Danish libraries withstood German occupation during the war
Danish libraries withstood German occupation during the war
Germans tried to control, not destroy, them; librarians emerged to new position
o f leadership from ordeal
By JENS NYHOLM, Librarian,
Northwestern University
AN EVENING'S scanning of BogensVerden (the Danish counterpart of the LIBRARY
JOURNAL) has brought to light some interesting events in the Danish library
world during the German occupation.
At first, the Germans thought they could turn Denmark into a "model protectorate."
This illusion soon proved a disillusion, and as the resistance of the population
strengthened under the brilliant leadership of the underground, a wave of
sabotage and counter?sabotage inundated the country, while bombings of strategic
points were carried out from time to time by the British. In spite of the
bombings (some of which aimed at targets very close to the Royal Library) and
the sabotage, the physical damage to the libraries was negligible: a few
loosened stones and some hundred crashed windows, but not a single book
destroyed.
As Denmark became isolated from the rest of Europe and the blackouts dampened
habitual conviviality, the Danes came in increasing numbers, causing wear and
tear on the book stock which could be replenished only with difficulty.
Shortened opening schedules owing to heating and lighting retrictions, frequent
occupation of library facilities by the Germans, and a complete standstill of
building activities, militated against good library service. Research libraries
were severely handicapped by the lack of foreign publications and the removal of
thousands of valuable research publications to places of safety.
Since the war, the many lacunæ have to a large extent been filled through
resources made available in Sweden, England, and the United States. In this
country, some $30,000 were collected by Danes and Americans of Danish descent
for the purchase of essential foreign materials, and additional support was
given by A.L.A. and the Ameican Book Center for War Devastated libraries. A most
unexpected supplemental source was a library of some 20,000 volumes and a
collection of 8,000 brand-new phonograph records left by, the retreating Germans.
THE NAZIS INTERFERE-LEADER ESCAPES
Although the Germans did not attempt to destroy the Danish libraries, they did
try to control them. As early as July 1940 and August 1941, the Parliament,
under duress of the Nazis, was forced to pass laws prohibiting the publishing of
"anti-Geiman" and "pro?communistic" books (whatever these terms might mean).
Through clever maneuvering, the administration succeeded in delaying the
enforcement of these laws until November 1942.
Much against his will, Thomas Døssing, Director of Danish Public Libraries, then
had to prepare an administrative circular, based on these laws, which was
postponed until December 8. The next day Døssing was arrested, accused of
participation in the editing of the leading Danish underground paper, Frit
Danmark (an accusation which, to his credit, proved factually correct).
Twice he was imprisoned at the demand of the Germans, and when finally released,
he was removed from office.
Shortly afterwards he succeeded in escaping to Sweden from where he proceeded to
Moscow by detour of England, the Mediterranean, and Teheran. In Moscow, at the
request of the Danish Freedom Council, he was accepted as Fighting Denmark's
representative to Russia. Through his effective combination of sympathetic
understanding and firmness, Døssing in his new post contributed greatly to
improving Denmark's difficult international position during the German
occupation. After the war, this extraordinary, unofficial appointment was
sanctioned by the Danish government, and Døssing has now officially been
appointed Danish Minister to Russia ? an unusual achievement for a librarian.
SOME LIBRARIANS ARRESTED
Døssing's adventurous, courageous, and contructive action inspired other members
of the library profession to join the resistance movement. A number formed a
special underground "library group" that assumed the responsibility for
distributing regularly the illegal paper, Frit Danmark, to every library in the
country. Undergruond work is dangerous, and more than a dozen librarians were
imprisoned for active opposition to the Germans.
Of the entire library profession, only two bona fide librarians (one from the
scientific libraries and one from the public libraries) are known to have been
collaborators with the Germans. As if by an action of fate, two young librarians,
Christian B. Kinch and Erik Schøtler Nielsen, were taken to Germany where they
died in concentration camps thus eradicating, as it were, the shadow of shame
the two collaborators had cast on the profession.
As the Nazis' persecution of the Jews spread over Denmark and, as a result, the
resistance against the Germans grew intensity, several librarians whose position
had become precarious made their way to Sweden, among them the well?known
director of the Public Library of Frederiksberg, G. Krogh?Jensen. Another, Ida
Bachmann managed at the beginning of the war to get to the United States where
she distinguished herself by her able direction of O.W.I's effective
broadcasting to Denmark.
The Danish public libraries are known for having developed an effectively
integrated system through which the smallest parish library is linked with the
great scientific libraries by means of a chain of efficient central, libraries.
In spite of the difficulties of the war years, the library system of Denmark was
still further perfected during this period through the co?ordination of the
country's two largest research libraries, the Royal Library and the University
of Copenhagen library, under one central administrator, the "Rigsbibliotekar."
Svend Dahl, previously chief librarian of the university library, was appointed
to the new, important post which also entails certain functions in connection
with the systematic co?operation among all the research libraries maintained by
the state. Dahl himself has pointed out that this organizational pattern has no
counterpart in either England or the United States, but that a similar pattern
has been developed in France through the appointment of a "directeur des
bibliotheques" in charge of all the scholarly libraries of France. Known in this
country perhaps mostly for his bibliographical and editorial achievements, Svend
Dahl is endowed with an administrative talent of the first order and is certain
to be heard from when international library co-operation again becomes active.
We hope to see him at Atlantic City next year!
Under Svend Dahl's personal guidance, the Royal Library has been assembling a
unique collection of Danish underground material comprising? approximately 200
of the 250 underground papers published during the war and about 200 "illegally"
published books and pamphlets. The Germans learned about this collection and
confiscated a large portion, but most of the confiscated titles were later
replaced with other copies and put in small packages cleverly hidden throughout
the library in the most unexpected places.
NEW EXCHANGE ESTABLISHED
Another development worth mentioning is the establishment of a central
depository for duplicates and excess materials from all the state libraries in
Copenhagen. This center was developed without any knowledge of the New England
Deposit Library in Boston. The Royal Library has also devoted considerable
effort toward the organization of exchanges on a new and more effective basis.
As a result, Danish exchange activities are no longer concentrated in the Royal
Danish Academy of Sciences but have been transferred to a new Institute for
International Exchange, officially entitled Institut danois des echanges
internationaux de publications scientifiques et littéraires, directed by K.
Schmidt?Phiseldeck of the Royal Library.
Curiously enough, the war contributed to solidifying the position of the Royal
Library, the significance of which has increased in inverse ratio to the
destruction of libraries throughout Europe. As if to mark this new era of
enhanced prestige, the library recently acquired a Book of Hours written ca.
1490, a magnificently illuminated manuscript, once the property of Henry IV of
France purchased by the library for 48,000 Kroner (approximately $10,000) 40,000
of which was a gift.
LIBRARIES AID AUTHORS
As to the public libraries, note should be made of an interesting development
aimed at offering financial support to authors whose books are lent by these
libraries. Various proposals, discussed during the years of occupation, finally
resulted in the passage of a law, in April 1948: the Government sets aside an
amount equaling 5% of the annual state appropriation in support of public
libraries. This fund will be made available to Danish authors in proportion to
the number of books with which they are represented in the public libraries. It
is expected that approximately 150,000 Kroner (about $30,000) will through this
method be added to the fund annually. In a country as small as Denmark, where
writing can only in exceptional cases become lucrative, this support seems both
justified and indeed essential if the country is to maintain the high cultural
level for which it is known.
All in all, it must be said that Danish libraries fared miraculously well during
the war. They have come out of four years of strains and stresses chastened and
matured. Doubtless, Danish libraries can look forward to sound and sustained
progress the research libraries under the statesmanlike leadership of Svend
Dahl; the public hbraries under the intelligent guidance of Døssing's successor,
Robert.L. Hansen, who through twenty years of experience as Inspector of Public
Libraries .has become deeply steeped in the cultural?democratic tradition of
Danish librarianship.
JENS NYHOLM, born in Denmark, came to this country in 1927. He was educated at
the University of Copenhagen (Philosophy) and continued his studies at Columbia
University (B.S. in LS.) and George Washington University (M.A. in American
Literature). He has held positions in Danish public libraries, where he was
chiefly concerned with adult education; in the Library of Congress, where as a
cataloger he specialized in bibliographical methods; and in the libraries of the
University of California at Los Angeles and Berkeley, where, first as head
cataloger and then as assistant librarian he concentrated on administrative
problems. Since September 1944, he has been librarian of Northwestern University.
He is a frequent contributor to professional and literary journals in this
country and abroad.
NOTED DANISH LIBRARIAN AND DIPLOMAT DIES
WORD has been received from abroad that Thomas Døssing, Danish Minister to
Russia and former state director of Danish public libraries, died recently in a
Moscow hospital. With his passing at the age of sixty-four, a rich and unusual
life has come to an untimely close. Døssing, who was born in the country and
never lost contact with the primordial things, became at an early age one of the
pillars of the Danish public libraries. As director of the State Library
Commission he placed public libraries on a sound legal basis with state grants.
Libraries were efficiently organized and administered in accordance with modern
library techniques, chiefly as developed in this country.
When the German invasion engulfed Denmark, he did not become an appeaser. He
made his way to Moscow where he was accepted as Fighting Denmark's
representative in Russia. Through determined efforts he made for himself in
Russia a place similar to that assumed in Washington by Henrik de Kaufmann,
Danish Minister to the United States, transgressing the edicts of their
government under duress; both men became true spokesmen of their country and
thereby fighters in the great army of the Allied nations. The appropriateness of
this courageous but at the time seemingly inappropriate action was officially
recognized when after Denmark's liberation Døssing was legally appointed Danish
Minister to Russia.
A man of high ideals and uncompromising resolve, Døssing has done honor to his
profession. As an old student. of his, I bow in proud respect to his memory.
JENS NYHOLM
Librarian, Northwestern University