Shot in the Dark

Irrational Reason

One of the most noxious traits modern society inherited from “The Enlightenment” is the practice of piddling on the notion of miracles; the notion that all things can, and must, be explained by pure reason.

Let’s talk about one example.

The surreptitious rescue of most of Denmark’s Jews, almost 80 years ago, is one of the few modestly happy-ish endings in one of the most dismal stories of human history. I’ve written about it more than a few times in this space.

The evacuation of Denmark’s Jews is broadly regarded as a miracle.

“Not so”, says the grandson of one of the couples evacuated back in 1943.

It wasn’t a miracle; was a matter of the top Nazi in Denmark tipping the Jews off:

This became known as the “Miracle Rescue” but many Danish historians now believe it was less miraculous than it seems. And my grandparents’ experience provides evidence for this theory…I suspect my grandfather’s hands shook as he took the measurements and fitted the suit of this particular German officer, who must have been pleased with the finished article as he then offered my grandfather and brother-in-law a warning: “Get out, while you still can. There’s a round-up coming.”…

…The source of the leak that saved my Danish family was none other than Dr Karl Rudolph Werner Best – the very man who, as Germany’s plenipotentiary in Denmark (and, moreover, deputy head of the SS) was in charge of ensuring that Denmark’s Jews were sent to their death.

Soooooo let me get this straight: a senior official of an occupying military of a nation that was fully committed to exterminating Jews, who came to Denmark after organizing the Einsatzgruppe death squads that worked to perfect the craft of ethnic cleansing in Poland and Russia, after a career as a senior officer in the SS…

…tipped off Jews allowing them to escape the roundup he was in charge of…

…and you don’t believe in miracles?

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Mitch Berg

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4 responses to “Irrational Reason”

  1. Mammuthus Primigenesis Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenesis

    The imposition of martial law by the Nazis in August 1943 should have been all the warning that Denmark’s Jews needed.
    In most nations the Germans conquered, martial law was declared immediately and a puppet government put in place. These puppet governments would then strip Jews of their citizenship. At that point they would have no state actor to defend them when they were rounded up.

  2. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    Yes, a miracle–one wouldn’t have expected a highly ranking Nazi to go to a Jewish tailor to begin with, let alone one in a seedy district of Copenhagen, and then to warn him of the horrors to come…..OK, I’ll call that a multiple miracle.

    Regarding what they “should have known”, I’m guessing most Jews thought that pogroms were something of the past, and did not know of the Holodomor or the Armenian genocide that should have told them “something horrible is coming forward.”

  3. nerdbert Avatar
    nerdbert

    Those SS troops actually were pretty badly affected by their work in Poland and Russia. It got to the point that the SS was passing out opioids and benzo like candy and let anyone who asked leave those units. Even most of the hardened folks were having a lot of trouble with what they were doing after a few weeks. There were always exceptions, of course, but with the bulk of those units having morale issues and requiring to be whipped into a drug-fueled state to do what they were doing, it shouldn’t be too surprising that even some of the officers may grown to have had issues with what they were doing. Especially since around ’43 it was apparent that the war was not completely going Hitler’s way. By ’43 the German high command came of the opinion that the Russians couldn’t lose, even if it wasn’t certain that Germany would be defeated.

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