ABSTRACT
The Danish ‘peace occupation’ meant that, initially, the German sports propaganda was most successful in Denmark, when compared with other German-occupied countries. Therefore, a full-scale sports exchange with Germany (and Sweden) could take place. The Danish case, on the other hand, also demonstrated the vulnerability of the German strategy of a flourishing and to some extent voluntary sports exchange with an occupied nation. This became quite obvious when in June 1941 the Austrian football club Admira Wien demonstrated great German superiority by beating a select team from Copenhagen 4–1. The Danish, normally quite calm and non-violent supporters, simply dropped the pretence of sporting relations, pouring scorn on the political gestures of the guests and humiliating off-duty but uniformed German soldiers among the crowd with verbal and physical assaults. It was resistance to occupation from below at the football stadium, therefore, that caused Danish-German sporting relations to shake and even resulted in the dismissal of the Danish Minister of Justice who had long been a thorn in the side of the occupying authorities.
