Portrait photograph by Judy Glickman of Danish fisherman who helped take Jews to safety
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 17.000 inches (43.18 cm) | Width: 13.500 inches (34.29 cm)
pictorial area: Height: 9.380 inches (23.825 cm) | Width: 6.380 inches (16.205 cm)
Creator(s)
- Neils Sorensen (Subject)
- Judy E. Glickman (Photographer)
- Judy E. Glickman (Subject)
Biographical History
Judy Ellis Glickman is a photographer and the daughter of Dr. Irving Bennett and Louise Ellis. Her father was a noted CAlifornia pictorialist photographer in the 1930s and 1940s. She pursued photography at a young age and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1959 from the University of California at Los Angeles. She studied photography at UCLA from 1978-1985, the Maine Photographic Workshop from 1978-87, and the Portland School of Art from 1984-1985. Her grandparents emigrated to the United States at the turn of the 20th century, and her mother and grandmother in 1914. Though not a child of a Holocaust survivor, it was while visiting concentration camps in Poland in 1988 that she began to wonder how many unknown family members perished. During this trip, the work became more personal, real, and meaningful to her. She returns to Europe every year to visit and photograph Holocaust sites. She was asked by the Thanks to Scandinavia Foundation to create a photographic narrative documenting the Danish rescue effort. She has exhibited extensively and won numerous awards. Both her sons are rabbis. She is on the board of the Portland Museum of Art in Maine and is a fellow of the Royal Photographic Society in England.
Neils Sorensen was a Danish fisherman from Gilleleje, Denmark. The Germans occupied Denmark on April 9, 1940, and permitted the Danish government to retain control of domestic affairs. In October 1943, information that the Germans were preparing to deport all the Jews in Denmark to concentration camps was leaked. Ordinary Danish citizens and resistance groups organized rescue efforts to hide and transport Jews to Sweden. Gilleleje was a large fishing harbor on the northernmost part of Zealand, Denmark (Zeeland, Netherlands) with train connections to Copenhagen. Neils and his father began ferrying Jews to safety in Sweden in September 1943. They would conceal 2 refugees on their boat, cover them with nets, and leave as usual in the morning. The Germans patrolled the Oresund (The Sound, Denmark and Sweden), and, on at least one occasion, the boat had to cross through a submarine blockade. When the neared the Swedish coast, the refugees were lowered in a dinghy and pushed into neutral Swedish waters. Nearly every Jew in Denmark was taken to safety in Sweden. On May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered to the Allied Forces and withdrew from Denmark.
Archival History
The photograph was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2010 by Judith Ellis Glickman.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Judith Ellis Glickman
Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Scope and Content
Black and white photographic print taken by Judy Glickman in 1992 of Neils Sorenson, a Danish fisherman and rescuer. Neils and his father helped 2 people escape.They took them on their boat, covered them with nets, and left in the morning. German boats patrolled the waters and the fishing boat reached a blockade but was not stopped. They continued into the harbor and the Jews were lowered into a dinghy and pushed to safety. Neils and his father continued their rescue efforts. Germany occupied Denmark on April 9, 1940, but allowed the Danish government to retain control of domestic affairs. Jews were not molested and the German presence was limited. After the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 and began to face military setbacks, a Danish resistance movement developed. On August 29, 1943, the Germans declared martial law and began to address the Jewish problem. A mass deportation was scheduled for October 1. The plan was leaked and, the night before the action, Danish citizens organized a large scale rescue effort and ferried 7000 people, nearly all the Jews in Denmark, to neutral Sweden.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Restrictions on use. Donor retains copyright for this collection.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Black and white gelatin silver photographic print, portrait orientation, medium shot, lit from the left, depicting an older, white male with short white hair wearing glasses and a houndstooth cap, standing in front of a boat. His head is tilted and he looks out towards the viewer with a smile. He has a lined forehead and deep lines around his mouth. He wears a black collared outer garment and has a white patterned kerchief around his neck. The print is attached to a top hinged mat board with photo corners on the backboard. Pencil stop lines are on the reverse of the window mat.
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945--Jews--Rescue--Denmark--Pictorial works.
- World War, 1939-1945--Underground movements--Denmark.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Denmark.
- Denmark--History--German occupation, 1940-1945.
- Righteous Gentiles in the Holocaust--Denmark--Pictorial works.
- Anti-Nazi movement--Denmark.
Genre
- Object
- Photographs