ABSTRACT
In Theresienstadt literature the Danish group has primarily been described in relation to privileges, mainly from the point of view of other prisoners, who observed them receiving food parcels. Despite the vast amount of testimonies given orally or in writing, Danish historiography has remained narrowly focused on the relief work of the Danish administration, providing an overall positive representation of the Holocaust in Denmark. Danish Jewish history of the 1940s is often described as “a light in the darkness” of the history of the Holocaust, primarily because of the successful flight to Sweden of the majority of Danish Jewry and because of the survival of most of the Theresienstadt prisoners from Denmark. When Theresienstadt history is looked at through the prism of the deportees from Denmark, the perspective and the story change. They no longer appear “just” as a crowd of privileged prisoners who passively received parcels and protection.
