Denmark
The minority centre-left coalition government led by Prime Minister Poul
Nyrup Rasmussen (Socialdemokratiet, SD, Social Democrats)-composed of the
SD, Radikale Venstre (RV, Social Liberals) and Centrum Demokraterne (CD,
Centre Democrats)-has been in power since September 1994. However, the hard-won
legislative approval in December of the government's budget for 1997-achieved
by promising increased social spending and thereby winning the support of
two left-wing parties-provoked the resignation from the coalition of the
CD, effective from January 1997.
Danish political life continued to be dominated by the problem of unemployment
and questions concerning the future of the welfare state and the country's
place within the European Union (EU).
Gross domestic product grew by only 1.1 per cent in 1996, compared with
the 1995 rate of 2.8 per cent. Inflation was 2.1 per cent, the same as 1995,
and the rate of unemployment continued to fall, this year by 1.5 per cent
to 8.8 per cent.
Denmark's reputation for being free of serious anti-Jewish prejudice
is only partly true. An anti-Jewish riot in 1819 was effectively stopped
by the same king who, five years earl-ier, had granted civic equality to
the Jewish community.
At the turn of the century, modern political antisemitism grew. Jewish financiers
played an important economic role during this period and were subject to
harsh accusations, especially during and after the First World War. Most
Jewish financiers lost their money and influence in the period 1921-4 due
to the post-war recession. Subsequently, antisemitism played only a peripheral
role in public debate.
Like most other western countries, Denmark permitted relatively few German
Jews to settle in the country from 1933 onwards, although some young German
Jews were admitted to study agriculture and then made their way to Palestine.
Some of them were still in the country when Nazi Germany occupied Denmark
in 1940. Together with more than 90 per cent of the Jewish population, they
were rescued in October 1943 in a remarkable operation that took them by
sea to Sweden.
After the Second World War, there was considerable sympathy for Jews and
antisemitism virtually disappeared. However, in the 1950s, copies of antisemitic
pamphlets and literature were available.
The so-called Blekingegade group (named after the Copenhagen street where
the group was based) was formed in 1970 by sympathizers of the Palestinian
cause. Members of the group committed murder and bank robberies. Jews were
considered enemies by the group, and a "hit list" of supporters
of Israel was drawn up. In 1989 the police exposed the group, shocking the
Danish public, and all five of its members received heavy sentences. By
1996 all but the Swiss-born Mark Rubin had been released.
The increasingly diverse ethnic and racial composition of Danish society,
due to the growing number of immigrants and asylum-seekers in recent years,
continued to provoke a degree of public concern and debate about immigration
throughout 1996. This concern has been heightened by recent, well-publicized
reports of the involvement of foreigners in street-level drug dealing. In
response parliament even initiated a debate on the possibility of introducing
mandatory deportation of convicted criminals.
Incidents of random, racially motivated violence do also occur, although
they have been rare. In 1996 the police recorded twenty-four incidents of
racially motivated (non-violent) crimes-racially motivated violent crimes
are not isolated among the statistics of all violent crime-a virtually identical
figure to the previous year. On the other hand, widespread and effective
protests against the presence of neo-Nazi and other racist organizations
have become commonplace in Denmark since 1994 (see countering antisemitism).
Some 238,000 foreigners live in Denmark, over 70 per cent of whom come from
non-European countries. Before 1992 the majority of immigrants were Iranians,
Palestinians and Sri Lankans; since then they have almost exclusively come
from the former Yugoslavia and Somalia. The total number of asylum-seekers
in 1996 was 5,896. There were complaints this year from Danish human rights
organizations that some applications for asylum that were turned down-in
which the applicants were financially unable to support family members-were
unfairly dealt with.
The Danish far right encompasses two anti-immigration political parties,
a major anti-immigration organization and a number of overtly neo-Nazi groupings.
In October 1995 Pia Kjærsgaard, a former leader of the far-right populist
party Frems-kridtspartiet (FP, Progress Party)-now led by Johannes Sörensen-led
a split from the group to found a new parliamentary party, Dansk Folkeparti
(DF, Danish People's Party), with Kjærsgaard as its leader. While
neither party espouses antisemitism, the FP has-since its founding in 1972
by Morgens Glistrup as an anti-tax, anti-welfare state and anti-immigration
party-called for a ban on both immigrants and refugees, and the new DF follows
suit.
Though few in number, members of both the FP and the DF play a disproportionately
significant role in setting the agenda for public debate in Denmark. Their
voices are heard in any discussion of issues relating to refugees and immigrants.
In 1973 the FP swept into parliament with twenty-three seats, a success
it has never repeated. In 1996 it had about 5,000 members, and 7 (out of
179) seats in parliament. The DF had approximately 1,300 members and 4 seats
in parliament.
Among the extra-parliamentary groups, Den Danske Forening (DDF, The Danish
Society) is the largest and most "respectable" anti-immigration
organization in Denmark, with 3,000-4,000 members. Led by Ole Hasselbalch,
DDF has achieved a relatively important position in recent years as a popular
voice against Muslim immigrants and refugees. A youth group, Dansk Forum
(Danish Forum), is associated with DDF.
DDF's annual celebration of the anniversary of the Danish constitution on
5 June was this year marked by meetings in Foldingbro in southern Denmark,
and in Hillerød north of Copenhagen. In recent years DDF meetings
have increasingly been attacked by well-organized anti-racist groups. The
annual DDF summer meeting, held this year in Korsør on 15-16 June,
attracted about fifty members. About the same number of anti-racists turned
up, but the police managed to avoid clashes.
The Danmarks Nationalsocialistiske Bevægelse (DNSB, Danish National
Socialist Movement), founded in 1970 and led by Jonni Hansen, is an openly
neo-Nazi organization with a hard-core membership of 100-200. In late 1994
the DNSB moved its headquarters to a house in Greve, south of Copenhagen,
occasioning strong protests from the local population and some violent incidents
in the vicinity, mostly between DNSB members and anti-fascists, although
the number of such incidents declined in 1996. DNSB members have links to
groups in other countries, such as Combat 18 in the UK, Vitt ariskt motstånd
and the NS Network in Sweden, the NSDAP/AO in the USA, as well as various
groups in Germany (see United Kingdom, Sweden, United States of America).
In 1996 the DNSB Radio continued its Oasen broadcasting project (see publications
and media). The organization also operates a twenty-four-hour telephone
hate line run by one of the group's leaders, Henrik Kristensen. The message
is updated every week, and deals with current themes.
There are an estimated 200 neo-Nazi skinheads in Denmark, about half of
whom are based in Copenhagen. There are no Danish skinhead bands or "skinzines".
There are a number of Islamist groups active in Denmark including the organizations
Gama'a al-Islamiya, Front islamique du salut (FIS, Islamic Salvation Front),
Hamas and Hizb ut-Tahrir (see PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA).
There is no systematic monitoring of antisemitic incidents in Denmark.
The majority of antisemitic incidents recorded by the Jewish community in
Denmark in 1996 involved verbal abuse or threats against members of the
Jewish community. There were also a number of threats to the Jewish community
from members of Islamist organizations (see PARTIES, ORGANIZATIONS, MOVEMENTS).
In October there were two cases of false bomb threats at Jewish events,
one at a concert in southern Zealand, which had to be cancelled, and the
second in Copenhagen.
In November 1995 the DNSB (see PARTIES, ORGANIZATIONS, MOVEMENTS), despite
anti-racist opposition, was given permission to broadcast and set up a Copenhagen
radio channel, Radio Oasen (Radio Oasis). It was to broadcast twice weekly
through the Swedish-owned media company Kinnevik. However, in February 1996,
due to financial reasons, Kinnevik withdrew its offer.
Despite continuing hitches the radio station went on air on 1 March from
the suburb of Greve. Its difficulties were not over because locals blocked
planning permission for a radio mast, which would allow the broadcast to
reach its full potential of 250,000 listeners.
In September, following a broadcast of excerpts from Hitler's Mein Kampf
, there was a unanimous decision by the local radio board to shut down
the station and revoke its licence. While the DNSB's previous arguments
defending its right to freedom of speech had been upheld-and, indeed, the
station broadcast uninterrupted from March to September-the broadcast of
Hitler's material was considered to be abusive broadcasting. However, Radio
Oasen launched a successful appeal, and the station continues to broadcast.
DNSB publishes Fædrelandet (Fatherland), which includes antisemitic
and Holocaust-denial material as well as "hit lists" of political
opponents. At one time it was the Danish-language publication of the US-based
NSDAP/AO (see United States of America). The organization also runs a mail-order
company, NS.88, which is managed by the German-born activist Marcel Schilf.
Based in the North Zealand town of Birkerød, north of Copenhagen,
it sells neo-Nazi books, skinhead music and videos.
Other publications of far-right organizations include Fremskridt (Progress),
the weekly magazine published by the FP, and Danskeren (The Dane)
produced by DDF, which has a circulation of about 6,000 copies.
During 1996, Hizb ut-Tahrir (see PARTIES, ORGANIZATIONS, MOVEMENTS) published
a Danish-language magazine, Khilafah . The June/July and August/September
issues quoted passages from the Qur'an that referred to Christians and Jews:
"Allah will never allow the infidel to have domination over Muslims";
"kill them [Jews and Christians] wherever you find them"; "O
Muslim, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him". The Islamic Student
Organization published a newsletter in 1996 that contained antisemitic and
anti-Zionist sentiments.
Denmark's most famous Holocaust-denier, seventy-nine-year-old Thies Christophersen,
was formerly an SS officer who fled Germany after the war. Based in Kollund
for many years, he is the author of one of the standard Holocaust-denial
texts, Die Auschwitz Lüge (The Auschwitz Lie), and editor (until
1995) of the Holocaust-denial quarterly Die Bauernschaft (now edited
by Ernst Zundel, see Canada). Christophersen, terminally ill, fell silent
in 1996; he left Denmark at the end of the year for his native Germany,
where he died in February 1997. Warrants for Christophersen's arrest on
charges of incitement to racial hatred and denial of the Holocaust were
still valid in Germany when he returned.
Povl Heinrich Riis-Knudsen, the former leader of the DNSB (see parties,
organizations, movements), may have taken over the role as Denmark's leading
Holocaust-denier, through his publishing house, Nordland-Verlag, in Ålborg.
He maintains a low profile, translating antisemitic literature. In 1992
he was expelled from the DNSB for "race-mixing", when his short-lived
engagement to a Christian Palestinian refugee became public.
DNSB leader Jonni Hansen and neo-Nazi activist Esben Rohde Kristensen were charged in September 1995 with complicity in threatening violence. Through a postal address in Randers, they distributed the German far-right publication Der Einblick (The Insight), which lists details of at least 4,000 anti-fascists who were to be "crushed". The police have for the moment stopped further investigations. They have been waiting for information from the German police since 1995, without which the Danish trials of Hansen and Kristensen cannot begin.
In Denmark anti-racist activity is well organized on local and national levels. Members and supporters of groups are easily mobilized into demonstrations against far-right individuals and events.
The concern about rising immigration, expressed more publicly in Denmark
in recent years, has been exploited by far-right organizations. The call
for a referendum on immigration, originally proposed by right-wing groups,
has become integrated into mainstream politics. Antisemitism, however, has
not appeared in the ideologies of the anti-immigration parties and has played
no signific-ant part in the increasingly xenophobic climate.
Danish society has so far reacted strongly to the presence of neo-Nazism
in Denmark. Although ultimately unsuccessful, the attempt to close Radio
Oasen indicates the degree to which locally organized pressure groups are
able to mobilize. The death of Holocaust-denier Thies Christophersen also
closes a chapter in both racist and anti-racist activity in the country.
© JPR 1997