There are angels amongst us

By Monica Goodwin

On May 10, I went to the Yom Hashoah service at Temple Shalom with 96-year-old Holocaust survivor, Lily Lesley, a phenomenon in her own right. Sitting in the front row, I observed a woman who was gazing intently at the Bima. She exuded a wonderful aura.

When I walked over to Ida Margolis, she asked me if I knew her, and I said “No.” “Well, you really should meet her,” Margolis replied.

So, being my unbashful self, I went over and introduced myself. Her name, I discovered, was Birte Hogan. She had the brightest blue eyes and an illuminating smile. I could tell from her funky shoes and jean jacket that this woman had spunk and I was soon to learn that was true.

Birte Alstrup Hogan with interviewer Monica Goodwin

Hogan told me how she had grown up in Copenhagen and how her family had saved Jews. Of course, my interest was piqued, and I asked if I could interview her for the Oral/Visual project of the Holocaust Museum. She did not hesitate to give me her phone number.

I had read many stories about the rescue of Denmark Jews, but it was interesting to hear one fi rsthand. Hogan’s mother (Lydia Alstrup Nielsen) was one of two female dentists at the time and her father (Carl Alex Harald Mueller) was a mechanic who later became head of the Austin Company.

The family lived in an 11-room house in the Carlsberg district. The three children were brought up strictly in a protestant/Lutheran home but were not very observant.

Hogan was 6 years old when Germany invaded Denmark on April 9, 1940. King Christian told his troops not to resist as he was afraid of a blood bath. The Nazis allowed the Danes to have Danish domestic rule until 1943. They needed the Danes to supply the army with food. But things changed in 1943. When the Nazis imposed laws and regulations on the Jews, King Christian was known to ride into town wearing a yellow star to show support of his countrymen.

In 1943, he was put under house arrest. The Danes heard that there was a plan to round up the Jews on Rosh Hashanah. Within 72 hours, all the Jews except 450 were hidden with plans to rescue them. Ninety percent of Denmark’s Jews were saved.

Of the 8,000 Jews in Copenhagen, 7,500 were rescued. The other 500 were sent to Thereseinstadt, where 51 perished. Most returned to Copenhagen after the war. Two of Hogan’s uncles, who were in the Danish Police, were arrested and sent to Buchenwald. Only one survived.

Hogan tells about waking up one night and going into their dining and living room where she saw a sea of people lying, packed ‘like sardines.’ She could not understand it. Afraid the children might speak, her father made up a story. Later, she learned they were Jews whom her parents were helping to escape. Even though the family’s food was rationed, her father bought food on the black market and ensured his Jewish brethren were fed. Her parents led them out through the basement, which was kept locked from the children as people were hidden there as well.

Her parents would have been killed for defying the Nazis.

When I asked Hogan if she knew Jews in her neighborhood, she said “We were all Danes.” They were taught to treat all people with respect. How refreshing to hear during these times of antisemitism. A friend was simply a friend.

On two occasions, Hogan went to her friend, Margaret Simonsen’s, house (owners of the Bing and Grondahl porcelain factory), only to find it empty. It was then that her father explained what it was to be Jewish, and that the family was hiding at a doctor’s house across the street.

In 1945, Hogan’s school was bombed. The target was to have been the Gestapo headquarters. Luckily, she was home with the measles. In that bombing, 86 children and 19 adults were killed. A film depicting this event, titled “Bombardment,” was recently made.

After the war, Hogan was chosen alongside Greta Andersen as one of Denmark’s two Olympic swimmers. Instead of competing, she chose to go to Paris as a nanny to Sonja and William Hudson, the vice president of UNESCO. She recounts being knocked down by a white limousine and being rescued by the driver, none other than Clark Gable. She also met President Roosevelt while walking in a park in Versailles.

Later, she came to America as a nanny, where she met her husband. She was married in Copenhagen and has five children. She now resides amongst us in Naples. Still swimming every day, she has a wonderful outlook on life. It was my honor and privilege to have met her.

“Make the most of every day. Go after your dreams. Be kind,” she advised, and that is what she does alongside helping others!