Global True Lithuania Encyclopedia of Lithuanian heritage worldwide

Denmark

The small town of Thisted in northern Denmark is home to Europe’s most famous Lithuanian DP camp memorial.

DPs (displaced persons) were Lithuanians who had to flee their own country in 1944 as the Soviet armies were approaching, bringing their genocide with them. Almost 100000 Lithuanians fled westwards trying to stay in front of the frontlines and ending up in the Western-democracy-ruled sections of Europe. While most of them (some 65000) found peace in French-, American-, or British- occupational zones of Germany, Denmark became a distant second country in Europe in the number of Lithuanian DPs, with some 3000 ending up there as the war ended.

As elsewhere, the DPs would be put to live in DP camps. In these camps, their freedom may have been limited, however, at the same time, the camps were effectively close-knit Lithuanian villages or towns within foreign countries, allowing Lithuanians to establish their institutions and build their memorials.

Lithuanian DP camp memorial in Thisted

One of Denmark’s key Lithuanian-majority DP camps was located in Dragsbæk near Thisted, using what was a Nazi German seaplane base. Some 750 Lithuanians lived there. In 1947, Lithuanians erected their memorial, consisting of a traditional Lithuanian cross, a Column of Gediminas monument with the face of a Lithuanian soldier on it, and numerous Cross of Vytis symbols, as well as a Vytis sign built on the ground out of pebbles. The inscription on the columns of Gediminas reads “Mūsų troškimas – Tėvynės laisvė” (Our strive is the freedom of our homeland). The author of the cross was Jablonskis, and a local Knud Hansen painted it. The monument was erected in secret.

Columns of Gediminas at the Thisted Lithuanian monument

The Lithuanian DP community in Denmark was extremely brief. As of 1949, with the freedom of Lithuania seemingly a lost cause, nearly all of them relocated to other countries, e.g. Australia, USA, or Canada. Lithuanians feared to stay in Denmark, believing that its governments could give them out to the Soviets, where they would have faced death or persecution.

However, some 500 other Lithuanians listened to the Soviet propaganda and returned to Lithuania. Often these were Lithuanians from Klaipėda Region, who never experienced the 1939-1940 first Soviet occupation as their region was occupied by Nazi Germany in 1939. Klaipėda Lithuanians made a disproportionate number of DPs in Denmark as many of them, due to being regarded as German citizens, were evacuated by Germany across the Baltic sea into what was then still a Nazi-occupied Denmark.

Lithuanian cross and Vytis at the Thisted Lithuanian monument

Yet, against all odds, even without Lithuanians living anymore in the surrounding area, the Lithuanian monument survived and was even reconstructed. In 1950, the DP camp was taken over by the Danish military – emergency services department in particular. To the new owners, its Lithuanian monument became a symbol of their base. They repaired the cross in 1957 and 1990, rebuilding it completely based on the original design in 2015. They also replaced the pebble Vytis with a more permanent brick one (designed by Danish sculptor Henning Wienber Jensen). A plaque explaining the monument's history has been built.

While located in a military territory, the monument is allowed to be visited by outsiders. They should report at the entrance building first, to be escorted to the monument by the servicemen.

Other Lithuanian sites in Denmark

Originally, there was also another similar Columns of Gediminas DP camp monument located in a DP camp at Nymindegab in western Denmark. That monument, with an inscription “Laisvai gyvenę, vergais nebūsim” (“After having lived free, we will not be slaves”), was destroyed, however. Nymindegab Camp served as the precursor to the Dragsbæk (Thisted) Camp. Lithuanian DPs were located in 1945-1946 in Nymindegab and relocated to Dragsbæk in the autumn of 1946.

Besides the DPs, Denmark never had a historical significant Lithuanian community, and the current Lithuanian community is mostly formed by recent immigrants. The largest group are the blue-collar workers as, for blue collar jobs, the salaries in Denmark are significantly higher than those in Lithuania. Another group consists of Lithuanians who came to Denmark for studies which became free for Lithuanians in the 2000s when Lithuania had joined the European Union. Many of these Lithuanians continued to live in Denmark after their studies.

Still, Danish capital Copenhagen has a street named after Lithuania (Litauen Alle) in its vicinity (Taastrup suburb), albeit in a row of similar Latvia and Estonia streets in an industrial district. There is also a Lithuanian Square in Copenhagen itself (Litauens Plads), also surrounded by streets named after Estonia and Latvia.

A street named after Lithuania near Copenhagen

Copenhagen’s artist “district-republic” of Christiania has inspired Lithuania’s “Republic of Užupis” micronation, something reminded by a plaque in Christiania with the inscription “REPUBLIC OF UZHUPIS 1099-1111 KM".

Republic of Uzhupis sign in Christiania