My Danish Heritage

When I read about Danish authors, artists, philosophers and so on I find that I am sadly ignorant of Danish culture given the strength I have in Canadian, American and even British culture.  I don’t mean that I don’t know the names and I have a superficial understanding of the works but I do not feel that I have a thorough knowledge of say Kaj Munk in the same way that I do of Charles Lindbergh; I am somewhat of an expert on the Brontes while I have a very general knowledge of Karen Blixen (a.k.a. Isak Dinesen).  The reason for this is quite simple, there is a paucity of written information on Danish characters in English.  I read Danish at a grade 2 level so when I tackle my Danish history books I am wrestling with the dictionary until I get frustrated and give up. 

But did you know that during the Impressionist period in France there was a similar abundance of work being done in Denmark?  The group included my favorites Laurits Tuxen, Anna and Michael Ancher and Peder Severin Krøyer. P.S. Krøyer’s famous beach scenes are world reknowned but one I particularly like is Laurits Tuxen’s “Paula og Yvonne” which is an older sister brushing her little sister’s hair.  As a seafaring nations there are a lot of renditions of fishermen and beach scenes that are really wonderful.

Kaj Munk was a playwright and Lutheran pastor who became outspoken in his  resistance to the German occupation of Denmark during WWII and ultimately was murdered by the Nazis in 1944.  In one of his articles he says (and I paraphrase here) that if one continues to pull on a branch eventually the resistance will snap and hit you in the face.  It is such a visual illustration that I use it often as an example of “push back”.  Kaj Munk became a focal point of Danish resistance.

Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist who made fundamental contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922.  Bohr mentored and collaborated with many of the top physicists of the century at his institute in Copenhagen and he was part of a team of physicists working on the Manhattan Project.  Niels Bohr was another strong player in the resistance during WWII who was instrumental in the rescue of the Danish Jews into Sweden.

Both the names Munk and Bohr I learned in my childhood because my parents had lived through the German occupation and had family members involved in the resistance.  It really is a pity that our schools don’t teach enough world history. 

The internet is a great tool to learn more about persons and movements in history.  If we’d only use it more often for learning instead of entertainment!  My little lesson of the day.