The Social Democrat! The king stages a coup!
Buy The Social Democrat! The king stages a coup!
The people here are on the way to Amalienborg Castle. They're outraged -
- because a few days ago, Christian X pushed aside the country's government -
- and appointed his own lawyer prime minister.
Christian out! Republic! Christian out! Republic!
Buy The Social Democrat!
Only three years after the Russian Revolution -
- where angry workers forced the czar to abdicate -
- Danish workers now threaten to dismantle the royal house -
- and launch a general strike that will bring the whole country to a standstill.
Easter 1920 becomes a turning point for both king and country.
Republic! Christian out! Republic!
We're at the start of the 1900s. There's democracy in Denmark -
- on paper, anyway, because very few can vote.
But Denmark is about to change.
It's a time when the king finds his place in the new parliament -
- when even maids demand rights -
- and the first worker's son becomes prime minister.
But it's also a time when two great wars threaten both democracy -
- and the nation's survival.
This is The Story of Denmark.
Of how a country became a country and a people a people.
It's the tale of a nation that experienced both dizzying greatness -
- and total decline.
Through war and love, poverty and prosperity.
Absolutism and democracy.
All that has formed the Denmark that we know today.
This is our story.
DIFFICULT DEMOCRACY
Christiansborg is in many ways the heart of our democracy.
It's from here that our politicians try to govern Denmark.
All the men and women we've voted for.
But there was a time, not long ago -
- when our democracy was reserved for the few -
- when fools, the poor, servants -
- and women weren't allowed to vote.
At the start of the 1900s, many youth, especially from poor homes -
- are sent away from home as soon as they can hold a job.
Many end up as servants on a farm or for a rich family in the city.
And there's a need for them because housework is physically demanding.
A very big part of their pay was food and lodging.
So there were few wages left, and it was very few.
It's a society where there's a real difference between high and low -
- and the servants are pretty much the lowest.
Strictly speaking, they have no rights.
They are basically unfree people.
And they must be available -
- basically 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Dammit!
On the farm, it's the master who decides.
And his word is law.
Another thing when we talk about maids -
- is they were expected to be available sexually.
We won't dig into Danes' individual family histories -
- before those stories begin to leak.
And there was a grandmother. There was a great-grandmother.
And there was something about her being employed as a maid -
- and then she became pregnant.
It wasn't talked about much, but when you put the pieces together -
- it turns out that it was the master or the young son -
- who made the young woman pregnant.
There wasn't a free labor market for servants. They couldn't just quit.
And if they ran away -
- because conditions were terrible, they were picked up by the police.
And if they still wouldn't go back, they ended up in jail.
So conditions were rough.
At the start of the 1900s, all servants, both men and women -
- are subject to the Servant Law.
The law is 50 years old and gives the master the right to hit -
- and fire his servants without notice.
Even though the constitution was adopted in Denmark -
- servants don't see much democracy, equality, or freedom.
But Denmark is about to change.
At the turn of the century, Denmark is still an agricultural society -
- but people move to the cities because there's work.
There's an industrial boom in the cities.
In 1912, Denmark gets a new king.
No one knows that he'll be the last regent with political power.
Christian X is 41 years old when he takes over the throne.
Denmark is becoming more modern, but the new king is of the old school.
He was deeply Christian. He felt a great responsibility to his country -
- because he, on behalf of God, was responsible for Denmark's welfare.
The country Christian X rules stretches from Greenland -
- to Iceland and the Faroe Islands, all the way to the Danish West Indies.
But he dreams of making it even bigger -
- and regaining the part his grandfather, Christian IX, lost -
- after the war in 1864.
The king, by nature, was a national conservative.
He put the nation above all else.
The country should be ruled after the good old conservative principles.
Christian X thought he had a political role to play.
The constitution says he's the one who appoints ministers.
But parliamentarianism has already been established in Denmark -
- meaning parliament decides who governs the country.
A practice that can no longer be ignored -
- even if you're king.
At the start of the 1900s, the party system is established -
- so that each class in society has its own party.
In 1912, there are four big parties in Denmark.
The landowners' Højre, the farmers' Venstre Venstre, the smallholders' Liberals -
- and finally the Social Democratic Party, which represents the workers -
- a group in society that's growing and growing.
All over Denmark, new factories are sprouting up.
The technological progress of the time makes many things faster and easier.
Many of the workers in the city meet after work here in the tavern -
- which is a sanctuary after a long day of hard physical labor -
- and before heading home to their cramped apartments.
People move into the cities in great numbers. Take Copenhagen, for example.
About 120,000 people lived in Copenhagen around 1911 -
- but in 1920, there were over half a million.
So there were loads of people in a very little place.
In the taverns, beer is drunk -
- or one of the time's other specialties: a milk toddy.
Warm milk with schnapps.
A lot of schnapps.
But it also took a whole four øre out of your pocket.
The tavern was something found mostly in the cities.
There were lots of taverns on every street -
- and they were symbols both of the working class' misery -
- but also of their strength.
Misery because drinking destroys lives when you drink to drown your sorrows -
- and strength because the taverns were used as meeting places -
- for recruiting for the workers' movement.
An ordinary working day in the cities is at least 10 hours -
- and that's six days a week, all year round.
Sunday is only a day of rest for some -
- and vacation is a luxury for few.
The misery that characterized the working class' neighborhoods -
- was due to low pay, a long workday, and the uncertainty of work.
The work environment was full of smoke, noise, and filth.
The new machines with long belts -
- where you could get clothes or hair stuck.
There was no focus whatsoever on safety.
There was no social safety net, so life was uncertain.
They could never be sure that an accident wasn't waiting to happen -
- right around the corner to knock their life off course.
Ow!
At the start of the 1900s, poverty relief is available -
- if you are needy, but it's scant.
And those who accept poverty relief lose all their rights.
The right to vote, too.
Because when you don't pay taxes, you can't decide -
- how society's resources should be distributed, either.
Some of the newcomers dream of changing their lives for the better.
And others might even change the world.
Marie Christensen has worked for several years as a maid -
- and knows how it is to work hard, get too little to eat -
- and live in cold rooms. She wants conditions to change.
She must have had incredible energy because in addition to working -
- she also begins to educate herself. She studies Danish and mathematics -
Marie Christensen wants to create a union for maids -
- and give them the chance to educate themselves to get respect and better pay.
It's really hard work. She makes flyers that she hands out.
She also goes to visit maids working in private homes -
- and spreads her message.
The messages are simple and the demands modest to our contemporary eyes.
The maids want a weekday off, good food -
- and a workday of 12 hours max.
In the city, the front stairs are reserved for the gentry and their fine guests.
Errand boys, washerwomen, and servants have to use the back door.
Marie Christensen doesn't knock on the front door. It's unthinkable.
Hopefully the door will be opened by the maid she wants to talk to -
- and not the lady of the house, who forbids her sort in her home.
If you will permit me to explain...
In pictures, you can see that Marie Christensen is very well dressed.
It was important at the time how you were dressed.
If you look like someone who's poor and can't afford proper clothes -
- no one will listen to you.
But it's an uphill battle organizing the maids.
They don't work in one specific place, and many are afraid of losing their job -
- if they join a union.
There's a big difference between ladies and their servants -
- in the beginning of the new century.
But they have one thing in common.
The fight for women's right to vote.
June 5, 1915 is a day of celebration.
For several decades, Danish women and a few men have fought -
- for the right for both sexes to participate in democracy.
The question is, is it fair to call early-1900s Denmark -
- a democracy?
It was men over 30 with their own household who could vote.
Some of the big groups that couldn't were women and servants.
They were the ones getting poverty relief, similar to today's cash benefits.
They were excluded from democracy.
A full 30 years after the first proposal for women's suffrage was made -
- in 1915, there is finally a majority in the Rigsdagen -
- in favor of letting new groups into the democracy process.
What happens with the constitution in 1915 is the electorate grows dramatically.
Servants get the vote and women get the vote.
A big parade is planned in Amalienborg -
- for the occasion of the new constitution.
And even though it's the Rigsdagen who passed the law -
- it's the king that the women in the square have come to meet.
But Christian X definitely isn't thrilled.
To him, by nature, a woman's place was in the home.
It's a select group going to meet the king.
They were prominent figures in the women's movement.
Socially, they belonged to the top of the Copenhagen bourgeoisie.
Then he comes in and the women thank him profusely for something -
- he was actually opposed to.
It was an ordeal for the king to put a good face on it.
And one of the women stood in front of the king and said:
Your Majesty, this is the happiest day of my life.
To which the king replied coldly:
"You'd do better to go home and make coffee for your husband."
With the new constitution, the electorate has expanded -
- but things in 1915 become more democratic in other ways, too.
The privileged voting rights the rich have had since 1866 -
- disappear, so that every voice -
- regardless of whether you're a landowner, maid, smallholder -
- farmer, or worker, has equal weight.
It's the democracy we know and are proud to have today.
But Christian X doesn't think much of that development, either.
It's an infringement on his power. Until then, the head of government -
- was called the council president. That's changed to prime minister.
The council president is the king's minister. A prime minister -
- is a minister for the whole country.
In 1914, World War I breaks out.
Most of Europe quickly becomes involved.
Denmark is neutral, though, and not a part of the war. But Germany is.
The latest news about the war!
As such, 50,000 Danish men are called in to the Security Force.
They're afraid that Germany will invade Denmark -
- so it's very, very important for the Danish politicians to signal -
- that they're neutral, and they do that with the Security Force.
The Security Force protects Denmark's neutrality.
They hope to discourage the Germans from attacking by showing them -
- we're ready to defend ourselves.
They're men in their early 20s from places like Jutland and Funen and Zealand.
It's mainly to defend Copenhagen, where the king and government were.
Denmark isn't part of the war, but that doesn't last long -
- before we face the consequences for it.
The situation that arises in 1914 is the worst possible for Denmark.
Denmark's two biggest trade partners, Great Britain and Germany -
- are at war with one another.
Everything is more expensive.
For many Danes, it becomes difficult to afford common goods -
- like coffee and sugar, bread and pork.
Many suffered during World War I. Many children went to bed hungry.
They try to avoid the worst consequences by rationing.
In Denmark, they issue a rationing card.
Only by having a ration stamp -
- do you have permission to buy goods that are scarce.
It's about about sharing things amongst everyone, both rich and poor.
They regulate the market forces -
- to create a net for the weakest groups in society.
There was no welfare state in Denmark during World War I. It comes later.
But it's the beginning of something -
- that, with time, becomes a welfare state -
- because they hadn't experienced rationing like that before.
When World War I breaks out, no one can imagine -
- what horrors are in store.
New weapons like the machine gun, chemical gases, and long-range guns -
- prove to be frighteningly effective.
They saw a barbarism they'd never seen before.
Over 9 million soldiers are killed on the battlefield -
- and many, many more become crippled.
Every single day, tens of thousands of soldiers die in the trenches.
And every day, new soldiers from the warring nations -
- are transported to the front lines for even more death and destruction.
When the war breaks out, it's thought it will last just a couple of months.
No one imagined the atrocities would last four long years.
The soldiers who are called in to the Security Force -
- luckily never go into battle.
But not all Danes are so lucky.
26,000 men from the Danish minority in Schleswig -
- are drafted into the German army during World War I -
- and sent to the front lines. 4000 of them never come home again.
This man is Carl Theodor Zahle.
For seven years, he's been prime minister of Denmark -
- and one of those responsible for rationing during World War I.
He's a radical and not particularly popular with the old bourgeoisie -
- who don't think the state should interfere with the free market.
There's no doubt the ministry he led -
- was one of the most intelligent we've ever had in Denmark.
Now he's on the way to a meeting he'd rather not be attending.
He'd actually called in sick the weekend before -
- to avoid meeting the king -
- because he was well aware of what was coming.
In 1917, we sell the Danish West Indies to the US.
Denmark is smaller than ever before, and the king is not happy.
Since Christian X became king, his dream has been -
- to fulfill his grandfather's wishes and reclaim the lands -
- we lost to the Germans after the war in 1864.
And now is his chance.
After World War I, it's decided that -
- the border between Denmark and Germany will be redrawn -
- and that the Schleswigers will decide where the border should go.
The vote is divided into two zones -
- and north of Flensburg they choose to become part of Denmark.
South, the population wants to stay in Germany.
Part of the lost land returns to Denmark -
- but the king's frustration at not getting more land is enormous.
And he's now directing that frustration towards Zahle's radical government -
- which has accepted the vote and the new borders.
Mr. Prime Minister, His Majesty is expecting you.
The king wanted all of Schleswig rejoined to Denmark -
- and his way to achieve that was to get rid of the radical government.
Prime Minister Zahle has arrived, Your Majesty.
Zahle was barely 1.5 meters tall. The king was 1.96 -
- and loved to remind Zahle of his short stature -
- which greatly irritated the self-conscious Zahle.
There were often sparks between the two when they were talking.
Christian X wants the prime minister to call an election -
- but Zahle won't hear of it.
There can only be an election if there's an opposing majority in the Rigsdagen.
The king had hoped -
- that he could pressure Zahle into calling the election -
- that the king had fiercely desired -
- but Zahle wouldn't do it.
Zahle said that fatal remark to the king:
"But of course, Your Majesty is free -
- to dismiss the current government."
To which the king grasped the chance and said, "It's done."
He hadn't believed the king would go so far.
Surely neither Zahle nor the king -
- had thought through the consequences.
The king has just dismissed the government without being sure -
- there was a majority against it.
It's safe to say that Zahle isn't happy about the king's decision.
And now there's trouble.
The seriousness of the situation probably only dawned on the king -
- when the evening papers came and people began to stir in the streets -
- and there was talk of a general strike.
Christian out! Republic! Christian out! Republic!
The king stages a coup! Read The Social Democrat!
The day after Christian X dismisses Zahle's government -
- he installs his own lawyer, Otto Liebe, as the new prime minister.
But the situation is untenable.
Christian out! Republic! Christian out! Republic!
It's three years since the revolution in Russian forced the czar out -
- and now the workers here threaten a general strike at the palace square -
- and with abolishing the monarchy in Denmark.
Christian out! Republic! Christian out! Republic!
When the king pushes out the government, he thinks it's his right.
He does what he believes the constitution allows him to do -
- so it's no wonder the king puts his foot in it.
Thorvald Stauning grew up in the worker neighborhoods of Copenhagen -
- and is a skilled cigar sorter.
He's also the leader of the Social Democrats, the workers' party.
The Social Democrats are gaining momentum -
- and are on the way to becoming the largest party in parliament.
So there's a feeling that they're moving toward -
- even greater power.
Stauning is a busy man, rising in politics -
- but now it's Easter, and the leader is spending time at his summer house.
The parliament is sent on Easter vacation until the middle of April -
- and Stauning has that summer house for relaxation.
He has no phone down there.
At this point, Stauning is a minister in Zahle's government -
- which the king has just dismissed. But he knows nothing about that.
Not yet.
It was probably in the letter that the king had fired Zahle.
The next shock for Stauning is when he learns -
- the king has appointed Otto Liebe, his lawyer -
- as prime minister.
Christian X is under pressure.
Never before have so many people protested against the monarchy in Denmark.
Amalienborg Square is packed. The whole city is riled up.
The fear of revolution is also a factor -
- in bourgeois Denmark and in the royal house.
Stauning has a direct connection to the angry crowd in the square.
He knows what it will take to prevent a general strike.
The king needs to dismiss Liebe and call an election.
If a solution hadn't been found, the general strike would have started.
They were ready. They were just waiting for the signal.
Easter Sunday, five days after it all began, the crisis is over.
Christian X calls an election, which Venstre wins -
- and four months later, the king travels over the border -
- in the now reunited South Jutland as a hero.
A relationship of trust is created between Christian X and Stauning.
Stauning had shown that he wasn't a man of extremes.
He was actually pragmatic and understood that -
- many voices in society needed to be heard, the monarchy included.
At the start of the new century, Danish women -
- slowly but surely get more power in their own lives.
The women get better chances to get an education.
They begin to take part in public debates.
It's not like there are women coming out of the woodwork -
- but more and more are breaking through.
Marie Christensen succeeds in unionizing the maids.
With her trade union, she lays the foundation for -
- what we know today as FOA, the Union of Public Employees.
She also creates a school where women can get training as housemaids.
Here they can learn about hygiene, how to iron, and how to cook.
But women in the new century become freer in other ways, too -
- and get more to choose from.
Right after World War I, women take over office and retail.
Women train themselves to be teachers and nurses.
You can see it in their clothes, which are totally different.
The corset disappears entirely. The dresses become looser.
The hem is creeping up slowly from the ground -
- up the shin, right up to the knee.
And they begin to use makeup, which had been used only by prostitutes.
So it's a bodily liberation that takes place in the '20s.
But even if boundaries are slowly loosening -
- it's still a long way from the equality we know today.
Even though the women begin to show arms and legs -
- sexual morality is still really strict.
The official morals were marriage, sex, and children.
In reality, loads of young people -
- were experimenting sexually before getting married.
In part, sex was taboo. It wasn't talked about.
And contraception was especially taboo.
Lots of people didn't know how to avoid having children.
For many women it's nothing less than a catastrophe -
- to become pregnant out of wedlock.
It was a social catastrophe -
- because it showed you were a slut, a harlot.
But it was also a financial catastrophe -
- because how could you have a job and take care of a child?
There certainly weren't any nurseries or kindergartens.
Some of the children born out of wedlock -
- are adopted for a fee.
Every day, there are announcements about the purchase and sale of infants.
It was a grey area. There were no adoption laws.
You could give your child a lifetime of care for a one-time payment.
Many of the women who have a child out of wedlock -
- see no other option but to get rid of it.
There's people who want to help, too. For a fee, of course.
The little baby on the bed is far from the only baby -
- sold into adoption at the beginning of the 1900s.
But the lady who wants to adopt the baby, Dagmar Overby -
- is quite different.
Dagmar Overby earns a lot taking care of the unwanted children.
The young woman here isn't the only one -
- who thinks she's found a good home for her child.
It isn't known exactly how many children Dagmar Overby adopted.
There wasn't a public address registry at the time.
She adopted unbaptized children who weren't registered with the church.
When she'd had them a little while, some of them just a few hours -
- she killed them.
She did it by smothering them.
She threw some away in public toilets.
Others she burned in her wood stove.
She put one under the rafters in the attic.
It's first when one of the young mothers has regrets and wants her child back -
- that it's discovered Dagmar Overby killed the baby.
And more than that: It isn't the only child.
In 1921, Dagmar Overby is convicted of murdering eight children.
It's actually quite moving to read her defense.
She says there wasn't anyone who wanted those children.
The mothers didn't want them. The fathers didn't want them.
Society didn't care about them.
The case, of course, becomes a huge story in the papers -
- and something of an eye-opener.
Because how can it be called a modern, enlightened democracy -
- if it can't keep track of its citizens?
She became the catalyst behind -
- the population registry being created so quickly. That was in 1924.
It's the precursor to the CPR registry and the CPR number.
As the first Danish king ever to do so, Christian X travels in 1921 -
- to inspect the outer parts of the kingdom:
Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands.
The trip increases his popularity -
- but it also cements his role as the nation's symbolic rallying point.
At home in Copenhagen, Christiansborg is getting ready for an inauguration.
After a fire in 1884, the palace has been rebuilt -
- and in 1928, it's finally all finished.
The politicians have moved in.
But the king doesn't move into the new palace.
After the Easter crisis, power has shifted -
- and it's best to have some distance, even physical -
- between the king and parliament.
The year after, in 1929, Thorvald Stauning is elected prime minister.
For many, it was a big step that a worker's son became prime minister.
But it was also an inspiration for many people -
- who could see that with democracy anyone could become prime minister.
Even a poor working boy.
A short time after Stauning is elected, a new global crisis breaks out.
In the US, the stock market crashes, dragging down the world economy.
It isn't long before the crisis affects Denmark.
The Danish farmers who depend on selling wares abroad -
- are the first to feel the effects of the crash in the US.
Fewer Danish goods are sold abroad, so many go bust.
Soon the crisis affects the cities, craftsmen, and large companies.
40% of the work force in 1932 is unemployed.
That means, of course, that criticism begins to spread.
In the global crisis, the politicians disagree strongly on what is needed -
- to solve the problems in the city and in the country.
Prime Minister Stauning, who in 1933 lives up here -
- knows it will take great sacrifices from everyone to reverse the downturn.
After a week of intense negotiations at Christiansborg -
- the prime minister has called a secret meeting at his own home.
It's a final attempt at an agreement that can reverse the crisis.
Venstre, the farmers' party, wants more money for agriculture.
The government, the Social Democrats, and the Social Liberals -
- want to control unemployment.
The employers want the workers to accept 20% less pay.
The negotiations are very difficult, because if agriculture is to have help -
- the 200,000 unemployed should also have some help -
- so that we can do something about both problems.
Stauning will need all his talents -
- because the parties are far from agreed.
He's very good at negotiating and creating situations -
- where political opponents are brought to a position -
- where they can't do much else but reach a solution.
It's been a long night in Kanslergade, with politicians coming and going.
Even the national bank director stops by.
But well into the night, the parties are so far from agreeing -
- that a solution seems unattainable.
At some point around midnight, they're not making any headway.
There's one proposal after another.
Venstre goes into one room. The government is in another.
No one can figure out what to do.
Finally, they give up.
But before the guests go home, Stauning's partner offers -
- a goodnight whiskey to the exhausted company.
It wasn't the world's best whiskey Augusta found in the cellar.
To say that it alone made the difference would probably be a stretch.
But the fact is, a short time after she puts it on the table -
- the politicians finally reach a solution everyone can live with.
By devaluing the krone, goods become cheaper.
The workers don't have to accept a 20% pay cut -
- in exchange for promising that they won't strike.
But the master stroke is -
- that the Kanslergade compromise is so groundbreaking -
- that Stauning gets social reforms as part of the bargain.
With the reforms, all Danes affected by illness or unemployment -
- can receive public assistance.
But this time, without losing the right to vote at the same time.
That day, Denmark goes from being a society of charity, as it's called -
- to becoming a fledgling welfare state.
The same day the compromise at Kanslergade falls into place -
- Hitler is appointed chancellor of Germany.
In the middle of the '30s, Danes begin to believe in the future again.
Stauning is full of confidence when the election posters are hung up -
- ahead of the election in 1935.
The Danes confirm this by giving the Social Democrats 46% of the votes.
The party's biggest victory ever.
During the '30s, more vehicles come on the road.
Danes get radios and vacuum cleaners. Some even have their own telephone.
An ordinary workday is now eight hours a day -
- and Danes now have free time. But not just that.
In 1938, Danish employees get their first vacation law -
- which gives them the right to nine days of paid vacation per year.
- Are you hungry? - Yeah.
But out in Europe, new dark clouds are forming.
In 1939, Hitler enters Poland.
In Denmark, all hold their breath, hoping the Germans won't attack here.
SOUTH OF FREDERICIA APRIL 9, 1940
Hey! The Germans are coming!
They knew for some days that something was brewing.
They get a telegram saying -
- there are large troop movements south of the Danish border.
They hope it has nothing to do with Denmark. Maybe Norway.
But they don't actually know what the point of the attack is.
Operation Weserübung, the German codeword for an attack -
- on Denmark and Norway, is underway.
Early in the morning, 20,000 German soldiers cross the border into Denmark.
In Aalborg, paratroopers are deployed to secure the airport -
- that the Germans will use to move on to Norway.
Come in.
The king was woken up around 5:15 or thereabouts.
There was shooting. Gunshots were heard nearby -
- and German bombers were flying low over Copenhagen.
There were also reports of fighting in Southern Jutland.
There was a lot of pressure.
At 5:30, the leading ministers gather with Stauning at the royal house.
The foreign minister in 1940, Peter Munch -
- has a letter from the German envoy in Copenhagen.
The offer Germany gives the Danish government basically says:
"If you, as the government, can guarantee -
- that our occupying forces can operate freely in the country -
- in return, you can continue with your political system.
But the condition is that you guarantee -
- the occupying power is not hindered in any way by any Danes."
The alternative is war.
The Germans have reached land in Langelinie -
- and there are shots in the streets around Amalienborg.
There are reports of fighting in Southern Jutland.
It's no fun making difficult decisions under pressure -
- knowing that every second, there's a risk more people will be killed.
Reading the documents, you can see the seriousness weighing on them.
It's almost a physical weight on them during this unpleasant situation.
Everyone in the room knows the Danish defenses don't have much chance -
- against the German war machine.
Denmark hasn't surrendered yet, but the question is how long they can last.
The ministers were of the mind to lie down flat.
To abandon any kind of armed resistance.
The king suggested fighting for a quarter of an hour -
- as a symbolic gesture -
- and to save face in the eyes of the rest of the world.
At 6 AM, two hours after the Germans began the attack -
- the reply from Amalienborg arrives. Denmark has capitulated.
21 Danish soldiers are wounded on the 9th of April.
And 16 are killed.
Under these extremely difficult conditions for our country -
- I urge everyone in the city and the country -
- to maintain fully correct and dignified conduct -
- when any inadvertent action or remark -
- can have the most serious consequences.
God bless you all. God bless Denmark.
The government agrees to the Germans' offer to keep the Danish democracy -
- to ensure that there is peace and order in the country.
It was something of a dilemma. It meant that -
- they would be working together -
- so that the occupation could operate as peacefully as possible.
A number of big and small negotiations are introduced with the Germans.
Point by point, the politicians bow to the Germans' demands.
They introduce censorship against criticism of Germany -
- and arrest leading Danish communists.
Maybe it looked voluntary. It was one of the moral problems -
- associated with the cooperation policy.
The politicians saw it as a forced situation -
- but it looked so peaceful and orderly -
- that it could seem like it was a voluntary collaboration.
All the four large, old parties: The Social Democrats, Venstre -
- the Conservatives, and Social-Liberal Venstre -
- stand together and form a joint government led by Stauning.
During the 1930s, Stauning's status is elevated.
He has more and more success. He had lifted up the working class -
- and lifted them into democracy to be a significant power in society.
All of that seemed to collapse with the occupation of Denmark.
In spring of 1942, Stauning becomes seriously ill.
On May 3rd, he dies, 68 years old.
In the days that follow, the papers are filled with praise for the great leader.
Despite the war, Christian X continues to take his daily ride -
- through Copenhagen's streets.
In a way, he was a symbol -
- or a manifestation of the Danish will to survive.
And that makes the king more popular than ever before.
They were subject to a very humiliating occupation.
These national symbols were simply needed.
But a growing number of Danes no longer listen to the king's -
- and government's word about remaining peaceful toward the German occupation.
Sabotage and unrest are on the rise.
Therefore, in 1943, the Germans put new ultimatums to the government.
Perhaps the most important point in the ultimatum is that -
- the Germans demand the death penalty for sabotage.
The Danish politicians are clear that would be going too far.
This time, they refuse the offer and resign.
In the fall of 1943, the Germans take over in Denmark.
It's a crucial shift in the occupation -
- because when the government resigns, democracy doesn't work anymore.
Now begins the terrorizing of political opponents.
Now begins the witch hunt for saboteurs and the resistance.
Early in the morning of December 2, 1943 -
- five young men are driven to a heath outside of Aarhus.
Halt!
Left face!
They're sentenced to death, accused of sabotage some months earlier.
Otto Manley Christiansen.
Anders Andersen.
Svend Johannesen.
Oluf Kroer. Georg Mørk Christiansen.
Present arms!
One of the young men, 20-year-old Svend Christian Johannesen -
- had his farewell letter to his family confiscated by the Gestapo.
Still, he manages to smuggle a last goodbye from his cell.
On the back of a stamp he must have had on him, he writes:
"My God, my country, my honor". The king's motto.
Fire!
Order arms!
Right face!
Shoulder arms!
Left face!
March!
Democracy had been threatened before, but this time, the enemy comes from without.
And just as people have found their place in the new democracy -
- Denmark and Danes are again at a crossroads.
In the next chapter: the Germans have occupied the country and no one is safe.
She thinks it's a democratic person's duty to resist.
After the war, Denmark is faced with a crucial choice.
Who are we with? The time is marked by a new threat.
The world has never been closer to nuclear war than right now.
But it's also a time when Denmark goes from the war's austerity to welfare.
And that affects everyone.