Hvidsten Group

The Hvidsten Group (Danish: Hvidstengruppen) was a Danish resistance group during World War II named after the Hvidsten Inn between Randers and Mariager in Jutland where it was formed.

Hvidsten group
Hvidstengruppen
LeadersMarius Fiil
Dates of operation1943 - March 1944
HeadquartersHvidsten Inn
Active regionsBetween Randers and Mariager
Sizecirca 16
Part ofDanish resistance movement
Opponents German Occupying Forces
Memorial stone for the Danish resistance group Hvidstengruppen

History

The Hvidsten Group became connected to the resistance movement through Ole Giesler, a captain of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) who helped organise British weapons drops for the Danish Resistance. Marius Fiil, owner of the Hvidsten Inn and leader of the Hvidsten Group, met with Giesler on March 12, 1943 following an SOE drop the night before on Trinderup Heath east of Mariager that had delivered 12-14 containers of explosives and weapons to supply the resistance in Jutland. That evening, Fils, with the help of his neighbour Andreas Stenz, retrieved the weapons and eventually brought them to Mustard Point, which was chosen by the Hvidsten Group as a receiving site and became one of its most reliable during the resistance effort.

The Hvidsten Group received many drops during the resistance signalled via "greetings" at the end of the BBC news broadcasts with the encoded message "Greetings to Elias - Listen again" and delivered via British Halifax planes. The Hvidsten group was responsible for pick-up at Allestrupgårds Heath and delivery of explosives to resistance groups like BOPA and Holger Danske to be used for sabotage of railways, locomotive sheds, bridges and factories in use by the German occupation forces.[1]

Barricades erected during a general strike, Nørrebro, Copenhagen, July 1944

Dismantlement of group

The activities of the Hvidsten Group and several other resistance groups were revealed to the Gestapo by Jacob Jensen, a British Army paratrooper employed by the Special Operations Executive, after he was captured on 13 December 1943 in Aarhus and interrogated under torture. On March 11, 1944, in the early morning, the Gestapo surrounded the Hvidsten Inn and the majority of the group were arrested. Their arrest was reported by the resistance newspaper De frie Danske on 18 March 1944.[2]

The following month De frie Danske reported that several arrestees from Hvidsten, including Marius Fiil, had been transferred from Randers to the Vestre Fængsel prison.[3]

Eight of its members were sentenced to death on June 26 and executed by firing squad in Ryvangen on June 29, 1944, three weeks after D-day.[4][5]

On 15 July 1944, De frie Danske reported on the execution of Fiil, his son and son-in-law, the life sentence imposed on his older daughter and the two-year sentence imposed on his younger daughter, and compared Fiil to historical national heroes, Svend Gønge and Niels Ebbesen, while lamenting the profound loss experienced by Fiil's widow.[6] News of the executions contributed to an escalation of general strikes in Copenhagen. Six months later, the January 1945 issue of the resistance newspaper Frit Danmark (Free Denmark) reported that on 29 June the previous year Fiil and seven other named members of the Hvidsten group had been executed.[7]

Memorial stone placed in Ryvangen Memorial Park for fallen resistance members including those of the Hvidsten group

Members of the group and their fates

The following are the eight members of Hvidsten Group that were executed:

The following members were sentenced to life in prison:

  • Kirstine Fiil - daughter of Marius and Gudrun Fiil
  • Jens Stenz - a farmer
  • Barner Hyldegaard Andersen - a driver

The following members were sentenced a prison sentence of four years:

  • Anders Venning Steensgaard - served as a driver for the group. He was later moved to concentration camp, but survived.
  • Knud Peter Buchhorn Christensen - a grocer

The following members were sentenced a prison sentence of two years:

Other members:

  • Andreas Stenz - fled to Sweden
  • Svend Egon Andersen - dead as of August 2017

Affiliates

  • Otto Westergård Olesen - a bookseller and resistance member in Randers, stored the group's weapons in his bookshop, Køsters Boghandel.[8] The weapons and supplies were then distributed to resistance members in North Jutland. [9] Arrested in April 1944, he was interned at Frøslev Prison Camp before being deported to Dachau. Survived the war.[10]

Memorial

The bodies of the eight executed members of Hvidsten Group were found in Ryvangen, and in the summer of 1945 their remains were taken home to Hvidsten and buried 100 meters north of Hvidsten Inn, where there is a memorial grove and erected a monument with the following inscription:

Rough translation of the full inscription on the Memorial stone reads:

Deed for Denmark brought this day.
 Bravely acted, true until death.
 Let light shine in the red of morning,
 They gave their lives for Denmark's cause.

S. P. KRISTENSEN * 20. 8. 1887
ALBERT IVERSEN * 28. 9. 1896
NIELS N. KJÆR * 2. 4. 1903
JOH KJÆR HANSEN * 2. 4. 1907
HENNING ANDERSEN * 16. 7. 1917
MARIUS FIIL * 21. 6. 1893
PETER SØRENSEN * 8. 6. 1919
NIELS FIIL * 12. 6. 1920

1944 on the 29 June
 They fell before German bullets
 Precious is their memory to Denmark
 Erected in the year 1945

Portrayal in the media
  • The Hvidsten Group is portrayed in the 2012 Danish drama film Hvidsten Gruppen (This Life).[11]

References
  1. "Hvidsten Group Historical Page". Randers Municipal Site. Archived from the original on 17 July 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  2. "Utrolig mange Arrestationer" [Incredibly many arrests]. De frie Danske (in Danish). 18 March 1944. p. 10. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  3. "ARRESTEREDE" [ARRESTED]. De frie Danske (in Danish). 23 April 1944. p. 10. Retrieved 24 November 2014. Kroejer Marius Fiil med flere fra Hvidsten er blevet overført fra Randers til Vestre
  4. Danish Reactions to German Occupation: History and Historiography, Carsten Holbraad, page 109
  5. Historical Dictionary of Denmark, Alastair H. Thomas, page 181
  6. "EN FOLKELIG SKIKKELSE, ET HISTORISK EKSEMPEL PAA JYLLANDS SEJGHED UNDER FREMMEDHEREDØMMET" [A POPULAR FIGURE, A HISTORICAL EXAMPLE OF JUTLAND'S TOUGHNESS UNDER FOREIGN RULE]. De frie Danske (in Danish). 15 July 1944. p. 7. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  7. "29. Juni - 8 Frihedskæmpere henrettet" [29 June - 8 freedom fighters executed]. Frit Danmark (in Danish). January 1945. p. 9. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  8. http://www.boghandlereidanmark.dk/index.php?id=967&beskrivelsesnummer=1093&p_mode=beskrivelse&cHash=f31cc3058f9c41f9e108f72d9a18b0b4
  9. Modstand 1942-1943: Samarbejdets fald, Niels Birger Danielsen, page 213
  10. http://modstand.natmus.dk/Person.aspx?65999
  11. "This life / Hvidsten Gruppen - nogle må dø for at andre kan leve". dfi.dk. Retrieved 2016-12-04.
  • "Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon - Kirstine Fiil" [Danish Woman Bibliographic Encyclopedia - Kirstine Fiil] (in Danish). KVINFO. 2003. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  • Holm, Axel (1945). Hvidsten-Gruppen [The Hvidsten Group] (in Danish). Aarhus: Gravers Andersens Forlag. 142 pages. OCLC 492247465. Archived from the original on 2007-09-19.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  • Kæft, Trit og Retning: En sabotørs erindringer (Silence, Discipline and Direction: The memoirs of a saboteur), Jørgen Røjel, 1998 (ISBN 87-568-1463-1) (in Danish)
  • Røjel, Jørgen (1984). Modstandsgruppen Hvidsten [The resistance group Hvidsten] (in Danish). Copenhagen: Samleren. 249 pages. ISBN 87-568-0743-0. OCLC 13424058.
  • Hvidsten-gruppen som Barner Andersen oplevede den (The Hvidsten Group as Bjarner Andersen experienced it), Peter Laursen, 2002 (ISBN 87-88864-42-1) (in Danish)
  • No Small Achievement: Special Operations Executive and the Danish Resistance 1940-1945, Knud J. V. Jespersen, 2002, University Press of Southern Denmark
  • Danish trailer for the movie Hvidsten Gruppen about the Hvidsten Group
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