Among the fleet of ships and boats that make up the fleet at the Mystic Seaport Museum, the Danish lighthouse tender Gerda III, built in 1926, is a ruggedly attractive double-ender. Nevertheless, she could easily be overlooked. That would be a mistake. Gerda III played an important role in an audacious and risky rescue mission to save Jewish refugees from Denmark in 1943.
When it became apparent that the invading Germans intended to round up Danish Jews and send them to concentration camps, the Danes began a desperate effort to rescue the Jews. A flotilla of fishing and cargo vessels assembled to smuggle the refugees to safety in neutral Sweden. Gerda III was based in the fishing village of Gilleleje, only about 11 miles from Sweden. About one-fifth of the Danish Jews escaped to Sweden via Gilleleje.
In October of 1943, Hanny Sondig, the 19-year-old daughter of the boat’s manager, took command of Gerda III with a crew of four and nightly smuggled groups of 10 to 15 Jewish refugees in the tiny hold of the lighthouse tender. In the two-week evacuation, over 300 refugees were smuggled aboard Gerda III. Ultimately, more than 7,000 Jews were smuggled out of Demark. Only 481 were captured by the Germans and sent to camps.
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