The Daring Rescue of Denmark’s Jewish Community

Ellen Bari is the curator and project director of the landmark exhibition Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark on view at New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage and designed especially for young people, ages 9 and up, and their families. She is an award-winning museum exhibit curator, multi-media producer and children’s book author. She was instrumental in developing the Learning Center for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Over the years, her projects have often pioneered new technologies for such clients as the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, Sesame Workshop, Nickelodeon, American Express, HarperCollins Interactive, WNET and others. She holds an M.A. from Columbia University, Teacher’s College.
Steen Metz was one of the few Danish Jews not to escape in 1943. Instead, at age eight, he and his family were deported to Theresienstadt, where his father died. Steen and his mother were liberated by the Red Cross in April 1945. They returned to their hometown and resumed their lives, with Steen even returning to his old school. As an adult, he left Denmark for England and then moved to Canada before settling in the United States. He now frequently speaks to the public about his Holocaust experiences in an attempt to prevent the occurrence of future Holocausts. He is a retired executive in the food service industry.

Therkel Straede is a professor of contemporary history at the University of Southern Denmark and one of the world’s leading experts on the 1943 rescue of the Jews of Denmark. His newest book, about the networks and motives of Jewish and non-Jewish rescuers, will be published in August of this year. He worked with the Museum of Jewish Heritage on their landmark exhibition about the Danish rescue story. He operates a website about the Danish deportees in the Theresienstadt ghetto and has received a congressional citation by the U.S. Congress for his achievements in Holocaust research and education.