New book: Danish Nazis murdered 1,400 Jews in Belarus in WWII

The alleged crimes occurred in 1942 and 1943

A new book by two Danish historians has revealed that Denmark's Nazis weren't as innocent during World War II as perhaps once believed.

The book, entitled 'En skole i vold' ('A school of violence'), reveals that about 800 Danish Nazis took an active part in the killing of 1,400 Jews in a concentration camp in Belarus.

“We have witness testimonies that show the Danish Nazis were deeply involved in genocide and a number of war crimes during their time on the eastern front,” Dennis Larsen, one of the authors, told DR Nyheder.

The revelations mean there could be perpetrators of war crimes living within the Danish population today.

READ MORE: Men charged with stealing documents about Nazi collaborators

Sent by the SS
The alleged crimes occurred in 1942 and 1943 and were carried out by members of the Danish Nazi party, Frikorps Danmark.

Following the enrolment of 800 of its members with the German SS Command, their new commander decided to send the Danes to the prison camp in Bobruisk, Belarus.

The Danes spent eight months in the camp and even ran the camp at some point. The camp had at least 1,500 Jewish prisoners and at least 1,400 of them died during the months when the Danes were there. Most of the Jews reportedly came from Warsaw, Poland.

Larsen teamed up with fellow historian Therkel Stræde and uncovered the story by digging deep into scores of historical archives, court cases, military documents and witness testimonies from the period.

During their research, the historians discovered that at least two of the Danish Nazis who went to Bobruisk are still alive today.

READ MORE: Traitor Danes: most soldiers return heroes, but this lot came home total zeroes

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