Henny's Boat

<p>Denmark's World War II rescue of its Jewish population was a shining example of courage morality and national resolve.</p><p><br></p><p>In September 1943 three years after they invaded Denmark the Nazis set a plan in motion to capture the country's nearly 8350 Jews in a single night and send them on the path to annihilation. Word of the plan got out seventy-two hours before the Nazis were set to pounce triggering a nationwide effort to warn and hide the Jews. On the night of the scheduled raids the Gestapo came up almost empty-handed. The chase however had just begun. The only safe place within reach was Sweden and the only way to get there was by boat.</p><p><br></p><p>Danes organized escape routes on hundreds of boats from points all along Denmark's eastern shore. <em>Gerda III</em> --<em> </em>Henny's Boat -- was one of the most successful. During a month of clandestine crossings <em>Gerda III </em>and the people associated with it saved at least three hundred Jews ten to fifteen on each early morning passage.</p><p><br></p><p>Twenty-two-year-old Henny Sinding was at the heart of <em>Gerda III'</em>s rescue missions. Working with the boat's four-man crew a university-based resistance group and a young navy cadet with whom she was falling in love Henny escorted Jews from rendezvous points around Copenhagen to a warehouse attic overlooking the boat . Then in pre-dawn darkness she slipped them into the boat's cargo hold eluding Nazi sentries who patrolled the dock. <em>Gerda III'</em>s crew completed the escape traveling past German warships and mines to Swedish ports.</p><p><br></p><p>When the Jewish rescue operation was complete Henny's team became leaders in the armed resistance and <em>Gerda III </em>continued to be a lifeboat for persons hunted by the Nazis. conducting daring sabotage missions throughout Denmark and <em>Gerda III </em>continued to be a lifeboat for persons hunted by the Nazis. Their story epitomizes the story of a nation that rose from a humbling surrender to battle the Nazis and hand the Gestapo its most glaring defeat. </p><p><br></p><p>The book is an expanded and enhanced version of the author's earlier book <em>Henny and Her Boat Righteousness and Resistance in Nazi Occupied Denmark.</em></p>