On Mar 7, 8:58 pm, "Knud Larsen" <mafishmask...@yahoo.invalid> wrote:
> <nedned...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:1173254526.203948.217870@q40g2000cwq.googlegroups.com...
>
> > Hi all.
>
> > Posting from way distant Australia - I hope to a suitable group.
>
> > What was the reaction in Danish society to the program "Only a German"
> > which suggested many Germans who came to Denmark at the end of the war
> > were allowed to die by being given poor medical treatment?
>
> > Has anyone seen this?
>
> > Anyone have a copy?
>
> > Thanks for reading my post in English - I'm sorry I can't understand
> > Danish.
>
> In February 1945 Hitler ordered Denmark to receive german refugees, some
> days more than 10.000 arrived in Copenhagen, - 80 pct of the schools were
> taken over by the germans for the refugees.
> In those month the number of Danes killed by the germans were at their
> highest. Do you imagine that people found that the germans should be treated
> especially well? There were not enough doctors to go round as it were, and
> it was considered an act of treason to use your limited ressources on the
> german enemy.
>
> After the end of the war, there were 240.000 german refugees in Denmark, a
> country with less than four million inhabitants, and a country in chaos
> after the war.
> First priority was certainly NOT to look after german refugees, and it was
> decided that they should not be admitted into Danish hospitals, because of
> the widespread amount of contagious diseases among them.
> They were instead treated in camps set up for them, - by german doctors and
> nurses, and it didn't work well in the first month after the war. Many died
> in the period right before and after the liberation.
>
> I heard a doctor who was critisized for not wanting to work with the
> refugees, and he said that he had to choose where to put his effort, and he
> found it natural to not choose the people of the former enemy instead of his
> usual patients.
>
> It is easy with hindsight, and with the way we think about human rights and
> minorities today, to find faults with the way people of another time acted.
> But of course it is fine to do research into the way things were.
> One can only hope that the people who get morally upset, take the
> opportunity to do something good NOW, when THEY have the opportunity. Maybe
> by going to Darfur, to work for the refugees there.
>
> I have seen more than one TV-program about the german refugees, probably
> including the one you mention, AND there has been af lot of discussion in
> the media, about what we 'should' have done, and whether we really acted
> below what one would have expected at the time, - som say yes, and others
> no.
>
> Hope you live in a sunny spot near a beach, if you go diving, say hello to
> some of the beautiful fish
>
> You could try to post to "dk.videnskab.historie" where they discuss topics
> of historical interest.
Thank you for your excellent reply. I will post to
dk.videnskab.historie also and see what people there think. Please
realise that I am not making any criticisms at all - I was just keen
to hear any more information on this topic from anyone in Denmark.
Yes, I do live near a beach - just a week ago I was diving and looking
at the beautiful fish.
Thanks again.