The Moral Courage Of Danes

The Moral Courage of Danes During the Holocaust, many brave individuals risked their lives rescuing the innocents. Those heroes are rare after all, but in Denmark, everyone participated in the rescue—from the government officials to the normal citizens. The danish people expressed their moral courage all together as a nation, yet without certain leadership or organization— it was everyone fulfilling their own righteousness. All of these individual power came together, and created a miracle during the Holocaust. On April 9, 1940, Germany offended the Denmark border despite the German-Danish non aggression treaty. The danish army was very weak comparing to the German troops, but they offered resistance in numerous regions in Denmark. Since
The whole nation, made its choice risking their lives and status. For the Danish King and the government officers, they were risking their power, status, and fame, they can be sent to concentration camps for their deeds. For the normal Danish citizens, they are simply threatened by harsh death penalties (Schlüter). However, none of them abandoned their Jewish neighbors. They did not tell themselves apart from the Jewish communities, instead they see all of them as Danes, not as “Aryans and Jews”. And they believed that all of the Danish citizens should be treated equally. This is their moral courage perfectly shown in the Holocaust, and it is the perfect example for a group of people to stand out and care for each other. This precious operation is very inspiring as a example of how to express moral courage and make a difference in the modern world. This instance demonstrated the strength of individual actions. One person might think what he/she is doing is useless and ineffective, but when all the people stand out and protect morality as a group, a community, a nation, the effect is unlimited. It is not about how an individual act out moral courage, it’s about a whole community expressing righteous belief, taking care of each other and supporting each other. In our modern peaceful world, moral courage can be as hard to express as in wartimes. Sometimes, no one stands out to do the right thing because people think they cannot prevent bad things from happening. People think that if they stop one robbery risking their own safety, a thousand more will happen worldwide, it’s not worth it. But if we learn from the Danes, we may change this idea and affect everyone. To express moral courage, people do not need to wait for central leadership or organizations. If one stands out against what is unrighteous, he/she will realize that many more individuals are doing the same thing with same approach— doing what