Denmark's blackmailable collaborators
COPENHAGEN (Own report) The leading official of the German-speaking minority in Denmark has called upon the Danish people to remember its National Socialist collaborators instead of reacting with ,,resentment"to everything German. With a clearly threatening undertone it was said that the Danes also had made ,,mistakes"which still remained to be worked out. These comments were published by a German minority newspaper in Denmark which is funded from Berlin with taxpayers' money.
The cause of the demands by the German official, Hans Heinrich Hansen, is the growing reservation against the European policy of Berlin and of its propagandists in Denmark. On account of increased hostility, Hansen said, they should ,,have the courage (...) to acknowledge their (German) roots".
Alluding to the occupation of Denmark by the Wehrmacht, Hansen regrets that the Danes still always have ,,an earlier, negative image of Germany". This functionary of German national identity calls upon Danish politicians ,,to make their influence felt"and to think of the ,,crucial archive"of Danish collaborators with National Socialism ,,which has remained closed until now".
Post War Careers
As in all occupied countries, the German regime in Denmark attracted beneficiaries from business and politics whose careers continued in the post war years. These circles were used especially in the East-West conflict and were (or are) capable of being blackmailed because of their complicity in the Nazi occupation.
,,In close Association"
This threatening hint to Danish collaborators comes from the ranks of ,,The League of German North Schleswig"(BdN), an organisation founded by former anti-semites and red hot Nazis. To this day the officials of the German-speaking minority maintain a ,,Grove of Honour"on Danish soil in which they gather yearly to commemorate their fallen Nazi soldiers. According to the BdN newspaper of 28 September 2002, the status of this ,,Grove of Honour"should be enhanced. It can be said that Siegfried Matlock, the representative of the minority organisation in the Danish parliament, stood ,,in close association"with Werner Best, the former commander of the Nazi occupation in Denmark. He edited a book about Best with ,,unconcealed sympathy and, yes, admiration". Best was praised in this book 1)for his ,,national, organic, world view"- yet he was Heydrich's deputy and accused of four thousand murders.
The ,,League of German North Schleswig", its officials and newspaper, ,,The North Schleswiger"is located in Abenra (Denmark) and funded from Berlin by the German Ministry of the Interior.
1) Ulrich Herbert: Best. Biographical Sudies on Radicalism, World View and Reason. Bonn 1996
Source:
,,Resentments are the everyday lot of Germans"; The North Schleswiger
18 October 2002