German soldiers walked the streets of Copenhagen alongside Danish police officers, creating a strange and tense atmosphere. Unlike other occupied nations, Denmark kept its own government and king for the first three years of the war. King Christian X became the most visible symbol of national unity. He rode his horse, Jubilee, through the capital every morning without any bodyguards. Citizens gathered on the sidewalks to tip their hats to him. This daily ritual served as a silent reminder that the country still belonged to the Danes, despite the foreign flags flying over government buildings.
Shortages hit the household kitchens hard. Real coffee disappeared from shelves almost immediately. People drank a substitute made from roasted grain and chicory root, often sold under the brand name “Rich’s.” Rationing cards limited the amount of butter, sugar, and bread a family could buy each week. Heating became the biggest daily struggle. With coal imports cut off, Danes had to burn peat dug from local bogs. This fuel burned poorly and filled apartments with a foul, earthy smell, leaving rooms damp and cold during the freezing winters.
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At night, the “blackout” enforced total darkness. Residents covered every window with heavy black paper or thick curtains to hide lights from Allied bombers. Streetlights were painted blue or turned off entirely, making travel after sunset dangerous. To combat the gloom, a tradition called Alsang, or community singing, spread across the country. Thousands of people gathered in parks and squares to sing traditional Danish songs. Since singing was not illegal, it allowed the population to protest the occupation without risking arrest.
The resistance movement grew bolder as the war dragged on. Saboteurs targeted the railway lines that the German army used to transport troops and supplies to Norway. Young men planted explosives on the tracks, causing trains to derail and delaying military shipments. In the autumn of 1943, ordinary citizens performed a massive rescue operation. When news leaked that the German police planned to arrest Danish Jews, neighbors hid families in attics, hospitals, and churches. Fishermen used small fishing boats to ferry over 7,000 people across the dark waters to neutral Sweden, hiding them under canvas tarps that smelled of fish to fool patrol dogs.
On the west coast of Jutland, the landscape changed physically. The German military poured thousands of tons of concrete to build the Atlantic Wall. Massive gray bunkers rose up from the sand dunes, designed to repel an Allied invasion. Farmers in these areas had to navigate around minefields and barbed wire to tend to their crops. While the cities dealt with spies and shortages, the countryside became a heavily fortified military zone.
