Life Went On
Grethe and Aksel
Life went on. Aksel and I got married November 2, 1940 in St. Olai church in Elsinore. Close family members and a few friends participated in the ceremony and dinner afterwards. Young as I was, I had once dreamed of having a formal wedding. It remained a dream.
We stayed in the one bedroom apartment which Aksel had occupied for some time. As a building contractor, Aksel didn’t have very many jobs during the war. Luckily, he was also a teacher at the evening college six to eight hours a week and had an income from that.
None of us had any problem adjusting to a completely different way of life. We learned to appreciate other things rather than those that money could buy. Family and friends were important. Aksel, who was a very gregarious man had lived in Elsinore most of his forty years and had many good friends there.
Our social life wasn’t luncheons and dinner parties. Friends would stop in at all hours. We would share whatever we had on hand; a cup of coffee (coffee beans with roasted barley)--simple meals, which at times consisted of just fried potatoes, onions, apples and if we were lucky, a piece of chopped up fried bacon. It was a challenge for me to find ways to make do on a very modest budget.
When I grew up during the depression I had watched my mother cook. I didn’t like everything that was served, but I had to eat whatever was put in front of me. I very much enjoyed eating the soups my mother cooked from bones, adding all kinds of roots and vegetables from our garden.
Two to three times a week our dinner would be a soup of that kind. Sometimes we would have crepes or aebleskiver for dessert. Fish was plentiful and cheap in Denmark and still cheaper and fresher if it was bought directly from the fishing boat. At least twice a week I walked down to the harbor to buy fish. I cleaned and boned them myself. That was easy enough and worth the price for the meal I was able to put together.
In the summer when the berries in the forest ripened, friends and I would spend days picking raspberries. We would bring a picnic and had fun doing something constructive and necessary. I made preserves by just stirring these sweet berries with sugar and store them in a cool place. They would keep for a long time unless of course we ate them right away.
Denmark’s radio was completely controlled and censored by the Nazis. Nothing was worth listening to except for the local news. We chose to listen to BBC radio and thus got the truth about what was going on in Denmark and in Europe. BBC would also broadcast code language. Of course, I didn’t understand what it meant. Only the freedom fighters and the resistance would know what was meant. There were messages about weapon supplies, when and where droppings would take place. There were also directions regarding steps to be taken to fight the Nazis.
We listened with sorrow, fear and anger to the horrible news about killings and destruction by bombings in England as well as in Germany. Unfortunately, it was nothing but bad news. It’s amazing that in spite of the situation we were in, we managed to go on about our daily life. The German soldiers were everywhere we went. The stores were almost emptied of every kind of merchandise. The soldiers would buy everything in sight and ship it to their families in Germany.
Residential area of Elsinoe
There were “Black Markets” where everything could be bought at a high price. Even if we had enough money to buy, Aksel and I agreed not to buy anything there. However, Aksel and I didn’t always agree. One afternoon he came home and told me that he had lunch with an old school mate, Bernhard. Just hearing the name Bernhard, made me furious. I had heard that Bernhard was fraternizing with the Nazis.
Aksel came into the living room, where I sat in front of the wood burning stove holding a poker in my hand, trying to get the fire going. I turned around and asked if the rumors about Bernhard were true.
“Yes, unfortunately, it’s true and one of the reasons he wanted to meet me today was that he had a job for me,” Aksel said.
“What kind of job? Working for the Nazis?” I asked.
“Yes, he asked me if I would be able to build some barracks for them. I would be paid very well. We could use the money, especially now, when we have a baby coming.”
I banged the poker down on the metal in front of the stove, “I know we can use the money, but I’d rather die than receive one penny from those bastards. If you take any kind of job from the Nazis, I’m walking out of that door, baby or not. I’ll manage fine, trust me.” I pointed toward the door with the poker.
Aksel was extremely calm when he said, “I didn’t say I would take the job. I told him I would think about it and talk to you. He’ll call tomorrow at noon. Maybe it would be a good idea if you answered the phone and gave him the message.”
“I’ll do just that. I’m happy that you haven’t agreed to take the job. It wouldn’t be right. I’d rather remain poor. There must be other ways to make money than to work for those bastards.”
When Bernhard called the following day, I answered the phone. I told him that Aksel didn’t have enough men working to take on a big job like that. Amazingly, he didn’t ask any questions. My feeling was that he got the message. Aksel didn’t hear from him again.
Shortly after this episode, Aksel was offered and accepted a job as an appraiser for one of the largest mortgage and loan companies in Denmark. Our income increased a great deal. I had the feeling that this job was a reward for refusing to work for the Nazis.
