[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 134 (Friday, October 11, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1838]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO PREBEN MUNCH-NIELSEN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 10, 2002

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join me in paying 
tribute to my dear friend, Preben Munch-Nielsen, who passed away a few 
days ago in Denmark.
  Preben Munch-Nielsen was born in 1926 to a Protestant family in a 
small Danish fishing village, Snekkersten. He was only 14 when German 
troops occupied Denmark in 1940. Munch-Nielsen soon became a courier in 
the Danish Resistance movement, and began helping Danish Jews flee 
persecution and certain death at the hands of the Nazi's.
  He continually risked his life by hiding Jewish refugees in churches 
and houses near the shore of the North Sea. At night, he would lead 
them to fishing boats, which took them across the sea to safety in 
neutral Sweden. Twelve at a time, the Jews would sail in 21-foot boats 
to freedom. The four-mile boat ride to Sweden could take hours, as 
Munch-Nielsen and other Resistance members evaded German ships at sea.
  Munch-Nielsen personally helped to transport 1,400 refugees, and of 
the country's 7,200 Jews, the Resistance movement saved all but 60 
people. The Resistance also saved 700 people of non-Jewish decent, who 
could not bear to part with Jewish relatives. Munch-Nielsen himself had 
to take refuge in Sweden when the Germans replaced the Danish 
government in 1943. He returned home in May 1945.
  Munch-Nielsen did not speak publicly about the rescues until 1985, 
when a friend asked him to share his story with a group of Jewish 
travelers in Denmark. He did not understand why people would make such 
a fuss over simple acts of decency, yet he knew his deeds should no 
longer be kept in secrecy. At age 59, his speaking career began, 
educating masses of people in Denmark, Israel and the United States 
about the hardships of perseverance and the atrocities of war.
  He emphasized that Danish Jews were considered as neighbors, friends, 
and schoolmates, and not as a separate group or as criminals. ``This is 
our history. We have no scapegoats. No pogroms. No Holocaust. It's so 
simple; we didn't recognize Jews as Jews, but as Danes,'' Preben Munch-
Nielsen said. ``They were victims of an insane movement created by 
lunatics.''
  Preben Munch-Nielsen was also a successful Danish businessman who was 
honored for his wartime heroic actions by President Bill Clinton in 
1997.

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