Now on display at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in downtown Manhattan is a powerful new exhibit for children with a message about a surprisingly uplifting chapter of Holocaust history: the rescue of Denmark’s Jewish population and the resistance of Danes—both Jewish and non-Jewish—to Nazi Germany.

This story of empathy and bravery is known as one of the most effective acts of national resistance during the Holocaust, and the exhibit, opened in October in honor of the 80th anniversary of that rescue, is the first show at the museum designed specifically for children ages 9 and up.

Through immersive displays, archival recordings, illustrations and state-of-the-art technology, “Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark” unravels the Nazi occupation of Denmark, from 1940 to 1945. The Jewish population of the country then numbered approximately 8,000. The Danish government, which remained largely independent until 1943 when the country was placed under military occupation, refused to pass anti-Jewish laws. When the Germans made plans to arrest and deport the Jewish population in 1943 around the High Holidays, almost overnight, the Danes mobilized hundreds of fishing vessels to evacuate most of the nation’s Jews to Sweden, where they were accepted as refugees.

RELATED: Julianna Margulies on Speaking Up and Speaking Out

In the exhibit, the bravery of those who lived in Denmark during the occupation are conveyed through a trio of inspiring fictional residents of Copenhagen: Erik, a 14-year-old non-Jewish resistance fighter; Rebekka, a 16-year-old Czech Jewish refugee; and Max, a 10-year-old Jewish Dane. The three appear throughout the exhibit on screens set within immersive displays. Young museum-goers can follow their stories and relate to the fears and hopes of that era through the perspectives of fellow children.

“We targeted this age group as this is a time when kids are grappling with issues of what’s fair and unfair and beginning to develop their moral compasses,” Ellen Bari, exhibit curator, explained about the choice to reach younger children. “While prejudice can rear its ugly head at the playground, by age 9, children can feel empowered to make moral decisions and say no to all forms of ‘othering.’ ”

Max, Rebekka and Erik are brought to three-dimensional life by actors and the award-winning design studio Local Projects, which mined the testimonies of survivors for background. Quotes from actual Danish survivors are scattered throughout the exhibit alongside illustrations by Ukrainian-born Israeli artist Sveta Dorosheva.

“Courage to Act” opens with a display of the Copenhagen fish market, the city’s central meeting point. It is spring 1942, two years into the occupation. Max and Rebekka discuss the experience of having German soldiers in their midst and living with censorship and rationing. Erik expresses his anger at the Germans. Exhibit-goers learn that, unlike in other occupied countries, the Jews were not forced to wear yellow stars and continued to practice Judaism.

A large diorama of the Great Synagogue of Copenhagen, which still stands today, provides a taste of its grandeur. Included, too, is a re-enactment of the warning from Rabbi Marcus Melchior on the eve of Rosh Hashanah 1943 about the imminent danger of Nazi arrest. Melchior led the Copenhagen Jewish community and, after the war, became chief rabbi of Denmark.

“Courage to Act” features a section that the museum calls “discovery walls”—two buildings on a city streetscape. The first building is dedicated to the resistance efforts; the second focuses on the response to the Nazis’ decision to deport the Jews. Seen through windows and doorways in both are the exhibit’s fictional narrators. Erik describes some of the resistance activity of young people; Rebekka shares her life in Denmark without her family; and Max feverishly packs to flee.

As word of the Germans’ intent to expel the Jewish population leaked out, Jews went into hiding and made plans to escape. Over 7,000 crossed the Oresund Strait, which separates Denmark and Sweden, using every vessel available, from small fishing boats to the Gerda III, a lighthouse tender.

One of the most impressive displays is a model of the Gerda III, which also serves as a projection screen for a film that dramatizes the crossing of the Oresund. The actual boat was donated to the museum by the Danish government in 1989 and is currently docked at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut.

The exhibition concludes with the liberation of Theresienstadt, where the approximately 475 Jews who were captured by the Nazis in Denmark were sent, and the return of Danish Jewish refugees living in Sweden to Copenhagen, both in 1945.

The new ongoing exhibit is designed to help Jews and non-Jews reflect on the dangers of antisemitism. It empowers young people by modeling moral choices, said Bari, the curator, “demonstrating that they can be made even under extremely challenging circumstances.”

---

Jane L. Levere is a New York-based freelance journalist and contributor to The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and Forbes.com, among many publications. She is also a life member of Hadassah.