Anne Jespersen, Kopenhagen

From Accomodation to Resistance. Danish Cinematic and Nazi Occupation

During the Nazi occupation of Denmark 1940-45, the Danish film industry gained a maturity and seriousness that had been lacking in the mainly lighthearted comedy and music films of the 1930s.

Because of censorship, the actual serious nature of the political situation could not be addressed, but an number of ›dark‹ films emerged that symbolically reflected it. A few examples of films that contain a hidden protest emerged, e.g. the short film Kornet er i Fare! (The Harvest Is in Danger). It appears to be a straightforward informational film about agricultural pest control, but what the censor did not pick up was that it was clearly a witty allegory about the Nazi intruders.

Just a few months after the end of the war, a number of films emerged which concerned themselves with the events of the past five years, and in particular the emerging resistance movement. The film De Røde enge (Rote Wiesen), which premiered in December 1945, is a prominent example, and one of the first in a very long line of films addressing this very important and traumatic chapter in Danish history, the latest being the widely shown Flammen og citronen (Tage des Zorns) from 2008.