Communist Party of Denmark: "Recognize the constitutional violation"

The Danish Parliament wants to remember the victims, but does not want to take responsibility for the crime.

That's not good enough.

In 1941, Danish communists were arrested and interned in violation of the fundamental rights of the Constitution. Subsequently, the Folketing passed the Communist Act retroactively to legitimize what had already happened. It was a historic and democratic failure committed by the Danish authorities.

But the responsibility does not stop there. The Danish authorities were not simply passive tools of the German occupation. They used their own registers and surveillance of Danish communists to carry out arrests on a far greater scale than the Germans had originally demanded. The Danish state thus made its knowledge, its police and its administrative apparatus available for the persecution of political opponents.

When the Folketing now chooses to erect a broad memorial plaque for all deportees, but at the same time avoids mentioning the violation of the constitution against the Danish communists, it is an attempt to make history harmless. The consequences are remembered, but the cause is kept quiet. The victims are paid tribute, but responsibility is avoided.

It's convenient. And it's political cowardice.

A democracy that does not dare to confront its own historical crimes weakens its own credibility. Remembering those who were affected is positive, but not sufficient. It must be acknowledged that Danish citizens with a certain political conviction were let down. Otherwise, it is a question of falsifying history.

The Communist Party of Denmark therefore demands a clear and unequivocal recognition of the violation of the constitution against the Danish communists during the occupation. The Danish authorities' active co-responsibility for the persecution must not be hidden and must therefore be part of the memorial that should be erected for the victims of the horrors of the occupation period.

(Photo: Danish police arrest communists in Copenhagen on 22 June 1941, following Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union. The subsequent internment and banning of the Communist Party constituted a violation of the Danish Constitution.)