General strike in Copenhagen

The unavoidable confrontation with the Germans started on 26 June 1944, when workers at Burmeister & Wain shipyards went home early on the excuse of having to tend their allotment gardens before curfew. The military tribunal passed sentence on the Hvidsten Group members the same day.

 

Three days later, eight members of the Hvidsten Group were executed, shocking Copenhageners when they heard the news. Events escalated to a general strike that lasted until 5 July 1944. The strike spread in record time to most of Copenhagen and enjoyed huge popular support. It developed into actual street fighting between German soldiers and strikers, and became the biggest single confrontation between the Danish population and the German authorities.

 

Hitler was furious when he heard the news from Copenhagen, as he believed that the executions caused too much unrest and created martyrs. He wanted resistance groups worn down by counter-terror instead. After the Hvidsten Group executions, no more death sentences were passed on Danish resistance fighters by German military tribunals until 21 February 1945.