Hitlers Kæledyr Kanariefugl (Hitler’s Pet Canary)

A group of Danish soldiers on the morning of the German invasion, 9 April 1940. Two of these men were killed later that day.
(Source: Hendriksen, C. Næsh, ed. (1945). Den danske Kamp i Billeder og Ord (in Danish). Odense: Bogforlaget "Dana". p. 18. Photo taken near Bredevad in Southern Jutland.)

It had worked well for Denmark to be neutral in World War I. It had been good for business to sell to both sides and make money without experiencing any of the wartime ugliness.

At 4:15 a.m. on 9 April 1940 Denmark’s luck ran out when German forces crossed the border into neutral Denmark. In a coordinated operation, German ships began disembarking troops at the docks in Copenhagen. When the Germans came to the Danish border, all expectation of neutrality and the choice of it was taken away from the Danes. The fact was that Denmark with its 3.8 million people could not defend against the Germans. The German population surpassed Denmark’s 20 to 1 and there were 370 men in the service of the Wehrmacht for every Danish soldier[i].

The military outcome of the German attack on Denmark was never in doubt and although outnumbered and poorly equipped, Danish soldiers in several parts of the country put up resistance, most notably the Royal Guard in Copenhagen and units in South Jutland. Sixteen Danish soldiers died in the invasion and within two hours the Danish government surrendered[ii].

As dawn broke on April 9, 1940, Denmark’s septuagenarian monarch King Christian X told the country that he was “inwardly shattered” and announced cooperation with Germany to spare his country further misfortune[iii]. The strategy worked. Denmark was one of the few European countries occupied by Germany that prospered during the war and saw minimal death and destruction.

When the Danes conceded defeat, the perfect Aryan protectorate was born, dubbed by Winston Churchill as “Hitler's pet canary.[iv]”

Danish Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning addresses the Rigsdagen in Christiansborg Palace on the day of the invasion.

UDDRAG AF MANUSKRIPT NAZISYMPATISØRER: DANMARK’S BESKIDTE HEMMELIGHEDER. Forfatter: Sanne Melgaard.  (Excerpt from the manuscript, Nazi Collaborators: Denmark’s Dirty Secrets by Sanne Melgaard)

[i] Hong, N. (2012). Occupied: Denmark’s Adaptation and Resistance to German Ocupation 1940-45. Frihedsmuseets Venners Forlag.

[ii] William Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990), p. 663.

[iii] Ackerman, P., & DuVall, J. (2000). A Force More Powerful: A Century of Non-Violent Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan Trade.

[iv] Levine, E. (2000). Darkness over Denmark: The Danish Resistance and the Rescue of the Jews. Holiday House.