, 2024
—Photo presentation complements Museum’s Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark exhibition about one of the most effective examples of mass resistance in modern history—
(New York, N.Y., October 2, 2024) — The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust announced the opening on Thursday, October 10, of Judy Glickman Lauder: The Danish Exception, a photograph presentation that complements the Museum’s exhibition Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark. Made in 1993, the photographs on view feature striking portraits of both rescuers and survivors, alongside shadowy interiors where Jewish people and cultural heritage found refuge. The photographs are accompanied by text excerpts from Glickman Lauder’s interviews and firsthand research.
The display is presented on the third floor of the Museum, adjacent to Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark, which tells the story of the remarkable efforts by Danish citizens to successfully save 95% of their Jewish population. Eighty one years ago this week, Jewish and non-Jewish neighbors of all ages mobilized to create one of the most effective—and exceptional—examples of mass resistance and escape in modern history. In further celebration of Danish activism, the Museum unveiled the Copenhagen Bench on the patio adjacent to the exhibitions–a classic sight from Denmark’s capital but with over-long legs. The elevated version six feet off the ground highlights the impact of rising sea levels on urban areas and underscores the Museum’s commitment to educate the public on critical global issues.
Almost fifty years after the rescue, Glickman Lauder visited many people and places that made the heroic rescue possible. She used her fine photographic eye to capture and immortalize people and places that form that unique history. The Danish Exception offers a poetic affirmation of resistance, survival, and triumph, highlighting the extraordinary bravery and selflessness of those involved in the Danish Rescue. Now 81 years since the rescue, and one year since the opening of Courage to Act, this presentation activates anew the Keeping History Center Hallway, with views onto New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty.
“I had the opportunity to meet, interview, and photograph Danish Resistance leaders, rescuers, and Jewish survivors. These extraordinary people shared their individual experiences and led me to the sites where the events of 1943 had unfolded,” said Judy Glickman Lauder. She shared that, “the Danish people came to symbolize hope for me – a force of goodness in a world gone mad.”
Seven selections from Glickman Lauder’s larger body of workelaborate upon stories on display in the adjacent exhibition made for audiences as young as nine. For example, young Leo Goldberger was forced to flee Copenhagen with his family in 1943; in Courage to Act, his experience is recounted through his decision to take along a prized possession – a clay sculpture – on the frightening escape by sea. Photographed by Glickman Lauder fifty years later, Leo Goldberger—who became a prominent psychologist—is captured in middle age and reflects eloquently on his family’s rescue.
“Judy Glickman Lauder’s photography offers a profound glimpse into the Danish Rescue. Through portraits of survivors and rescuers, and images of hidden spaces, she captures the intimate drama of survival, the long lives lived after the war, and the understated heroism of ordinary Danes who chose to make a difference. Presentations like The Danish Exception not only honor these courageous acts but remind us of the power of compassion and collective action, even in the face of overwhelming darkness,” said Jack Kliger, President and CEO of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. “As Judy says in her book, ‘Although the Danish story is small in regard to numbers—affecting a tiny fraction of those persecuted by the Nazis—it is huge in scope. It is a story that tells of a population who proved it possible to make a difference, and who refused to see a minority as ‘the other’.”
Sara Softness, Director of Curatorial Affairs, added,“Judy Glickman Lauder’s photographs make for a beautiful and impactful epilogue to Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark. In quiet black and white images, Glickman Lauder’s documentary project is powerful and poetic, and dignifies this extraordinary story.”
Judy Glickman Lauder is an internationally recognized photographer, humanitarian, and philanthropist. Her photographs related to the Holocaust were published in the monograph Beyond the Shadows: The Holocaust and the Danish Exception (Aperture, 2018). These photographs are the subject of two traveling exhibitions—Holocaust: The Presence of the Past and Resistance and Rescue: Denmark’s Response to the Holocaust—which have been presented at more than two hundred institutions around the world. Other works by the artist are collected in Upon Reflection: Photographs by Judy Ellis Glickman (2012) and Both Sides of the Camera: Photographs from the Collection of Judith Ellis Glickman (2007). Her most recent book titled Presence: The Photography Collection of Judy Glickman Lauder (2022) was published by Aperture in partnership with the Portland Museum of Art, Maine. This book accompanies a traveling exhibition drawn from the Judy Glickman Lauder Collection at the Portland Museum of Art, to which her collection has been gifted.
The German occupation of Denmark began in April 1940. Unlike in other countries, the Danish government was allowed to continue to control its domestic affairs. For the next three years, Danish Jews were not required to register their property, identify themselves based on their religion, or give up their homes and businesses. The Jewish community continued to function and hold religious services.
Then, in August 1943, the German military commander in Denmark declared martial law and took control over the Danish military and police forces. The German civilian administrator soon initiated a proposal to capture and deport Danish Jews. Some German officials warned non-Jewish Danes, who in turn alerted the Jewish community.
Danish authorities, Jewish community leaders, and countless private citizens mobilized a massive operation in response. The Danish resistance, assisted by its citizens, organized a rescue operation that helped hide Jews and move them to the coast, where fishermen ferried them to neutral Sweden. In just a few weeks, about 7,200 Jews and 700 of their non-Jewish relatives traveled to safety in Sweden. In all, Danes rescued more than 90% of the country’s Jewish residents from German deportation, brutal internment and starvation, and systemic murder.