Figure 1.--One of the heroes of the Danish resistance was playwright and theologian Kaj Munk. Here he is playing with his family, his wife and five children, we believe during the NAZI World War II occuption. He openly defied the NAZIs in his sermons and plays, often usingly thinly veiled historical settings. He attacked both the NAZIs and their Danish collaborators.

Kaj Harald Leininger Munk, usully refered to as Kaj Munk because he was orphand at an early age. He was a Danish playwright and Lutheran pastor, best known for his literary works and his principled stand against the NAZIs and resulting martyrdom during the World War II occupation of Denmark. At the time of the German invasion, Munkwas a respcted theologian and literary figure. He was no friend of democracy, hoving great importance to social order. In this we sees traces of Luther himself. He was, however, a strident Christoan voice against brutality and barbarism. Today he is honored as one of the great Danish heroes, a martyr in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church (August 14) alongside Maximilian Kolbe.

Childhood

Kaj Munk was born Kaj Harald Leininger Petersen on the Baltic Sea island of Lolland, Denmark (January 13, 1898). Lolland is one of the larger islands and close to the German coast. After his parents died, Kaj was raised by a family named Munk. As a boy he was captivted by both religion and liteature.

Minister

Munk became the vicar of Vedersø in Western Jutland (1924). We think the photograph on the previus page with Munk and his daughter show them in front of his church at Vedersø.

Writings

Munk in addition to his religious duties was strongly drawn to literatire. He wrote quite a number of plays. Munk wrote many of his plays in the 1920s, but they were mostly published and performed before World War II (1930s). Rather like Shakespear, Munk often used historical settings for his plays. The approch was different. Shakespeare use history to ingrtite himself with the Tudors. Munk used history to attack the NAZIs. They have a strong phiolospical content, the same attraction that have rawn Munk to religion. They involved to varying degrees the nexus betweem religion, Marxism, and Darwinism. This was the same cultural melieu that dominated Danish cultural life at the time.

Political Orientation

Munk life during this period was not heavily involved in politics, but of course had political views. Munk expressed admiration for Hitler (for uniting Germans) when he first seized power in Germany and wished a similar unifying figure for Danes. [Tjørnehøj] He also expressed some admiration for Mussolini. This needs to be understood in the comtext of the times. Today any association with the NAZIs gives the impression of approval of vst war crimes and genocie, espeially the Holocaust. But none of this had occurred yet. Munk was admiring strong leadership. And if Hitler with Stalin's assistace had not launched World War, he would be viewed differently today. In fact although they are also envarassed by it, many American New Deal figuresadmired Fascist Dictator Benitio Mussolini and his idea of a corporate state. Munk's attitude towards Hitler and Mussolini soon turned to strongly expressed disgust. He was apauled by Hitler's escalating persecution of Germany's Jews as well as Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia which included the use of poison gas. At this time Munk was a respected figure in Denmark The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten just before the War published Munk's open letter to Mussolini on its front page criticising the persecutions of the Jews (1938). By this tome Mussolini was yielding to Hitler's pressure to dopt NAZI--style anti-Jewish measures. Munk was no democrat. He had many problems with democracy. And as Churchill exolained, it is easy to criticize democracy, much more difficult to concoct an alternative. Munk's vision was for a 'Nordic dictator' who chould unite the Nordic countries and maintain their neutrality by force from foreign threats.

German Invasion (April 1940)

Denmark on Germany's norther border was an early NAZI victim. There was no way that Denmark could defend iiself from the massive German Army. The Danes had managd to stay out of World War I by maintaining its neutrality. With Hitler this did not work. The Danish Army put up virtually no resistance to the Germans who were primarily focused on Norway. The Danes were the third NAZI viction after Czechoslovakia and Poland.

Occupation

he NAZis did not have the racial goals in Denmark that they had in Poland and the East. The intrest in Denmark was to 1) exploit the country economically to support the war effort and 2) make the Danes and Denmark part of the New Order leading to a greater Reich after the War. For the Danish people, there was a minimal German imprint. Few German soldiers werre seen on Danish streerts. Life went on much as before the invasion. The major impact was in the economic sphere. After the military occupation was secured, the German Foreign Ministry attempted to negotiate or more precisely implement an economic union with Denmark (summer 1940). Then Goering and his Four-Year Plan attempted to oversee the Danish economy. Eventually the Reich Economics Ministry took control. The Germans abandoned the idea of economic union. The German persued more limited measures. They established a ministerial Eastern Committee to expand Danish industry in the Eastern areas seized by the Barbarossa offensive (June 1941). The overall NAZI goal was to become the economic center of a self-sufficient continental Europe. Thus Germany could function and continue the War depite the British naval blockade. A major goal in Denmark as in other occupied areas was to obtain food for the Reich. Denmark wa a food exporter, especially dairy products. Much of that food was marketed in Britain. After the German invasion, agricultural production was redirected to the Reich. [Lund] Here the Germans were very successful. Before the War, less than 25 of Danish exports went to the Reich (1939). This rapidly shifted and the Reich was soon receiving 75 percent of Danish exports (1941). Estimates suggest that during the War, the Danes supplied 10-15 percent of the Reich's food supplies. Also important was Danish cement and naval shipyards. The shipments to Germany without any counterflow of German products caused economuic problems in Denmark. Danes experienced price inflation. The Danish Government was forced to impose food rationing.

Munk During the Occupation

Munk was no friend of democracy. He was an enemy of brutality and barbrism. He opposed NAZI control from the very beginning of the occupation. There was no question of armed opposition, but passive resistance was possible to an extent because the Nordic ethnic composition of the population caused the Germns to limit their brutality. The Danish Givernmnt like the French adopted a policy of collaboration, hoping they could essentially buy German good will. Munk became a critic of both the Germans and the Government's collaboration. His plays 'Han sidder ved Smeltediglen' (He sits by the melting pot) (1938) along with and 'Niels Ebbesen' (1942) were thiny veiled attacks on the NAZIS. The latter used the historical figure (Niels Ebbesen), a medieval Danish squire who is considered a national hero for having assassinated an earlier German occupier of Denmark--Count Gerhard III. This of course was a histoticl guise for criticiaing the NAZI occupation which was becoming increaingly repressive as the War continued. His friends understanding the danger urged Munk to go into hiding. Munk not only preach against the NAZIS, but also Danes who collaborated with them. This was the subjct of his last sermon at Vedersø

Final Straw

The major question here is not why the Gestapo finallu acted, but why they tolerated him so long. The answer is that their master plan was to annex Denmark and the other Nordic countries to the Reich after they won the War. The Nordic countries in NAZI trms had 'valuable genetic material' This was vital to th NAZIs as the Germn were outnumbredas they were evn in Europe. They thus wanted the good will of the Danish people which be helpful in accomplishing this. And Munk was a respected Danish cultural figure. Any action against him would be seen by most Danes as an act afainst the country itself. The same reason hey tolerated the defiant King. The last straw was whn Munk defied a NAZI ban and preached the first Advent sermon at the National Cathedral in Copenhagen. Both the defiance and location could not be tolerated.

Murder (January 1944)

Inevitably for vocal critics, the Gestapo acted. They arrested Munk during the night (January 4, 1944). He was shot dead by a Danish-German terror group of germans and Danish NAZIs led by led by SS-Hauptsturmführer Otto Schwerdt. (The Gestapo was a unit of the SS). His lifeless body was found in a roadside ditch in rural Hørbylunde near Silkeborg the next morning with a note saying "Swine, you worked for Germany just the same." [Shirer] This was an attempt to blane his murder on the Resistance, acknowledging the Gestapo's concern with Danish public opinion. This was not common in occupid Europe, where the genral approach was to use brutality and terror openly to cow public opinion.

Reaction

Four thousand Danes attended Munk's funeral in Copenhagen. Munk's body was returned to Vedersø and his parish church. He was buried outside the choir. The forest worker who found Munk's body the norning aftervhis murder put up a wooden cross. After the War a simple stone cross was erected on a small hill overlooking the roads site where the Gestapo dumped Munk's body. [Poulsen] Much of the January 1944 issue of the resistance newspaper De frie Danske was dedicated to Munk. His portrait filled the front page. His obituary, 'Danmarks store Søn - Kaj Munk' (The great son of Denmark - Kaj Munk) filled the next page, followed by excerpts from his New Year's sermon. Then came a description of his murder and a photo reportage from his funeral. Finlly came condemnation from influential Scandinavians, namely Prince Wilhelm, Duke of Södermanland, Jarl Hemmer, Johannes Jørgensen, Sigrid Undset, Erling Eidem, and Harald Bohr. The Danish Government allowed his widow, Lise, coninue living at the parish house until she died (1998). The church and parish house were later restored as a memorial and national monument (2010).

Sources

Jørnehøj, Henning. "Ingen Dansk kan ære Hitlers Daad mere end jeg," (May 5, 2003).

Shirer, William L. Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1960).

Poulsen, Søren Toftgaard. 'The pastor of Vedersø,'

Created: 12:36 AM 1/3/2018
Last updated: 12:36 AM 1/3/2018