Occupation, Betrayal and Heroes

This building (above) is a Danish højskole, but in the early 1940s it was something entirely different. Back then it housed Nazi occupation forces. 

I’m sitting in the large courtyard of the adjoining farm buildings, Krogerup Gaard. These now house ‘Aarstiderne’ (‘Seasons’), a business that started in the 1990s, selling boxes of organically-grown vegetables. We tried to give oor wee yins as much organic as possible. So, we got a box from here every few weeks, delivered to our door.

On this clear autumn day my thoughts turn to the occupation years. The number of Danes who witnessed wartime Denmark diminishes each year.

That said, the 1940-45 occupation is a fertile field for the productive native film industry. Whether it’s the invasion itself, the work of resistance groups, or the operation to rescue Jews to neutral Sweden, there’s a film about it.

This is the trailer for the 2008 movie ‘Flame & Citron’ with Mads Mikkelsen in a leading role. Based on a true story, the events take place in 1944 – which, as it turned out, was a fateful year for Krogerup Gaard.

Most people imagine that Denmark rolled over and let the Germans march across the border in April 1940. To all intents and purposes they did. Denmark was an easy conquest. There was no challenging geography or any armed forces to speak of. 

Like Scotland and England, Northern Germany and Denmark blend into one, landscape-wise, at the border. Danes and Germans look pretty much alike, too, as do Celtic Scots and England’s Anglo-Saxons. And yet, those southern neighbours became the occupiers. 

Of course, the experience of being occupied by a larger southern neighbour is a story familiar to Scots. We, like the Danes, fought numerous battles against the numerically larger entity below our border to the south in order to maintain our liberty and freedom. 

Before the Second World War the most recent German-Danish battles were fought in 1848 and 1864. These were against the German Confederation (Det Tyske Forbund). By 1914, though, the Danes were desperate to remain neutral. After the defeat in 1864, they were genuinely afraid for the continued existence of their ancient nation. After all, German unification had created a new ‘superpower’ on the world stage. Danes realised that they could easily be swallowed up as part of Greater Germany.

After 300 years of occupation in a so-called union, we Scots are facing the very real existential threat that Danes perceived in 1914. 

Since our last battle with the Auld Enemy in 1746, our nation has been systematically occupied, colonised and undergone anglicization. So much so, that many Scots now vote for political parties based in England believing this is in their best interests. The Scottish members of these parties may sincerely believe in the Union, but are no different than the Danish occupation profiteers who feathered their nest while collaborating with foreign forces. 

The political trap for Scots has been, as Craig Murray points out, to embed themselves within the structures of the British state. The position of Privy Councillor may look nice on the CV, but why on earth would any pro-indy politician go there? 

The recent usurpation of Scots Law by the London-based Supreme Court is another attempt to subjugate Scots. Gradually, everything guaranteed in the Union treaty is being subverted. If we’re not careful, our ancient nation may be eradicated in all but name. 

We know that it was primarily settlers from rest-UK who scuppered our chance of independence in 2014. We allowed the right of indigenous Scots to self-determination to be sacrificed on the alter of a misguided civic nationalism, that allowed any recently arrived Tom, Dick or Harry a vote in our most important constitutional event in three centuries. The franchise was ill-thought out and a betrayal of the ‘Scottish people’. Harsh perhaps, but there’s no need to suger-coat reality. 

There’s a chill in the air today but the bright sun warms a little. People come and go, mostly on foot or by bike. I sip my tea and decide to check up on a little more local history. 

Krogerup Gaard first gets a mention in 1577.  That same year also saw a thriving Scottish exile community just north of here in Helsingoer. 

In 1577, James VI of Scotland was 11 years old – and just 12 years later he would marry Anne of Denmark. Aye, that’s the same James who was very nearly blown to smithereens by Guy Fawkes and his associates. That particular act of betrayal was punished severely. Although, as with many other plots, the plotters themselves had been betrayed and manipulated.

Some people in the SNP felt quite betrayed when erstwhile pro-independence MP, Lisa Cameron, decided she would be more at home with the Tories. No one questions her reasons for leaving the ‘toxic environment’ among the SNP group at Westminster. Her choice of party, though, that’s a real head-scratcher. 

The colonial press in Scotland was quite gentle with Cameron. She was described as having ‘defected’ or having ‘crossed the floor’. But the poison pens of the unionist press were back in use for Ash Regan. Her exit from the SNP was not unexpected. However, she was described as a ‘turncoat’. A bit rich, coming from Scottish hacks who serve the colonial agenda of their London paymasters on a daily basis. 

Back in the autumn sunshine, my local history search reveals that, during the Second World War, Krogerup Gaard was used as a training centre for the Danish coastal police. But in 1944, the Nazis stormed the school. They captured the 70 policemen present and sent them to concentration camps in Germany. The buildings were then used by the occupying forces – as headquarters for the Schallburg Corps, right up until liberation day on 5 May 1945. 

Occupation, colonialism and national liberation are not terms that are in vogue with most pro-independence parties or yes supporters. But perhaps they should be? 

The brazen theft of the nation’s resources, which belong to every Scot, are stolen from under our noses every single day. The extent of our potential national wealth has been covered up for the entirety of living memory. It was particularly painful to witness the blatant lies told in 2014 by those who benefit from colonisation – both south and north of the border. 

Denmark’s liberation is celebrated as a triumphant time. But many of those who colluded with the occupying power to strip the nation of its freedom and resources were rounded up. A number of businesses and individuals were made to pay back what they had earned during the five-year occupation. Others, who had fought on the German side in the Danish ‘Frikorps’, were given prison sentences on their return. The worst collaborators were, however, given the death sentence. Of the 78 condemned, 46 were executed. These executions took place between summer 1945 and 1950. 

National betrayal is a serious affair. 

When our liberation is achieved, historians may shed more light on the systematic abuse of power within the Scottish establishment. It’s hard to imagine that those who wilfully served a foreign country, who knowingly lied about the extent of the criminal fraud on our people, through the theft of our wealth and resources, will deserve any place in public life in the liberated nation. 

Those who actively colluded to deceive our people, whether politically or through the print and broadcast media, will no doubt be named and shamed. Those involved in physical violence, such as the assassination of Willie McRae, or in the psychological violence of character assassination, with a view to false imprisonment – should they not face justice?

 But it’s not all about betrayal and double dealing. Certainly not over here. I see more and more wall plaques to the heroes of the Danish resistance. The inscriptions all start with the same words: “Here fell…”, followed by the date, month and year. These were the ones who gave their lives for their country’s freedom. After all, Denmark, like every other nation or people, had a right to defend itself against the illegal occupiers.

Very few remember the betrayers and traitors – but the names of Denmark’s fallen heroes are written in stone. They are just like those other memorials, that remind us each November, of those who perished in the Great War – 

“Their name liveth for evermore.”